Waze
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Contents
History
Waze, formerly known as FreeMap Israel, was first developed as a community project with the intention for users to generate a free map of Israel.[2] The first round of funding came in 2008 from BlueRun Ventures and Magma Venture Partners, with a second round in 2010. After a third round 2011 from Horizons Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google bought Waze in 2013.[3]
Acquisition by Google
While Facebook, Apple, and others were interested in purchasing Waze, Google acquired Waze in 2013 for $996 million.[4] [5] The U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigated the deal as Google was already a player in the mapping market. In the end, the antitrust challenge was not aggressive enough to impact competition, and the case was dropped.[6]
Overview
Personalization
In terms of general settings, users are able to change the display of the map, the mode of day or night, and the sound for navigation. The language, units, and events radius can also be changed to the user's preference The user can change the color scheme, the type of car on the map and the navigation voice. Waze also has the ability to play the navigation through the user's speaker phone or Bluetooth device. Users can update their navigation preferences to avoid toll roads, freeways and unpaved roads. Waze can also sync with a user's calendar and Facebook events. Waze can connect to a user's Facebook and Twitter accounts. Users are also able to set a preferred gas station, gas type, and sort by distance, price or brand.
Users can personalize their profile more to their liking. Users can set a Home and Work address for easy one-tap navigation, as well as updates on unusual traffic events. Users can choose a mood for their car which determines the display of Waze. The options range from "Shy" to "Zombie", and everything in between. There is an option for users to join teams, such as with the local TV stations, so that their contributions are included in the morning traffic update. Users can also add their friends and communicate in different ways.
Live Traffic Updates
The main interface of Waze is equipped with a fully interactive map, based on the users geolocation. When the user opens this iPhone application, the cellular phone transmits its location to the application servers, and traffic updates in real time are pulled from Waze users who are near you. This allows drivers to make decisions on their routes, based on traffic information that users have contributed recently. Although this application has communincation capabilities, the map is designed well enough that the average user (someone looking to get traffic updates) can look at the map and read all necessary information without having to communicate with other users.
User Interaction
Users are able to communicate in different ways. If they are friends on Waze, they are able to send their ETA, send a Beep Beep, call them, or send a private message. Users can also thank you by giving you a thumbs up on something you reported, as well as send a map chat. It is not required that a user be friends with a user to communicate. Rather, it depends on the other Wazers that are traveling in the same area as you.
User Contribution
Users earn points by reporting to traffic updates. This can be done by reporting the traffic, police, an accident, a hazard on the road, gas prices, chatting, reporting map issue, taking a picture of a place, reporting a camera or a road closure. Each report is worth a different amount of points. See tables below.[7]
| Activity | Points | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Road reporting | 6 | per report |
| Gas/fuel price reports | 8 | per report |
| Report comments | 3 | per comment |
| Editing the map | 3 | per edit |
| Solving map update requests | 3 | per request solved |
| Adding street names | 3 | per name |
| Adding house numbers | 1 | per segment |
| Adding Place Photo | 6 | per photo |
| Updating Place | 3 | per detail added |
| Forum posts | 2 | per 3 posts |
| Road goodies | 2 | per goodie |
Users can gain points per mile/KM driven with the Waze application is running.
| Activity | Per mile | Per KM |
|---|---|---|
| Normal driving | 5 | 3.2 |
| Road munching | 16 | 10 |
| New road recording (paving) | 64 | 40 |
Wazers can also earn bonus points by achieving set goals. Examples are 200 points for adding your first friend, 30 points for your first weekend report, and so on. These points acts an incentives for users to contribute in a way they might not otherwise.
Waze Levels
Waze keeps scores by the reports and miles driven by the user. First time users are labeled as a Waze Baby. Users remain a Waze Baby for their first 100 miles of travel. Upon this accomplishment, users then become a Waze GrownUp. As a GrownUp, users can choose a mood for their Waze. Levels continue to Waze Warrior, where the user is in the top 10% of high scorers in their state, Waze Knight, where the user is in the top 4% of high scorers their state, and Waze Royalty, where the user is in the top 1% of high scorers in their state. Each level accompanied by a symbol: a shield, a sword, and a crown respectively. There is a final option to be a Waze editor by contributing to the development of the map itself. With this accomplishment comes three exclusive moods.
Government Interaction
Waze is partnering with governments by sharing their real-time data for planning purposes, such as garbage collection routes.[8]
Ethical Concerns
Dangerous Driving
Waze has been put under scrutiny with claims that the app can distract drivers. Waze shows users much more information on the map page than other mapping applications do, which requires more attention from the user.[9] In order to combat this, Waze has taken action by disabling text input while a vehicle is in motion, but this can still be overridden if the user specifies that they are in the passenger's seat. The app also speaks and has many notifications that can provide as distractions to the user.
Distracted driving is one of the deadliest causes of car accidents in the United Sates, and according to the United States Government website for Distracted Driving, over 600,00 vehicles are being driven by someone using a hand-held device.[10] Thus, Waze adds to this number of distracted driving, consequently adding to the estimated 421,000 people injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driving per year as well.[11]
Hacking & Trolling
Students at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology staged a traffic jam on Waze by creating fake profiles and providing false information on a highway. While no real accidents occurred in this incident, this example reveals the potential of using Waze for more dangerous cyber attacks and trolling in the future, since any user could potentially exploit the system.[12] Apps such as Waze that rely on heavy user contribution often include users who troll the system by creating fake alerts, which can downgrade the integrity of the system. If the quality and reliability of Waze and its features become too low, and the platform becomes a place where information is hard to trust, this will only raise the costs of using Waze because of its tendency to distract drivers, potentially to a point where the costs outweigh the benefits of using the phone application.
Mistreatment of Police
Waze has become an issue in the public enforcement sector due to the fact that users are able to report the location of police on the roads. Wazers are able to specify whether the police are visible or hidden and at what time they saw the police car. Law enforcement is indubitably concerned because this feature can be used by people who intend to cause harm to police. It has been called a "stalking app for law enforcement" by Sergio Kopelev, a sheriff in Southern California, who argues that the Waze app provides a new level of threat, this time to the police force and highway patrol.
Google counters by stating that this feature actually keeps citizens safe and promotes faster emergency response.[13] Thus, there is a gray line between keeping the safety and privacy of security officers and promoting safer and slower driving behavior by showing where police are on the streets, which causes tension with the police department as the benefits and drawbacks of this GPS phone application are debated.
References
- ↑ Waze.com Retrieved 2016-1-12
- ↑ Wikipedia Retrieved 2016-2-14
- ↑ Index Retrieved 2016-2-14
- ↑ Index Retrieved 2016-2-14
- ↑ Start-Up Israel Retrieved 2016-2-14
- ↑ FTC will not challenge Google's $1 billion Waze acquisition, Melissa Grey, 1 October 2013 http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/01/ftc-will-not-challenge-google-waze-acquisition/ Retrieved 2016-2-14
- ↑ Google Support Waze Help Retrieved 2016-2-15
- ↑ Waze Is Driving Into City Hall, Neal Ungerleider, 15 Apri 2015 http://www.fastcompany.com/3045080/waze-is-driving-into-city-hall Retrieved 2016-2-16
- ↑ Did Google Just Buy a Dangerous Driving App? Kevin Roose, 14 June 2013 Did Google Just Buy a Dangerous Driving App? Retrieved 2016-2-16
- ↑ Distracted Driving www.distraction.gov
- ↑ Does the App Waze Pose a Risk To Drivers? Coleman Hengesbach, 10, February 2015 https://www.dolmanlaw.com/app-waze-pose-risk-drivers/
- ↑ Israeli Students Spoof Waze App With Fake Traffic Jam, Kelsey D. Atherton, 31 March 2014 http://www.popsci.com/article/gadgets/israeli-students-spoof-waze-app-fake-traffic-jam Retrieved 2016-2-16
- ↑ Police say Waze cop-tracker is threat to officers, 26 January 2015 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-say-waze-cop-tracker-is-threat-to-officers/ Retrieved 2016-2-16
