Nevertheless, I usually have at least two navigation systems operating at the same time.
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Subaru Nav System. This is not my car or map. |
The Subaru navigation isn't bad, and we added the traffic subscription feature, but some features are lacking. The traffic feature doesn't seem very smart, especially about congested streets vs highways. I'm usually on congested streets, and that's a bigger problem for me. And entering stuff into the Subaru navigation is a bear. You can't do it on the fly, you have to do it by the dumb touchscreen, etc. I have made errors entering information multiple times. The other thing is that the Nav system is outdated info. So if something is closed or a bridge is out-- it doesn't know.

Yes, data-driven driving. Very 2019 of me!

But that was a while ago, and now that my Apple Watch
I have been wondering which app is the best, and lo and behold, the internet provided some fruit.
A guy named Arturrr has been doing a nearly year-long navigation test. To read his full results, you should check out his blog: https://arturrr.com/2018/02/19/navigation-apps/amp/
He does a great and thorough job of explaining his methodology (he's in the SF bay area, he takes a lot of short trips, etc)
His findings:
1) Apple Maps is conservative in its estimates, meaning you often arrive faster than it says you will.
2) Waze and Google Maps are overly optimistic about arrival time.
3) Google Maps had consistently shorter routes (timewise) than Waze or Apple Maps.
Of course, the maps/travel times for the Chicago area could be way different, and (as they say, and this time it's literal--Your Mileage May Vary) Nevertheless, this has definitley made me think about giving Google Maps a second look.
How about you? What Nav system/app do you use? Please let me know (along with any nav horror stories) in the comments!
2 comments:
Dedicated Waze user. I find it's the best interface of the three. Doesn't Google Maps use Waze? I thought it bought it.
Google did buy Waze, and I think does use their crowdsourced data, but Google Maps doesn't do all of the reporting stuff or the gamifying. There's no social community there.
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