Can Waze do what Dash failed at?
A while ago I had a Dash GPS unit for review. The concept was simple: a GPS unit that had an anywhere, always-on Internet connection that allowed them to gather road conditions from all Dash users and route everyone based on that data. If I’m stuck in traffic Dash would know that and re-route other commuters based on my data. User generated road conditions. Alas the Dash device was large, expensive, buggy and never really did what users wanted. They were purchased by Nokia and seem to be all but gone.
Now we have Waze which does much the same thing. Based on your driving conditions you can get re-routed to your destination. But Waze takes this several steps further and in a much better direction (pun intended).
First off, Waze is free! That’s right, you can get a GPS routing system that has turn-by-turn directions for the low, low cost of zero. They are able to do this in part because Waze runs on your existing Smartphone such as an iPhone or Andoid phone. Which brings me to…
Second, Waze does not require special hardware. If you have your iPhone on you, then you have your GPS nav system with you too. This makes it far easier to make sure you always have available traffic data. Waze is available in the Apple App store right now and I believe you can get it for Android right now too. I think they are working on a Windows Mobile and Symbian version too, I guess we’ll see.
Third, Waze is more social. In addition to being able to mark points on maps, fix road issues and add traffic problems you can also add things such as hazards, police traps and pictures. Every time you add something be it driving the road or fixing part of the map you get points. These points then add up to… well I have no idea, but you get points. Makes it in to a bit of a competition and is a fun incentive to keep the app open when you’re just driving, even if you don’t need directions.
I should point out that this is an alpha stage project and as such has some issues. In my testing the routing needed a lot of love, there are no voice prompts so you always have to look at the unit and the icons on the map are a bit confusing. What is the difference between the blue car, white ghost looking thing and green arrow? I have no idea, but it would switch between these icons from time to time while I was driving. The awarded points don’t update in real time so you may have to wait a couple of days to see where you’re at. Small things like these.
Nevertheless, Waze is a very cool app that gets more and more powerful as additional users get on the Waze network. This was ultimately the main cause of the demise of Dash, they were never able to reach critical mass. When it comes to social road networks, the more cars on the network, the more valuable it will be. With the app being available on the iPhone for free, I think Waze can do what Dash was unable to: build an intelligent GPS navigation system that allows me to find the quickest and easiest path to my destination. I am excited to see where this service goes! Worth the download, even in the Alpha stage. Hopefully the bugs can be worked out and we’ll end up with what Dash originally promised, but bigger, badder, better and free-er.
I have it for the Android G1 Phone and pretty cool…a lot to look at!
I really like this idea for one simple concept the ability to add hazards. Last year I kept hitting this pothole that nearly ruined my cars alignment. I thought why not have a quick simple piece of social software that would allow users to push a button and put a “pothole” waypoint on GPS. That way when driving you could have an alert of a pothole in the next 50 yards or something.
Of course I never got any farther than purchasing the potholewatch domain. Will be downloading this app shortly to my G1.