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Google Maps and Waze

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51–60 of 114 posts

Re: Google Maps and Waze

#51
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sometimes I text or check email while driving, which I know I should not do I don't mean to pick on you here. You are clearly aware, but it still needs to be said: Please do not email, text, or even talk on a cell phone while driving. Driving is the most dangerous task that is socially acceptable for nonprofessionals to perform. It is very irresponsible to make such a task any more difficult than it needs to be.

IMO only when this is treated like DUI will it be taken more seriously. It sounds radical, but the activity is easily avoidable, seriously diminishes your focus and can have horrible consequences.

DUI can be accurately tested with a breathalyzer. How would you expect these stiffer penalties to be enforced? I believe the current laws essentially require the offense to be directly observed by police or for the driver to inadvertently admit to it.

Re: Google Maps and Waze

#54

What do others think about the safety of using Waze? One thing that I have noticed is that the app encourages me to interact with it as I'm driving in order to add data to the system. It's a little hypocritical of me to complain about this because sometimes I text or check email while driving, which I know I should not do, but it still feels weird that Waze actually encourages me to read the screen and interact with…

You can do reports by voice and reporting it is just a few clicks if you don't use voice. I think this will work well even after they get self0driving cars, even when you have self driving cars there's still a need for good traffic data.

Re: Google Maps and Waze

#55
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waze actually has several features in place to make it safer: * Waze is designed only to be used by a passenger. Any field that requires typing, etc. warns you if you're moving and makes you acknowledge that you are a passenger to continue. * Waze has a hands-free capability where you can wave your hand in front of the phone and interact with Waze via voice. It actually works pretty well. * The UI is designed with bi…

Eh, that may be the intent, but I think they could work harder on making giant buttons for things that you are supposed to use while driving. For instance, the popup that says there is a hazard ahead, and you have tiny buttons to say it's not there or to give a thumbs up.

The "work harder" here is that you don't need to acknowledge pretty much any of those popups in Waze. If you leave them alone, they'll timeout and disappear automatically, you don't NEED to interact with the app while driving, I rarely touch it except to report traffic or a wreck, at which point I'm usually stopped anyway.

Re: Google Maps and Waze

#56
Waze uses Bing maps on the backend.

Wanna bet that "look forward to working with them in our ongoing effort to make a comprehensive, accurate and useful map of the world." means converting to use Google maps?

Re: Google Maps and Waze

#57

Another service I get to quit. Soon they'll be nothing left.

Same here. I trust Waze with my location information, to provide a service to me. I do not trust Google with that same information, because it will be used for far more than providing that navigation service to me. No thanks.

Re: Google Maps and Waze

#59
post #26

What do others think about the safety of using Waze? One thing that I have noticed is that the app encourages me to interact with it as I'm driving in order to add data to the system. It's a little hypocritical of me to complain about this because sometimes I text or check email while driving, which I know I should not do, but it still feels weird that Waze actually encourages me to read the screen and interact with…

sometimes I text or check email while driving, which I know I should not do I don't mean to pick on you here. You are clearly aware, but it still needs to be said: Please do not email, text, or even talk on a cell phone while driving. Driving is the most dangerous task that is socially acceptable for nonprofessionals to perform. It is very irresponsible to make such a task any more difficult than it needs to be.

I text, call, check email, and web all while driving and I bet at least 95% of people on HN do too.

If you want this to stop then invent a new way to communicate.

Re: Google Maps and Waze

#60
post #50

Has anybody familiar with Waze's monetization system? I used it with a client and saw absolutely terrible metrics. We burned through a ton of cash and got almost zero results. To be fair: I've only had one client try it & I'd argue that they weren't the best fit, but I'd be very interested in seeing what other people's results were here.

I've seen icons for chain restaurants show up on the map. Is that what you mean?

I get ads from Taco Bell on my Waze.
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