Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
Choosing between Google Maps and Waze is easier than you think. Do you need an app that focuses on traffic navigation and will get you from your location to your destination as quickly as possible? Choose Waze. Do you want an app with a cleaner interface that will get you to your destination even if your data connection drops? Stick with Google Maps.
Waze focuses specifically on traffic navigation, while Google Maps is an all-in-one app that tries to provide users with a complete package of features.
I chose Google Maps primarily because I don’t like Waze’s cartoonish interface. The app looks like it was designed by children and sometimes it’s so cluttered, crammed with useless information that finding your location is much harder than it should be.
Google Maps offers a cleaner interface and what I like most is that it helps me navigate to a specific location after I park my car. If I need to walk to a place or building, Google Maps can guide me there after the trip ends, providing a comprehensive navigation experience to my destination.
However, I can’t admit that sometimes it’s so difficult to stick with Google Maps that the temptation to switch to Waze and do without all those extras is very strong.
First, the new navigation colors are still sometimes confusing.
Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
Google introduced a new color scheme in late 2023, abandoning the familiar look in favor of a more natural representation of the world. The new colors were not well received by users around the world, with many calling on the search giant to reverse the change.
This has not happened and the new colours remain. However, they do not always make sense and it is more difficult to follow a suggested route because the new colours are distracting and make it difficult to see the elements highlighted by Google Maps.
As you can see in this screenshot, I use Google Maps and CarPlay. Since I’m not supposed to look at the screen for too long, I need to understand everything the app says with just a glance. In the example above, I needed to get onto a highway and take the first exit, but the new colors, traffic information, and highlighted route made Google Maps difficult to read.
Although I was already familiar with the route, I can’t imagine how frustrating it can be to follow Google Maps and deal with all those similar colors when driving through a region for the first time.
Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
I like how Google Maps highlights real-time traffic on the map as it’s more subtle than Waze, which ultimately makes the interface cleaner, but I wish the app would use a more obvious marker for the end of a traffic jam.
Waze uses a rounded icon on the map, giving you more time to slow down when you’re approaching the last car in a traffic jam, while Google Maps sticks with the same-colored lines on the map. It’s harder to spot on the highway, so many drivers may have to slam on the brakes when they notice the traffic jam.
This is a big problem where I live because the motorway ends at a busy roundabout and the authorities, who are very involved here, don’t mind the traffic jam, which is sometimes up to three kilometers long. Cars approach the end of the roundabout at high speed and although Google Maps highlights the heavy traffic on the map, you should be able to spot it more easily.
Photo: Reddit user deadheaddraven
Someone on Reddit recently highlighted another little detail that could be of great importance in the fight against Waze.
Google Maps on Android Auto looks awful at times, with the boxes on the screen covering a large portion of the map and pushing navigation to the outer edges of the interface.
A navigation app should be all about the map and the directions the user needs to follow. But the huge information boxes that Google Maps displays on the screen to highlight the navigation data and the next turn make no sense. The user’s location and highlighted route are pushed to a corner of the screen, and Google Maps is all about the navigation tiles, which offer no customization options and are ridiculously large.
This doesn’t happen on all devices, but I’ve seen it reported more frequently on Android Auto, and that doesn’t make much sense. Navigation on Android Auto should be more convenient, and that’s the purpose of the phone mirroring system in the first place. Android Auto allows users to connect their smartphones to their cars, giving them a larger screen to observe data, including navigation, more easily.
What little thing about Google Maps annoys you and you wish Google would improve it better? Let me know in the comments section after the jump.
