Many people don’t see a reason for a company to keep two similar products on the market simultaneously, which is why rumors that Google Maps and Waze would merge into a single almighty navigation solution continue to swirl around the web.
The transition of certain features from one app to another is considered an indication that Google still plans to merge the two apps in the long term. Google Maps will soon import more traffic data from Waze, and the app is expanding more on the incident reporting front.
Some people believe that closing the feature gap between the two should continue with Waze getting support for walking and large vehicles. Feedback in this regard has already been posted on Google’s suggestion platforms, and thousands of users upvoted these posts, calling for Waze to expand beyond the standard driving support.
Photo: autoevolution
While updating Waze with walking and large vehicle support makes sense for some, it doesn’t align with the app’s main focus. Here’s why.
Waze was born as an application that is supposed to take you from where you are to where you want to be as fast as possible.
This means the application looks at the existing road network to get you to the destination while also considering traffic data and information submitted by other users on the road. Accidents, roadworks, and other slowdowns that could increase the ETA help Waze find better routes, and as anyone can imagine, they wouldn’t make sense for a walking mode.
These reports only concern what happens on the road, and considering people walk on sidewalks and alleys, a speed trap or a car accident wouldn’t impact a suggested route. If anything, Waze could adopt Google Maps’ walking feature, but it wouldn’t align with its focus of getting you to the destination as fast as possible. It would also make the app more cluttered and expand Waze into the Google Maps territory, something that Google is trying to avoid.
Photo: autoevolution
Large vehicle support, which would allow the application to offer navigation and turn-by-turn guidance to the destination for trucks, RVs, and motorhomes, is also a top feature request in the Google Maps community.
Navigation apps offering advanced features for trucks and other large vehicles are rare and typically come with a subscription-based model, so users hope that Google Maps and Waze will eventually get such capabilities and offer them for free.
However, this feature doesn’t make sense in Waze, mainly because of how its routing engine is built.
By design, Waze looks for shortcuts and ways to get you to a defined address in the shortest time. The route is sometimes highly complex and includes small and narrow residential streets where a large vehicle wouldn’t fit. They also include multiple turns in a row, so you can imagine how difficult it’d be for a lorry to follow a suggested route.
Google Maps could help Waze offer such capabilities, but they would again defy its purpose. A truck navigation mode that would only guide vehicles on roads without restrictions and large enough for their dimensions and cargo wouldn’t make sense for an application whose purpose is to help drivers avoid slowdowns and arrive at their destination as fast as possible.
Photo: autoevolution
With Waze highly unlikely to ever get support for walking and truck navigation, Google Maps is mainly the only option for people who want a freeware application with such capabilities.
Google Maps already offers walking directions but lacks truck navigation. Google doesn’t seem interested in adding support for large vehicles, as the company has been ignoring feedback in this regard for many years.
Requests to add walking and truck navigation in Waze are a sign that users want an all-in-one app capable of offering a complete set of features for every type of user. This is precisely what Google can achieve by merging the two apps, though, as I said on multiple occasions, this isn’t part of Google’s long-term strategy. Not yet, at least, especially considering that the company is struggling with legal trouble in several markets, including Europe, where some of its decisions are seen as a method to hurt competition.
Members of the Waze team have already responded to these feature suggestions, claiming that they aren’t part of the app’s roadmap, so you’d better not hold your breath for such updates in the coming months and years.
Is walking and truck navigation something you’d like to see in Waze? Let me know in the comment box after the jump, but keep in mind that Google already offers walking directions with no intention of adding support for large vehicles like trucks, RVs, and motorhomes.