Sygic has long been a top navigation product, but despite the app being positioned as a Google Maps alternative, it also included an incident reporting module that placed it in the same group as Waze. This means Sygic GPS Navigation could also double as a Waze alternative, allowing users to send traffic reports and contribute to a more predictable journey for the rest of the community.
The parent company is now betting big on this feature and is trying to provide the user base with more options.
Similar to Waze, Sygic now requires users to confirm a traffic report when receiving an alert, and the purpose is obvious. The company wants to improve the accuracy of the reports sent by other users, so when you get an alert, you’ll know for sure that a hazard is there.
Sygic uses the same approach as Waze, so when you approach a pinned traffic hazard and a notification appears on the screen, you also get a confirmation prompt. You can tap the “not there” button if the hazard no longer exists. This prompt appears for every traffic report submitted by other users.
Sygic says the company gets 200,000 incident reports from its users every month, so it has to focus more on this component and make the most of the data provided by its community. Putting users in full control of the data, letting them report and then confirm a traffic hazard, helps Sygic guarantee more accurate traffic information.
However, this feature would only work with a large community that is ready to improve the reporting system. While Sygic’s plan seems to work, others are still struggling.
Apple added incident reporting to Apple Maps with the release of the detailed city experience, but the feature has yet to gain traction. Apple Maps users can now flag accidents, speed traps, and other hazards on the map, helping the app generate warnings for other users. However, the limited availability of the detailed city experience and, therefore, the limited availability of incident reporting has made this feature a flop, with reports almost non-existent when using Apple Maps.
Apple continues to insist on this feature, hoping Apple Maps would eventually start reporting incidents on the map, but unless the feature becomes widely available (alongside all the other updates that make the app a better Google Maps alternative), Waze, Sygic, and the other similar products remain the better options.