In regions affected by electronic warfare (EW) and GPS spoofing (such as Ukraine, Israel, and other conflict zones), navigation apps like Waze become unusable. Drivers frequently experience their location jumping to completely different cities, countries, or oceans due to fake GPS signals.
​Currently, when GPS is spoofed, Waze attempts to reroute from the fake location, rendering the app useless for navigating the actual physical environment. Drivers lose access to critical real-time information such as hazards, accidents, road closures, and traffic conditions along their true intended route.
​Proposed Solution:
Introduce a "Manual Route Mode" (or "Spoofing Bypass Mode") that allows users to disconnect their real-time GPS location from the route calculation and progression, relying instead on manual inputs or simulated progression.
​Key Features Requested:
​Manual Start and End Points:
​Allow users to manually drop a pin or enter an address for their actual starting location, completely ignoring the device's current (spoofed) GPS location.
​Allow users to set the destination as usual.
​Waze calculates the route between these two fixed points.
​Route Demonstration / Simulation Mode:
​Once the route is built, provide a "Start Simulation" button instead of the standard "Go" button.
​This mode would simulate driving along the pre-calculated route at an average or speed-limit-adjusted pace.
​Crucial Playback Controls: The simulation UI must include media-player style controls on the screen:
​Play/Pause: To stop the progression if the driver hits unexpected traffic or a checkpoint not shown on the map.
​Speed Up / Slow Down: To adjust the simulated speed to match the driver's actual pace (e.g., 0.5x, 1x, 1.5x, 2x).
​Rewind / Fast Forward: To jump forward or backward along the route (e.g., skip ahead 1km, or go back if a turn was missed).
​Static "Follow Map" Mode (Alternative to Simulation):
​Alternatively, just lock the route on the screen and allow the user to manually scroll the map along the blue line as they drive, maintaining visibility of user-reported hazards along that specific path.
​Why this is important:
Even without real-time GPS tracking, users desperately need access to the routing logic (knowing which roads to take) and the crowdsourced hazard data (potholes, accidents, roadworks) along their intended path. By allowing users to simulate their journey, they can keep the map centered on their actual location manually and stay informed of upcoming hazards, even when their phone believes it is in a different country.
​Thank you for considering this feature to support users navigating in difficult environments.