# Waze, inadvertently tested, won big last night **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 29, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waze-inadvertently-tested-won-big-last-night/837811 "2019-07-29T14:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waze-inadvertently-tested-won-big-last-night/837811/61 "2019-08-12T08:54:26Z")
**Nava** have you tried Google Maps Offline? Not a separate app but from the options menu you add them, and can set them to update automatically and only when connected to wifi. I’ve used other offline map apps, once I rented a motorcycle in Barcelona and used them to navigate the unfamiliar city and surroundings. Google Offline Maps is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waze-inadvertently-tested-won-big-last-night/837811/62 "2019-08-12T10:22:40Z")
The difference is that Google Maps Offline requires me to set up a map myself, and each of the maps I set up can only be a maximum size; multiple Google Maps offline maps do not connect to each other. Offline Maps comes with a list of regions, I tell it which ones to keep updated, ta-da. Need to drive from Barcelona to Malmö? Tell it to download everything in between. Finish in Malmö, next project is in Lyon? Tell it to remove Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Benelux and most of France. It beats the crap out of Google Maps’ offline feature. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waze-inadvertently-tested-won-big-last-night/837811/63 "2019-08-12T10:46:37Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Since this thread popped up again, I’ve just gone and installed Waze onto my iPhone. I set ‘Home’ and ‘Work’ addresses. > > I still don’t know what I’ll use it for (after all, I have GPS on the phone), but all the cool kids seem to like it. It will pay for itself the very first time you find yourself speeding and it gives you a half-mile of notice that the revenooers are out collecting taxes. There’s a reason police agencies have been making a concerted effort to have the police notification removed. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waze-inadvertently-tested-won-big-last-night/837811/64 "2019-08-12T14:33:05Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The difference is that Google Maps Offline requires me to set up a map myself, and each of the maps I set up can only be a maximum size; multiple Google Maps offline maps do not connect to each other. Offline Maps comes with a list of regions, I tell it which ones to keep updated, ta-da. Need to drive from Barcelona to Malmö? Tell it to download everything in between. Finish in Malmö, next project is in Lyon? Tell it to remove Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Benelux and most of France. It beats the crap out of Google Maps’ offline feature. Ahh, yes of course. That can be a pain. I use [maps.me](http://maps.me) for that reason, and with gMaps those are my 2 offline maps tools. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waze-inadvertently-tested-won-big-last-night/837811/65 "2019-08-12T17:16:15Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Maybe yes, maybe no. Last Thursday afternoon on my drive home the commute traffic was bad. I was stuck in traffic jams on US-101 in Palo Alto, heading southbound. Waze announced, “Estimated time in traffic, 17 minutes.” > > 17 minutes, WTF??!! Usually on my drive the traffic is slow-and-go, not extensive stop-and-go like this was. But Waze also wasn’t giving me any alternate routes, it was telling me to stay on the highway — US-101 on the SF Peninsula is like an interstate highway, 4-6 lanes in each direction, with exits every few miles. > > I was pretty sure that I could take side roads and avoid whatever was causing the highway traffic jam. So I did, and once I took the next exit my ETA to home changed from 23 more minutes to 18 more minutes — a savings of 5 minutes, or 22%. Pretty significant. > > So yeah, sometimes you have to overrule Waze. But I wonder why it was doing that? Sometimes Waze doesn’t have a better route because it doesn’t have data for it. After you went through your short cut, it might have started recommending it. I don’t know how many data points it needs to make that call. Every once in a while, I’ll catch something like this, where Waze hasn’t figured out the best solution yet. On the other hand, when it tells me to re-route off of something that should be straightforward, every time I’ve bulled ahead I’ve regretted it. Now, if something really doesn’t make sense to me, I’ll look ahead on the map to see if I can spot traffic or an incident (assuming I check safely). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waze-inadvertently-tested-won-big-last-night/837811.md?page=3)