Waze 2.0 Combines Enhanced Gaming Elements with Smart Algorithms to Improve Global Driving Maps

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Waze, the first free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information, today announced a new version of its free navigation app to include fun gaming elements in addition to smart algorithms, so that waze maps all over the world are updated even quicker. The consumer application is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.

The new version adds more capabilities to waze’s already popular 'munching' game that encourages users to validate road driving directions as they drive around. The game will now be upgraded to munch ‘road goodies’ - cherries, hammers and small gift packages worth bonus points - that will be placed in areas where the waze system has identified map problems. The highest scoring ‘road goodies’ will be placed in locations with the most severe map issues, and as users drive around to munch these ‘goodies’, waze’s system will utilize the driver’s GPS data to analyze and automatically solve the identified problems.

“We find that users are very tuned in and excited about the idea of improving the map through gaming,” says Noam Bardin, waze’s CEO. “They can spend hours searching for roads that have not been driven yet, in order to gain points for munching the dots on the road, while simultaneously working to improve the map for the driving community in their area. It’s an extremely effective way to increase the quality of our maps, while also keeping our users fully engaged.”

How it works

Crowdsourced maps have dramatically shortened the months-long update cycles of the map industry giants, and waze has taken this concept one step further, to an even faster rate of map building and updating. Instead of relying on users who edit the map from their home computers, waze empowers anyone to build maps within a game-like environment, passively, as they drive around with the company’s free navigation app open on their smartphone.

While users drive, smart algorithms are used to analyze their GPS points and other driver-generated data, which is then converted into a grid of the roads, including turning and driving directions plus real-time traffic information. Users can also take an active role, filing traffic and hazard reports with a few easy clicks when not driving.

Waze Holiday Contest

In parallel to the launch of the new version, waze will be conducting a ‘Holiday High Points Challenge’ between November 25-30, just in time for the busiest driving time of the year, over the Thanksgiving holidays. The top three users who rack up the most points during this timeframe from munching ‘road goodies’ will receive Amazon gift card prizes in the amounts of $500, $300 and $200, respectively, to help out with their holiday shopping. Details can be found on the waze blog located at www.waze.com/blog.

About waze

Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it’s 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!

To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.