Google Maps for iOS Updated with Real-Time Incident Reports From Waze

Google has updated its iOS and Android maps application, implementing the technology it recently picked up with Waze. This is great news for Google Maps users, since their route will be updated based on the real-time incident reports from Waze users.

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As the blog post points out, the feature rollout is currently limited to certain countries, and unfortunately Canada is not included . . . yet.

Users of Google Maps for Mobile will now benefit from real time incident reports from Waze users. This means when Wazers report accidents, construction, road closures and more on Waze, the updates will also appear on the Google Maps app for Android and iOS in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, UK and the US.

In addition to the announced Google Maps feature update, the search giant has also announced through the Waze blog that the Waze apps for both iOS and Android have been updated with Google search, and the Waze Map Editor now includes Google Street View.

First, if you’ve updated the app recently, you may have noticed we’ve incorporated the power of Google Search to the mix. Google Search joins a host of other search providers featured on Waze, from Foursquare to Yelp, making it easy to find favorite businesses, home addresses and more.

We have something new for our map editors, too – the Waze Map Editor will now include Google Maps Street View and satellite imagery as tools to make it easier to correct map errors reported by the community.

With these features already rolling out, Google is raising the bar high for Apple’s Maps application. The company has recently patented a Waze-like, crowd-sourced traffic and navigations data feature, but only time will tell if it will be integrated into the application.

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