Routing quality has plummeted after the Google acquisition - please get it back in shape!
(copied over from https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=96033)
I am a passionate Waze user who has converted many friends to the app, and has become a top 4% reporting contributor (I don't participate at all in any other gamified apps or websites). But now my support is waning fast.
Ever since Google bought Waze, routing has progressively become worse and worse. I initially switched to Waze because Google Maps routing had become horrible - inefficient routes when there were obviously better ways to go, etc. Waze does awesomely creative things like telling me to get off the freeway at an exit then immediately hop back on - Google never ever did that!
Now Waze is infected by the same disease and I want to cry, as I live in a traffic-snarled Texas city and in the past Waze has saved me so much time – I don't want to lose my helpful friend!
For example, a route I take 3 times a week stopped defaulting to or even offering as an option the path I always take (initially taught to me by Waze, and incredibly traffic-resistant and consistently fast). Instead, Waze gives me 3 often-traffic-snarled-and-unreliable options.
In other spots in my home city, on a road I drive with Waze active 3+ times a day, Waze tells me to veer off the usual path on a new road that just got built. It thinks this would be faster, but it is obviously a poor idea, in addition to not being something that should be shown given how much route-training I've given Waze over the past 9+ months (100s of trips).
Also, when I've been traveling recently, Waze has given me horrible routes, routes that were obviously bad even to someone who'd never been there before.
I've tried reporting routing errors via the report feature in the app, but Map Editors have responded that they have no control over the macro issues I have reported. As well, it takes too much work to report micro issues, such as the consistent issue 2 paragraphs up with the single road I often drive. Map Editors don't see exactly what I see in the app nor my routing options (they said they see very little info).
I first loved Waze because it was creative with routing, and then I became a top 4% user, and now I have no idea what to do....
Adam Feldman
shared this idea
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Dennis Ariton commented
I recently travelled from the south of Sweden to the capital where there are toll roads. Even though I never even touched the dial "avoid toll roads" waze all of a sudden started shouting in mixed english and swedish about "saving" and something else I couldn't make out (since it mixed languages). Because I was driving on a highway I couldn't check the phone and the tiny-text pop-up that disappeared instantly. After stopping at a gas station to investigate waze's acting up (costing me valuable time) I saw that waze added 3 hours to my trip leading me around greater Stockholm and a vast lake system just to avoid a $1 toll road that I never asked waze to avoid in the first place.
I got so furious I was on my way to throw my phone out the window. Waze acting up mixing languages and disappearing pop-ups, adding hours to my trip, forcing me to stop when I didn't really have the time, only to find out there's a glitch in the system. Just what I needed when I was on my way to my fathers funeral - in other words I was highly emotional already. Waze just tipped the cup. -
Kylie
commented
In the last few days I've started ignoring some of the alternate routing suggestions Waze is giving me. I started ignoring them because the suggested alternate routes Waze was giving me eventually added more time to my trip.
Yesterday was the tipping point. I was driving from Santa Monica to Long Beach (never a short drive unless you're doing it at 3am).
Waze routed me along side streets zig zagging but all the while avoided putting me on the 405 which is notorious for being a parking lot.The routed side streets we're jammed packed and barely moving. I could tell it was all Waze users because we were all following the same route. Also, people in the neighborhood was looking at us like "where did all these cars come from?"
I watched as my ETA steadily crept up and up to over 20 mins than the original ETA. I even restarted the APP thinking it would come to it's senses. Nope.
Finally, I broke from the route and headed for the 405. I kept ignoring Waze's suggestions to get off the 405 and take alternate routes. I stayed on the 405 and watched as my ETA started to drop again.
Something's not right with Waze .. needs some tweaks.