The IT Nerd

Waze today announced the rollout of its Google Assistant integration to new markets. English-speaking Waze users will now be able to enjoy their favourite Waze features powered by Google Assistant, hands free, while driving, and using only their voices. This follows the successful launch of Google Assistant’s integration in Waze for Android users in the U.S. last year.

Waze for Android and iOS users in English-speaking countries can now use “Hey Google” to report traffic, incidents or hazards; navigate; search; or ask Assistant informative questions – without ever having to leave the Waze screen. Android users can additionally use this integration to set a Calendar appointment; play music; or make a phone call.

This update is available for Waze for Android users in English-speaking markets today, and support for navigation-related commands is starting to roll out to iOS users. For more information visit Waze.com.

Waze, the platform bringing together communities on and off the road, today announced a new feature that will provide alerts to users approaching a railroad crossing.  Waze is seeing Waze users make a significant return to the road following the COVID-19 outbreak. This feature is unique to Waze and puts drivers’ safety first, helping them return to the roads by highlighting the potential risks associated with driving over railroad crossings.

The decision to add railroad crossing alerts to the Waze map follows recommendations from both the US senate and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to app-based navigation platforms like Waze that doing so can help contribute to the efforts to reduce the number of drivers involved in railroad crossing fatalities. The US Federal Railroad Administration also championed this feature and provided valuable insights as Waze used their publicly available database of US railroad crossings. The feature was advocated for by major rail network operators and other organizations, including MTA Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak, SEPTA, Brightline, Operation Lifesaver Canada, the Railway Association of Canada, CN, SNCF, the Regulatory Agency of Rail Transport of Mexico (ARTF) and the Secretary of Communications and Transportation of Mexico. These organizations have provided the vital data (verified by the Waze volunteer community of map editors) to add railroad crossings to the Waze map in the US, Canada, Mexico and France, and local Waze map editors have taken the initiative to incorporate crossings to the map in the UK, Italy, Israel, Brazil, Colombia, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Netherlands and Ireland.

The new feature will automatically alert drivers using the latest version of Waze on Android or iOS that they are approaching a railroad crossing.  A banner will appear on the Waze app highlighting the crossing and encouraging the driver to approach with caution.

This feature is available on Android and iOS. For more information visit Waze.com.

Waze is welcoming drivers back on the roads with a new Moods feature to add more fun into every drive as part of its refreshed brand identity. 

New Moods capture users’ emotions. Waze hopes the update will add “humanness” to the driving experience. The initial set of Moods includes 30 emotions. Drivers in the same situation experience many different emotions. Moods will help capture those feelings, and serve as a reminder of the different types of people we share the road with. 

The new brand identity includes a grid system, which brings to mind the in-between spaces on the map, where streets aren’t. The brand refresh incorporated feedback from members of the Waze community and a study conducted with 13,000 drivers.

For more details, please see this blog post by Jake Shaw:

Under the Hood: Behind the Brand Refresh

https://medium.com/waze/under-the-hood-behind-the-brand-refresh-95a4c23e42e

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Waze has been tracking and sharing data related to driving around the world. In an effort to help governments — and the general public — gain more insight into local driving trends as part of their overall COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, Waze has now made its data dashboard publicly available. 

In the past, Waze have shared specific data related to Waze users in Canada and select cities including Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City and more. The data from the Waze COVID-19 Impact Dashboard is accessible for you to review and download from Waze directly by visiting https://www.waze.com/covid19. From here, you can access global, national and regional information, depending on your requirements, and can also compare various locations. 

I was playing with this earlier today and it is very interesting to manipulate this data. I am sure that this data can help businesses guide their decisions, and be of interest to individuals.

Oxford County recently announced its partnership with Waze, helping residents and visitors better navigate roads. The county will be sharing county-led construction project and road closure information with Waze as part of the Waze for Cities program, as well as with Municipal 511. 

The Waze for Cities program enables cities to use Waze’s data to inform mobility projects and policies, as well as share their own information about street closures or construction directly with their citizens on a daily basis. More than 1,000 cities and other public sector partners are already working with Waze to gain better data and insights, and to make their communities safer. Canada has approximately 50 partners in the program including the City of Winnipeg, City of Toronto, City of Montreal, 407ETR among other regions, cities, townships, counties, and ministries across the country.

While Oxford County is kicking off the platform use within the community for County-led construction projects and closures, other municipalities have been provided access to the Municipal 511 system and will also adopt the system over the coming months.

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak around the globe, Waze has activated its community and network of partners across its Volunteer Communities, Waze for Cities programs, and more, to support crisis response. 
Our data shows that across the world, most countries have dramatically stopped driving. Globally, Waze users are driving 60% fewer miles compared to the February daily average for a two-week period (2/11/2020-2/25/2020). 

In Canada, Waze users are driving 41% fewer kilometres than the February daily average. Since the Canada-U.S. border closed to non-essential travel on March 18, traffic is down 66% from the February daily average. Major Canadian cities are also showing decreases in kilometres driven. 

Since February 26:

• Vancouver: -45% 
• Calgary: -37%
• Toronto: -41%
• Montreal: -45%

Since each city declared a state of emergency:

• Vancouver: -70% (March 19, 2020)
• Calgary: -60% (March 15, 2020)
• Toronto: -70% (March 23, 2020)
• Montreal: -77% (March 27, 2020)

Despite the overall decrease in number of people on the road, there are still essential journeys that need to be made every day. We believe our data can help users plan their drives more effectively. To support this:

• Waze Map Editors and Waze Crisis Response team are currently supporting 58 countries (and counting) with region-specific relief efforts including road closures, red zones, and more.
• Waze has launched a COVID-19 Landing Page asking governments around the world to contribute data on medical testing centre and emergency food distribution centre locations to help improve our maps for users.
• Waze has quickly rolled out support for drive-throughs and curbside pickup to help provide our users with minimal contact access to our partners products, such as food and other essentials, while remaining compliant with social distancing guidelines with new Location Personalities badges and search features.

For more information on this campaign, please visit the Waze blog or view the data landing page here.

Waze has announced the launch a new feature to help keep drivers safe during winter weather. Waze users globally will now be able to report, in real-time, when a road has not been plowed, and will be kept informed when they are approaching a road that has already been identified by other drivers as unplowed.

The launch of this feature is a direct result of Waze’s work with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), a Waze for Cities Data partner. With the winter season approaching, VDOT suggested that Waze create the option to better highlight snow on the road within the app. The feature will offer the Waze community of over 130 million monthly users the opportunity to be better prepared for hazardous winter weather conditions.

As a Waze for Cities Data partner, VDOT plans to monitor reports coming in from drivers this winter and determine how they can incorporate this data into their operations for the following winter.

The new feature is now available in over 185 countries where Waze is accessible, and can be found under “Hazards -> Weather -> Unploughed Road”. The feature highlights Waze’s commitment to helping its community across the globe navigate traffic through all driving conditions more efficiently and safely.

Waze for Cities Data is part of the Waze for Cities program, where partners can also access Waze Beacons, Waze Carpool, and solutions for managing communications with drivers and traffic during crisis situations and other major events like marathons, football championships and large concerts.

To find out more about Waze for Cities, visit http://waze.com/wazeforcities. To download the free Waze app for iOS or Android, visit http://www.waze.com/get.

Whether stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic or trying to avoid a roadside accident, some of the most stressful moments while driving can come from drivers’ daily commutes. Add in the hectic holiday season, that stress can multiply! However, with the help of a recently-launched feature in Waze, Canadian drivers can find some zen and a sense of revitalization when navigating to the mall for some holiday shopping, dashing through the snow to a festive party or traveling to visit family or friends this season.

In partnership with Lincoln, Waze has launched a new voice for turn-by-turn navigation, providing the first-ever navigation system that doubles as a calm and mindfulness guide. The new voice is warm, smooth and easy-going, and refreshed prompts include reminders to relax. Sample prompts include: “Ready, set, relax! And start driving,” and “Heavy traffic reported ahead. Deep breaths!”

Available now until December 29, Waze users can activate the new voice by going to Settings, then Voice Directions, and selecting “Lincoln Canada.”

Waze, the platform bringing together communities on and off the road, today announced Waze for Cities Data made available on the Google Cloud Platform for ready analysis. This program allows more than 1,000 global partners to seamlessly access Waze for Cities traffic data, to review and analyze transportation patterns, and create visualizations using Google Cloud tools for the first time.

Waze for Cities Data, formerly known as Connected Citizens Program, launched in October 2014 with 10 city partners and has grown to more than 1,000 partners globally. This free, collaborative program​ ,​ leverages mobile technology and crowdsourced traffic data to empower municipalities and first responders to improve their existing city infrastructure.

With the availability of Waze’s Cities Data, Waze for Cities partners will have access to best-in-class data warehouse tool BigQuery and data visualization tool Data Studio. These tools will make the data even easier to interpret and communicate to non-technical audiences. Partners can analyze up to 1TB of data and store up to 10 GB of data for free each month. With this program, partners can also securely and privately store and analyze their own data and perform their own analytics buttressed by Waze’s Cities Data. As with all Google Cloud partners and customers, Waze for Cities partners will ​ remain in complete control of their data​ .

Any public agency is eligible to apply for the program by clicking “Apply Now” on the ​Waze for Cities homepage​. Current Waze for Cities partners will receive more information on how to integrate their existing account.

Waze, the platform bringing together communities on and off the road, today announced YouTube Music is their newest Audio Player partner, giving drivers a new way to listen to music while safely driving.

 Originally launched in October 2018, Waze’s full service audio player caters for every taste and genre by partnering with the world’s leading audio platforms to seamlessly deliver music, podcasts, audiobooks, news, and more. Since then, Waze users have driven almost 11 billion kilometers while listening to content from one of Waze’s Audio Player partners.  By partnering with YouTube Music, from today drivers can safely listen to their favourite albums, playlists, personalized mixes, and more from directly within the Waze app where they get their navigation directions.

YouTube Music Premium subscribers can listen on Waze by simply opening the Waze app and tapping the music note icon to select YouTube Music as their audio player. They can start enjoying audio content directly from Waze right away, including playlists, radio and more.

 Waze initially launched with seven partners: Deezer, iHeartRadio, NPR, Pandora, Scribd, Stitcher, and TuneIn joined Spotify, which has been available on Waze since March 2017. Since then, Waze has also introduced integrations with Audiobooks.com, Radio.com, Castbox and NRJ Radio, who integrated their audio experience into Waze by using the Waze Audio Kit. .

 The YouTube Music integration for Waze Audio Player will begin rolling out from today, and will be available for all users globally in the coming weeks. You can download Waze here, and to integrate your audio app with Waze, apply for the Waze Audio Kit here.