Image credit – 9to5Google
Google owns both Google Maps and Waze, and it seems almost counterintuitive for the company to own two different navigation apps, however, there are some clear differences between the two. Waze focuses more on driving and also crowdsourced data, where users can submit reports such as traffic slowdowns, road blocks, accidents, and more.
However, in recent times, Google has been introducing similar features to its Google Maps platform where last year, the company introduced the ability for users to report speed traps. Now according to 9to5Google, it looks like Google has started to roll out the ability for users to report traffic slowdowns.
While Google Maps has always shown users the traffic situations during their drives, it works by pulling information from other Google Maps users in the area. The problem with that method is that it can be a bit slow, so with the ability for users to report traffic slowdowns themselves, it could speed up the process and bring more accurate information to users.
This feature is currently in the process of being rolled out, although depending on where you are, its name could be different where some regions are calling it a “slowdown” while others refer to it as “congestion”, but apart from the different names, they should be pretty similar in terms of functionality.
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