Why a rumored Google Maps-Waze combination will not come to pass
Ever since Google bought Waze for a price in the range of $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion in June 2013, a combination of the two navigation and mapping apps has been the subject of several rumors, none of which panned out. Waze and Google Maps do have several differences. Waze uses crowdsourced information from its subscribers to help users find the quickest and safest way from point "A" to point "B."
Waze subscribers will report the traffic-stopping incidents they see including police action, road closures, accidents, weather, and more. While Google Maps now allows users to report many of the same incidents that Waze users can, the easiest way to think about the two apps is that Waze focuses on the journey and Google Maps has your back for the entire time you're away from home.
For example, with Google Maps you can find a place to grab three meals a day with user reviews and images, and view places to spend the night. The app will also recommend entertaining places to go and landmarks to see. While Waze works well when you're on the road, Google Maps will not only help you navigate your vehicle when on the road, but it will tell you where to go when you're a stranger in a strange city.
Google has been trying to make Waze's incident and hazard reporting an integral part of Google Maps in a way that users won't find distracting. The last thing you want while driving is to be distracted by your navigation app. Google Maps recently announced that it is adding new weather-related incident reports. While users can currently report incidents that slow traffic like lane closures, crashes, stalled vehicles, construction, speed traps, and more, the new additions focus on weather-related problems. These issues include a flooded road, an unplowed road, and low visibility. This is now found on the iOS version of Google Maps and should hit the Android version of the app fairly soon.
The iOS version of Google Maps will now allow users to report weather-related incidents. | Image credit-PhoneArena
With Google Maps users now getting the ability to report weather-related incidents, there is talk once again about a possible merger of Google Maps and Waze. In December 2022, Google started merging the teams responsible for the two apps although the apps themselves remained separate. Google Maps users have constantly found the report confirmation requests found on Google Maps to be annoying. As a result, Google will probably decide to keep Google Maps and Waze separate.
While Waze users love all of the reports they receive and get to send, Google Maps users, not so much. So for now, Google will allow Waze users to do Waze while Google Maps users do Google Maps. To report a weather-related incident on the iOS version of Google Maps, while navigating a route press the + icon along the right side of the display. Tap on the three-dot icon "More" button to report a weather-related incident.
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