Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts” • Hacker News Board

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#151

Post by paulcole » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:03 PM UTC

wccrawford wrote: post #144

thinkingemote wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed Waze optimizing for quickness. Not fastest, not shortest, not most direct but the route which makes you feel like you are getting there quicker. Often longer stretches with no traffic or junctions for example. It's as if users main priority is not to be held up. Users don't care if the journey is two minutes longer or a few pence more expensive, they just don't want to be feeling they are making no progr…

" they just don't want to be feeling they are making no progress." I think you may have just convinced me to use Waze instead of Google Maps. I'd much rather relieve the stress of driving a bit than save a few minutes of time. Well, actually, I'd rather not drive at all. But seeing as that isn't really an option, I'll settle for making it less stressful.

I’m 36 and have lived in a mix of rural and urban areas of America and I never learned to drive and have never driven a car.

Just want to make the point that not driving is really an option, just one that most people look for a way to avoid. It’s all a matter of priorities and as much as most people say they hate driving/traffic, very few actually do anything about it.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#152

Post by michaelt » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:06 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #129

simplesleeper wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed - I've had similar issues when renting a big van - I was directed through streets where I didn't comply with width restrictions

Did you ever tell Google maps that you were in a big fan? Otherwise, how would it know?

Google Maps doesn't have anywhere to tell it you're driving a large vehicle.

Knowing about and respecting size and weight restrictions is usually a feature on 'professional' sat nav units [1]. Serious delivery companies of course pay the premium to get this feature - but occasional van drivers don't.

[1] https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/sat-nav/truck-sat-nav/

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#153

Post by njloof » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:09 PM UTC

lemmox wrote: post #24

I had no idea Waze was powered by anon crowd sourced map editors. If anybody here is doing it, what's the motivation? Personally I'd never disclose my shortcuts or free parking spots.

Sounds like the tragedy of the commons.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#154

Post by njloof » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:10 PM UTC

ishi wrote: post #89

The article tries to paint Waze as an "evil" corporation, but to me it sounds like they haven't perfected their algorithms yet. If Waze reroutes 1,000 cars to a shortcut that can only handle 100, that's idiotic and does not provide a good service to users. But if their algorithms took the road's capacity into account, everyone would benefit since there would be no "synthetic" traffic jams. In my experience traffic ap…

Why do we have a shady neighbourhood in the first place? Does no one care about a place unless they drive through it?

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#155

Post by ilamont » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:18 PM UTC

A Waze spokesman, oblivious to the irony, reflexively sneered that “a group of neighbors can’t game the system.”

[Ryu] told constituents that Waze would designate a liaison to work with the city, and then the company stopped returning calls.

Krekorian’s office reached out to Waze and the operators of similar apps and got “a complete stonewall,” he says.

Why the pseudonyms? “They all fear legal liability in case of a bigger accident or traffic situation,” suggested one Level 1 editor, who tried to obtain the email and contact information of a higher-level editor to no avail.

The time for "partnering" with arrogant/dismissive/evasive app companies is over. Municipalities and state governments have been dealing with this problem for 5+ years. Why is it taking so long to legislate?

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#156

Post by kenned3 » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:19 PM UTC

simplesleeper wrote: post #118

neka wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waze doesn't seem to allow you to specify whether you're a trade vehicle or not so it keeps routing trade vehicles into Regents (and the other Royal) Park which they are prohibited from and liable to be fined.

Agreed - I've had similar issues when renting a big van - I was directed through streets where I didn't comply with width restrictions

There are GPS tools specifically for trucks, which are aware of width and height restrictions... try one of those next time.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#157

Post by 2_listerine_pls » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:20 PM UTC

neka wrote: post #111

simplesleeper wrote: post #80

Transport for London Tech Lead here. In London, we have been collaborating with google waze - we provide them with information at the local level. Streets that waze should not use for route finding (e.g. roads with schools) can be blocked for use by Waze. Both local councils and TfL can provide this data. The main difference between Waze and Google Maps is that Waze uses real time traffic data. There are multiple map…

Waze doesn't seem to allow you to specify whether you're a trade vehicle or not so it keeps routing trade vehicles into Regents (and the other Royal) Park which they are prohibited from and liable to be fined.

They probably infer your vehicle type from acceleration data

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#158

Post by nradov » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:21 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #130

L_226 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The main difference between Waze and Google Maps is that Waze uses real time traffic data. Do you mean that Waze uses real time data provided by 3rd parties ? Because I have always had the understanding that Gmaps uses location and telemetry data from (the Google maps) mobile apps to determine traffic conditions in near real time.

I expect what they mean is Waze uses real-time traffic data for routing. Google Maps displays traffic conditions but I don't remember that impacting the routing it gives you. Last time I used it, it just marked road sections as high-traffic but didn't truly re-route around on the fly.

Google maps re-routes around traffic on the fly and has done so for many years. It shows you the option and then you have to tap to confirm.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#159

Post by kenned3 » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:22 PM UTC

orthoxerox wrote: post #147

> These thousands of homeowners and renters have arguably been injured by Waze’s and Google’s successful privatization of formerly public streets. That's a... very creative interpetation of what public and private mean. If you don't want your side street to be driven on at 30 mph, then you can't drive on it at 30 mph either. Traffic calming measures are a thing. Make it even more winding, add road bumps, bottlenecks.…

These "NIMBY" people always make me laught.

if you dont want to have a ton of traffic dont buy a house on a major road.

There is a street on the subdivision i live in with the same issue. it is the main entry point to the subdivision. people bought houses there, then fought the city for years over traffic?

they put up stop signs, speed bumps, etc.

they wanted the lower house prices associated with living on main roads, but then tried to redirect traffic elsewhere?

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#160

Post by dsfyu404ed » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 12:34 PM UTC

01100011 wrote: post #61

tjr225 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For about six months before I moved closer to work I had a super commute between Olympia, WA to Kent, WA just south of Seattle. I do not recommend this. Anyways- for the first month or so I used Waze religiously as this is a notoriously bad commute. I realized after a few nasty trips through Fife that unless you were among th very first few people to catch a rerouting, the roads people were routed to were painfully u…

Waze has given me a lot of stupid advice in the last couple years. It will take me off a freeway, requiring many lane changes in heavy traffic, only to route me onto a clogged surface street and back onto the freeway after an exit or two. It usually fails to save me any time, and causes a lot of headaches. I stick with Google Maps now unless I need the police and hazard warnings(long road trips mostly).

> It usually fails to save me any time, and causes a lot of headaches.

If it takes you much more time and effort to navigate traffic than the average road user you won't benefit much from Waze because any gains in time will be negated by the time penalty (relative to average) every time you need to do something that requires being aggressive (merging, left turns, etc). Similarly if you're driving a large commercial vehicle you should probably not use Waze.