Astropup

A related issue is that most of the data for the traffic comes via cell connection. I recently saw an example of this. I live in a spot where I was under the totality for the 2017 total eclipse and am on a hill overlooking a major highway that served a huge eclipse gathering (> 50,000 people). Mid-morning of the day the festival started, I looked out and the traffic was standstill for well over 5 miles (this in an area where there might be 5 cars in the stretch on a normal day). So I looked at Google to see how far east the jam extended and it said it cleared about 8 miles east of me. Later I heard that it did not - in fact was close to 40 miles long! Only then did I realize that the place where it "cleared up" was just about where one looses the cell signal going into the mountains. No data so it assumed it was fine. So not always accurate.

gsobol

Yes, agree 100%. No solution is perfect, especially when we rely on few data points or lack of data connection to actually gather or be able to download required data. The in car system is designed to work even if the data is not available, yes it won't give you best route, but at least it should get you there (eventually). However in more saturated areas (such as major cities) update lag and limited data points on build in systems are not acceptable, especially if you are trying to compete with Waze and other smartphone based systems. Fat chance of any improvements in the near future though.

mbs

> “Google bought Waze for $966 million in 2013 to add social data to its mapping business. Waze's 100 employees received about $1.2 million on average, the largest payout to employees in Israeli high tech.”

After Google bought Waze, some of the crowdsourced data from Waze users makes its way into Google Maps.

It seems plausible that Waze users see data from more than just other waze users, too, but that is just a guess on my part.

gsobol

I'm sure since it's the same company (Google) there is some information sharing happening both ways. Even though Waze is more responsive (at least in large metropolitan areas) it has it's limitations as it requires constant data connection. My advice is that if you are somewhere you are not familiar with, use a few sources of GPS data to determine "the best" route to get where you are going. Also, take a good look at the routes, turns, exits, road numbers, etc. prior to starting your drive, this way you are going to be more prepared when reality won't match the GPS data.