Traffic jam when you are already late? With the updated iOS version of the Waze navigation app, you will now be able to tell how long you are going to be stuck (cue Alanis music).
Waze recently just released its Version 3.9.4 for iOS devices that include iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. This latest version has been updated with a new traffic bar. This new feature is basically designed to track a user's progress when caught in a traffic jam. In other words, it gives the user some idea of how much time it will take for him to escape the gridlock, based on how slowly the traffic moves along.
Although Waze is relatively new, it has picked up quite a following among users with its crowdsourcing approach to providing traffic directions amongst the people who use it. Indeed, drivers who installed the app in their mobile devices can provide tips on traffic conditions, status of roads, changes in routes, and other useful traffic information, to fellow app users in real time. This makes Waze somewhat more helpful compared to your basic global positioning system (GPS) or the usual navigation apps that only offer static (and even unupdated) data. Waze has since caught the attention of the big leagues, with tech powerhouse Google acquiring it back in June of 2013, and even incorporated some of Waze's real time notifications to the popular Google Maps. In return, the Waze app also got to add Google Street View and satellite images to its Waze Map Editor.
The latest version of Waze also has another feature that offers users a confirmation whenever they send somebody else an estimated time of arrival (ETA) when they are on their way to a specific location.
Another feature allows users to utilize voice commands in order to gather data on which route the Waze app is taking to reach a particular destination. Moreover, users will discover that the latest version of Waze now has better support for U-turns. Of course, Version 3.9.4 also comes with its set of the usual bug fixes.
The fact that the iOS version of the Waze app is getting an update should be good news for users of iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch devices. Furthermore, the update lets iOS users keep up with their Android counterparts, whose Waze app already incorporated the traffic bar as well as the other new features a month earlier.
