Google Maps vs Waze?

Foxhound5366 said:
As a techy you should know that Android's permissions structure always forces apps to request all sorts of odd permissions just for basic functions. Then again, given your nick maybe it's not that surprising :P As a long-time TomTom user I already knew about their strong privacy policy (they're a Dutch company and the Dutch take data protection incredibly seriously): https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/privacy/

Something I forgot that will appeal to some of y'all, at the start you can select which map you want to download: all of South Africa, or all of Africa. That means full working services even with no internuts.
Click to expand...

Completely understand why an app like Prisma etc would need to see my pics and videos. But if Uber and Waze didn't need to see my pr0n - why does TomTom?
The Dutch you say? Ever been to De Wallen in Amsterdam? :D
 
skeptic_SA said:
Completely understand why an app like Prisma etc would need to see my pics and videos. But if Uber and Waze didn't need to see my pr0n - why does TomTom?
The Dutch you say? Ever been to De Wallen in Amsterdam? :D
Click to expand...

Skeptic, if this really bugs you so much, maybe you need to send them an e-mail. Or install the app on a burner phone that you've carefully wiped of all fingerprints and inserted into a condom for extra security. I'm guessing accessing pics might be related to the offline download of maps, nobody wants to see your nude selfies.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Skeptic, if this really bugs you so much, maybe you need to send them an e-mail. Or install the app on a burner phone that you've carefully wiped of all fingerprints and inserted into a condom for extra security. I'm guessing accessing pics might be related to the offline download of maps, nobody wants to see your nude selfies.
Click to expand...

:whistle: I dunno hey.
 
I reiterate... I use Here WeGo. You even get a surfer dude or Afrikaans voice if you want, and you can download the maps. Most importantly, it doesn't have access to my nudez, and I am one of those that forcibly restrict app permissions to keep them from my pics.
 
Google Maps for me.

Waze for long distance as it shows you where the speed camera's and popular traps are. :p
 
Idiosyncratic said:
I reiterate... I use Here WeGo.
Click to expand...
Afaik both google maps and waze allows offline maps download.
Between those two apps leading the game I'm not even going to bother with WeGo.
These apps are surely also made better by the number of users using them - traffic, congestion etc.
 
Waze for traffic and hazard notifications, and because, unlike Google Maps, you can set "Avoid toll roads" in the options (Maps you have a multi-click procedure with every single trip).

That said, Waze is slow and very unstable. Grr.
 
I use Google maps to like Navigate around areas i dont know I use Waze mainly for traffic and stuff
 
Foxhound5366 said:
This website? https://mydrive.tomtom.com/en_za/

What were you having difficulty with?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the one. First off, it couldn't find my starting point of Hilton in KZN, instead offering me various options on different continents and islands around the world - places that you really can't drive to the destination from. So I gave up and used Pietermaritzburg. It also takes forever to start populating the dropdown list of potential hits from it's search. But you'd better not hit the Enter key while it's searching, or else it will select the first item on the list that it hasn't displayed yet, which will usually be on a different continent. Then when it eventually brings up a route, it's impossible to drag and drop to change the route slightly. It's got to be the slowest webpage I've ever used, and it's not intuitive. It does at least tell me that there are a few delays, but won't tell me how long or why unless I register and sign in. It also doesn't show road works (with long stop-go waits) that I know for a fact are there - I drove the route last week.


Foxhound5366 said:
I selected all of South Africa and I think the map was only around 289MB, so not that massive.
Click to expand...

Currently have 135MB available on my phone. And that's after clearing a few WhatsApp groups. :)
 
Last edited:
I have not used these "gimmick's" very often. I like to know where I am going before I even leave so spend the time with maps first. However, I do find Google maps quite useful but NOT the navigation/routing facility. The few times I have used it, it has always ended up sending me on a wild goose chase but because I know where I want to be I can then ignore the routings it offers.

A few examples which anyone can try.

(1) Try and use the navigation facility to find the Elephant Hotel and conference centre in Pretoria and see what it will do to as you approach the hotel.
(2) Try and route to the Cradle of Mankind from Pretoria and you may find yourself being routed there via Rustenburg and Krugersdorp from Pretoria.
(3) Try and use it to get to HAMRADS in Cape Town and see where you will end up.
(4) Try and route through the congested traffic from PTA east to Centurion in peak traffic. The routing will change at least 15 times before you get there!
(5) Try and route from Pretoria East to Heidelberg without making use of highways or toll roads. Google navigation will take you on a 3-hour detour.
(6) A simple route to my daughter's place in Centurion terminates at the wrong address in the correct street. Out by 8 properties.

Know nothing about Waze, I think I have enough from those that have posted here to simply ignore it.

A good old fashioned map plus common sense and a developed sense of direction is all you need. Google maps is quite useful as an emergency replacement for a paper map.

Update: and OH, using these so called value add apps on a smart phone sucks your battery dry in minutes! :mad:
 
Last edited:
Geoff.D said:
(4) Try and route through the congested traffic from PTA east to Centurion in peak traffic. The routing will change at least 15 times before you get there!
Click to expand...

This is it constantly recalculating in order to get you on the most time efficient course I think based on live updates. No?
 
Colin62 said:
Yeah, that's the one. First off, it couldn't find my starting point of Hilton in KZN, instead offering me various options on different continents and islands around the world - places that you really can't drive to the destination from. So I gave up and used Pietermaritzburg. It also takes forever to start populating the dropdown list of potential hits from it's search. But you'd better not hit the Enter key while it's searching, or else it will select the first item on the list that it hasn't displayed yet, which will usually be on a different continent. Then when it eventually brings up a route, it's impossible to drag and drop to change the route slightly. It's got to be the slowest webpage I've ever used, and it's not intuitive. It does at least tell me that there are a few delays, but won't tell me how long or why unless I register and sign in. It also doesn't show road works (with long stop-go waits) that I know for a fact are there - I drove the route last week.
Click to expand...
Is this the Hilton you were looking for? https://mydrive.tomtom.com/en_za/#m...ritzburg","coords":[-29.5583,30.30027]}+ver=2

Because that's a global website, the top tip is to enter ',ZAF' after your destination (that forces South African locations). I searched 'Hilton, ZAF' and that option was fourth on the list.

Also I don't know why the website was slow for you, is it still like that? It's near instantaneous for me. It might have been a random server issue.

Dragging and dropping the route also works for me: when you click on the selected route it will show a little blue circle, and then you drag that over where you want the route to go through and release (just wait a second for the route to redraw through the new area). Maybe that also wasn't working due to the internet issues you seem to have been experiencing?
 
skeptic_SA said:
This is it constantly recalculating in order to get you on the most time efficient course I think based on live updates. No?
Click to expand...

I suppose it is, but then there should be a way to "desensitise" the darn thing to prevent spurious routings when one comes to a dead stop in traffic or at robots.
 
Last edited:
The other facility that is extremely frustrating to use is when planning a route and you want to add a destination on the way. Sure you can add destinations that extend the trip fairly easily but trying to add a stop off in between is really very tricky.
MY 30-year old basic Garmin Plus II does the job without any trouble at all.
 
I really like Waze, but it gets my PE routes hopelessly wrong and isn't therefore an option.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Is this the Hilton you were looking for? https://mydrive.tomtom.com/en_za/#m...ritzburg","coords":[-29.5583,30.30027]}+ver=2

Because that's a global website, the top tip is to enter ',ZAF' after your destination (that forces South African locations). I searched 'Hilton, ZAF' and that option was fourth on the list.

Also I don't know why the website was slow for you, is it still like that? It's near instantaneous for me. It might have been a random server issue.

Dragging and dropping the route also works for me: when you click on the selected route it will show a little blue circle, and then you drag that over where you want the route to go through and release (just wait a second for the route to redraw through the new area). Maybe that also wasn't working due to the internet issues you seem to have been experiencing?
Click to expand...

That's the one. I typed in Hilton, and it wasn't on the list at all, and I scrolled all 25 entries. I appreciate the tip, but I like software and websites to work without needing a tip. I can live with it being more tedious without the tip, but if it plain doesn't work without the tip, I'm not likely to try too often.

Yes, It's still that slow. It was earlier in the week when I first tried it, it was earlier today and it still is now. I type a town name and it takes about four seconds to start showing the list of possible matches. Google maps is under a second.

edit: A large part of the reason I started using Google Maps instead of my Garmin is because of the intuitive way it searches - Google manage to correct for spelling mistakes, and offer you alternatives and usually find the place I'm looking for with minimum fuss. Garmin can't tolerate even the simplest of spelling differences (and I've battled before where their spelling is different to that on other maps and on the road itself). I've tried to give my Garmin away a couple of times, but no-one wants it :)
 
Last edited:
Colin62 said:
That's the one. I typed in Hilton, and it wasn't on the list at all, and I scrolled all 25 entries. I appreciate the tip, but I like software and websites to work without needing a tip. I can live with it being more tedious without the tip, but if it plain doesn't work without the tip, I'm not likely to try too often.

Yes, It's still that slow. It was earlier in the week when I first tried it, it was earlier today and it still is now. I type a town name and it takes about four seconds to start showing the list of possible matches. Google maps is under a second.

edit: A large part of the reason I started using Google Maps instead of my Garmin is because of the intuitive way it searches - Google manage to correct for spelling mistakes, and offer you alternatives and usually find the place I'm looking for with minimum fuss. Garmin can't tolerate even the simplest of spelling differences (and I've battled before where their spelling is different to that on other maps and on the road itself). I've tried to give my Garmin away a couple of times, but no-one wants it :)
Click to expand...

I will take it! I do not mind accuracy and problems of that sort!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X