Google’s acquisition of Israeli start-up, Waze, has started to bear fruit. According to a blog post by Google, Google Maps will add real-time road reports from Waze to the benefit of road users. Users of Google maps in countries like the U.S., U.K., Brazil, Germany will be able to get real time traffic updates posted by Wazers (Waze users). This has been has been made possible by the integration of some functionality featured in Waze into Google Maps for Android and iPhone. Currently, only Google Maps users in 13 countries will benefit from this innovation as Google works on rolling out the product to other countries in the near future. Wazers also have a reason to smile as they will be able to perform Google searches and make street views using the Waze app.
The application works such that when Waze users identify and report incidents they encounter on the roads that may lead to traffic snarl-ups, this information is updated real time on Google Maps app on the Android and iPhone devices. Google Maps users having these devices get this information and can make decisions to avoid the affected routes and use alternative ones to get to their desired destinations in case they are travelling. Some of the incidents that Wazers can report include road closures, constructions, and accidents, just to mention a few. At the moment, Google Maps users have no provision to make similar reports or contributions to the Google Maps-Waze community.
Apart from providing real time traffic updates for Google Maps users, Waze will also contribute toward correcting flaws that exist on Google Maps. Google acquired Waze back in June at a cost of 1.03 billion U.S. dollars hoping that it would positively contribute to the company’s technological brand. Earlier, Facebook had made a bid to acquire Waze only to be beaten by Google in the bidding war.