Why does Waze give a time estimate for this road trip two hours lower than Google Maps?
Google Maps: 13 hours, 5 minutes
Waze: 11 hours, 15 minutes
Pretty much the same path. Screenshots taken at the time, and both programs consider the traffic information.
What accounts for such a time estimate difference? Knowing this will help my scheduling.
Best Answer
Google Maps is "right" (only if no stops or traffic). Waze is wrong.
I've driven that exact route (Seattle to/from Bay Area via I-5) a couple dozen times. Only once did I manage 13 hours, and that was with only light traffic, literally no stops except for gas (2 brief stops), and consistently 5-10 MPH above the posted limit (which is what most of the rest of the cars were doing).
More typical is around 15-16 hours. That gives time for stretch breaks, stops for food, and possible traffic in the Seattle, Portland, and SF metro areas.
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Why do Waze and Google Maps have different times?
> The main difference between Waze and Google Maps is that Waze uses real time traffic data. Google Maps has real time traffic data and the accuracy is staggering.Is Waze more accurate than Google?
Both Google Maps and Waze have good parts, as well as their share of issues. Google Maps seems to be more reliable, accurate and has better real-time traffic, whereas Waze has a larger army of fans who think the app is amazing who love its voice prompts feature. However, updates caused issues for both apps.Is Waze travel time accurate?
When Wazers keep the app open, they implicitly tell us the current speed on a specific stretch of the road. We take the real-time updates and the historical information and blend them together in a mathematical equation designed to calculate your most likely speed. Then we use that speed to estimate your real-time ETA.Is Waze quicker than Google Maps?
Both show a red or yellow line depending on the level of traffic, and both offer alternative routes if the traffic is heavy (though Waze will do this much faster than Google). Both can display the same information, including roadworks, accidents, conditions, and speed cameras.How Waze \u0026 Google Maps Estimate Your ETA
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Answer 2
An additional possible answer is Competition.
When a smartphone user uses Waze and another app, if they find Waze provides them with a marginally faster route, they'll presume that Waze has a better routing algorithm (at least for that route), and thus choose to use Waze for that route. And so Waze gets more usage hours and advertising revenue.
To achieve this marginally faster route, the Waze routing algorithm may use different metrics and may also apply a scaling to the result. Though there is no real way to verify this without taking a look at the source code...
Answer 3
In the Waze app, navigate to Settings > Speedometer. In there, you'll see you can configure a speeding threshold, which is by default 5% above the speed limit. This will account for some, but not all, of the reduction in time taken as indicated by Waze.
Try setting this to As speed limit, and then re-plan the journey in Waze.
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