Google Maps and Waze: Three Features Both Need Right Now

Both owned by Google, they’re being used on a daily basis by millions of users to go from where they are to where they want to be faster, safer, and more conveniently.

While they can serve this purpose very well, Google Maps and Waze are two different beats.

Waze, for instance, is entirely focused on traffic navigation, and it requires an Internet connection to do its magic. The app relies on a crowdsourcing engine that analyzes user reports to look for the fastest route to a defined destination.

Google Maps, on the other hand, is a fully-featured solution that also includes walking directions and bike navigation. It also comes with tools to explore a specific region using street-level imagery, as well as with support for offline maps, so it doesn’t always require an Internet connection for navigation.

But more often than not, Google Maps is considered the best alternative to Waze, and the other way around. And at some level, this makes sense.

But on the other hand, both apps are still lacking what could be considered essential capabilities for the modern driver. And here are the three features that should be added as soon as possible.

Truck navigation

While Google Maps and Waze are insanely accurate when it comes to finding a faster route to a user-defined destination, both are focused exclusively on passenger cars.

In other words, they don’t take into account the vehicle size, so if you’re driving a truck, you’d better not rely on the guidance the two offer.

It’s not a secret that some lorries ended up stuck on roads where such large vehicles don’t fit, simply because the drivers were following the instructions provided by a navigation app.

At this point, however, there’s no confirmation that Google Maps or Waze could get truck traffic navigation in the coming updates.

Speed bump warnings

This is something that makes more sense in Waze given its focus on traffic limitation, but it would definitely come in handy on Google Maps as well.

Because both apps often send drivers to smaller roads in residential areas, they end up coming across plenty of speed bumps. And more often than not, they spot them when getting very close, in which case they slam on the brakes because of obvious reasons.

All these speed bumps should be marked on the map in both Google Maps and Waze, as this could make the driving more predictable, and therefore, safer too.

There’s currently no indication that such a feature is on its way to the two apps, but as far as Waze is concerned, the addition of speed bump warnings is one of the top feature requests.

EV routes

Times have changed, and the number of EVs out there is growing at a super-fast pace. Google Maps and Waze need to adapt as well, so they should be able to provide routes that make more sense for electric cars.

For example, the two apps should let users configure the make and model of their EV, and even input the estimated range before starting the navigation. This way, they can determine if the existing range allows the driver to reach the destination, and if it doesn’t, to look for a route that includes a charging station.

Similar functionality already exists on Android Automotive where Google Maps is available as an integrated navigation app, but it should be offered on mobile devices and Android Auto as well using a method similar to the one described above.

Both Google Maps and Waze currently show the location of charging stations on the map.