Google is making good on its promise to make its Maps app more comprehensive and useful following its acquisition of mapping company Waze, with some new traffic update features going live Tuesday….
Google is making good on its promise to make its Maps app more comprehensive and useful following its acquisition of mapping company Waze, with some new traffic update features going live Tuesday.
Now, users of the Maps app on Android- and iOS-based devices will have access to real-time incident reports from Waze users, Google Maps VP Brian McClendon said in a Tuesday blog post. That means that when people report accidents, construction, road closures and more on Waze, those updates will also appear within the Google Maps app in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S., Google said.
The integration between the two products is significant, said John Jackson, an industry analyst with IDC. While the new features for Google Maps probably will not attract new users in droves, they represent Google’s attempts to add richness to its mapping products and provide more context to users, he said.
Google announced its acquisition of the crowdsourced mapping app developer Waze in June, for a reported price of more than US$1 billion.
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