Waze: Crowdsourcing To Build Maps
At last week’s DEMOfall 09, TZ interviewed Waze. A free mobile navigation application which is crowdsourcing to build its maps. All you have to do to contribute is just keep the application running (make sure you have the car charger plugged in because it kills your battery life) and drive. while you’re driving Waze monitors
speed, starts, stops, and can even tell you if there is traffic ahead. According to the founder Noam Bardin you no longer need to wonder if you should exit the freeway and take side streets to avoid traffic, Waze will let you know if you should wait it out or reroute and save you time.
For those drivers who wish to be more involved Waze gives you the ability to report accidents, traffic, hazards, police (my favorite) and more. I’ve been using the application since DEMO and it is pretty amazing. While I was on my way up to Los Angeles the other day it noticed that my speed was slowing down and I came to a stop on the freeway. A little window popped up and asked me if I wanted to report traffic, I pushed yes and it was on its way and now able to warn other waze users (along with my twitter followers) of the traffic up ahead.
Waze has been out for a few months now but what they were announcing at DEMO was their new turn by turn feature. So if you do not have a GPS system yet I definitely recommend at least trying out Waze for yourself.
Waze is available on most mobile phones now, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android, and even the iPhone, Blackberry users are still going to have to wait a bit longer because its in the works.
Checkout our interview with CEO Noam Bardin and see Waze in action:
