Satellite navigators can now be used on all new smartphones and mobile phones and have practically solved the problem of the best route to get to any destination by car. The strength of the satellite navigator lies in the GPS which detects the geographical position in any part of the world and, thanks to the maps of roads, allows the software to always find the shortest or fastest way.
All of this is beautiful, unless there is no traffic, which no satellite navigator can still predict and report.
The big producers of software for satellite and cellular navigators like TomTom provide a traffic information service in real time, however, upon payment of a subscription which is also quite expensive.
Waze is now widespread also in Italy, the free gps navigator for smartphones, which allows you to check, via gps and via the internet, real-time traffic on the roads around the world and also the Italian ones.
READ ALSO: Guide to Waze to always get there first
I'm not talking about the traditional websites on which to see the traffic situation in real time, which is still very useful, but just a program to be installed on mobile phones and completely free .
Especially those who live in cities like Rome and Milan, where most of the time is lost in traffic, bottled up in congested streets, must absolutely start using Waze .
Waze is also perfect for finding petrol stations with the lowest price, with user reports.
Waze is a completely free and subscription- free satellite navigation software that provides an overview of real-time traffic .
Waze can be installed on Android and IPhone mobile phones and smartphones as well as Windows Mobile, Symbian and Blackberry, which support GPS navigation.
Waze is structured like a social network, there is no central authority that informs about road traffic, all the surveys are provided by the same motorists who share them online.
All users who register become wazers, inquire about traffic and communicate (automatically) their situation in case they are bottled or stopped in a queue on some road or highway.
It is therefore clear that in Italy, the success of Waze, already widely used in other parts of the world, depends on how much it is used.
So I want to advertise enthusiastically about this new service because if it were also used by a thousand people in every city, it would become really useful and indispensable to know how traffic is going, in real time.
After downloading the application for your mobile phone, you enable the GPS and you see the map that is constantly updated according to the measurements sent by other users .
The application learns intelligently according to the data collected via GPS anonymously and based on the information that is sent.
Basically, depending on which road you take, if you slow down too much a red line appears behind the car drawn on the map of Waze that is seen by everyone else.
If there is an accident or a roadblock for works, then you can manually intervene and report this block.
If the machine is stopped, chat is automatically enabled (provided by Chit-Chat) with which you can chat and communicate with other users.
Waze is also free because it does not use proprietary maps, there is no Google Maps underneath and neither Teleatlas (Tom Tom) or Navteq, the maps are drawn directly by users' movements, semi-automatically.
Waze's intelligence lies in tracing the roads on the map by himself following the route one takes with the car.
By adding up the various experiences of the wazers and processing the information in a coherent way, the maps continuously update themselves, always providing the real situation and without the risk of finding oneself with changed one-way streets or roads closed for work.
From a technical point of view, Waze is a little gem that works like most gpd road navigation software.
The graphics are basic but very nice and nice to see both 2D and 3D.
There are voice commands even if limited to "turn right" or "turn left".
There are the POIs or points of interest, including speed cameras, the presence of the police, patrols and breathalyzers that are reported by users.
You can send a photograph directly on the social network about the road situation in which you are.
There is also a social localization game where you score more points and travel different paths.
Like any satellite navigator, it also calculates the best routes to get to your destination by car.
The Waze Live maps can also be viewed via the internet from the PC, to check traffic and see the surveys sent by users via the internet (not from GPS).
In short, if you own one of the supported mobile phones or smartphones, do not hesitate to access the Waze download and install this free browser capable of giving real-time traffic information and becoming a fun social pastime when you get stuck in traffic.
In 2013 Waze was purchased by Google for a billion dollars and some of its functions are now integrated in Google Maps (see: Preview route on Google Maps, info on accidents and roadworks and photo tours)
