App should announce when alt route is used.

[MattHirsch]

Many of the routes I drive are extremely familiar to me. So, I know when to turn and where. I will ignore Waze if I know a better route that the one recommended. However, it's possible that Waze knows about traffic or other issues ahead, and is sending me an otherwise suboptimal or longer route for that reason. There should be a verbal and visual announcement built into the interface that tells me something like, "Waze is directing you around traffic ahead," or "Construction ahead, Waze is re-routing you," etc. Because Waze makes mistakes still, I can't trust directions that seem illogical. However, if I knew it knew that there is normally a faster way, then I'd be able to make better decisions as to whether to follow the seemingly less direct path.

I find this hard to describe, so maybe this real scenario would help: I approach an intersection on my beach drive. Waze says go straight. All the signs, my older TomTom GPS, and my 20 years experience, say go left. The time shown on Waze to the destination is way longer than my normal route would take under normal conditions. I ignore Waze, and turn left. Waze attempts to U-turn me numerous times. I'm thinking, "I wonder if there is a issue ahead. Maybe I should turn around and go the other route, even if it says it will take 40 minutes more than I'm used to, because there's a huge construction zone or accident ahead. Why does it want me to go that way. It doesn't make sense."

In the above scenario, Waze was wrong. At some point, it stopped trying to get me to do a U-turn, and the time to destination plummeted to well below it's pre-turn estimate. But, again, I just don't have a visual indicator as to why Waze is picking a particular route. Is it the standard route, if there were no "issues" ahead, or is it some sort of a D-tour around an "issue".

Hope this helps. I think it would be hugely useful!

[txemt]

Maybe there's a disconnect in the road somewhere that needs to be taken care of. I was using Waze to drive from my parents' house in Austin to home in San Antonio. I decided to take a different route, although I knew the route (I wasn't going down I-35). About halfway home, Waze chimed in and said it had found a different route which was 5 minutes faster. At 1am, I couldn't imagine another route being faster, but I figured there must be something reported that is making Waze give me a different route. I, like you, went with what I know about the roads and kept and eye on the REPORTS to see if there was something that had happened.

Chances are, there may be a road disconnect or something that's not quite right about the map. Or it could even have been traffic.

[gordonski]

I totally agree with MattHirsch.

The point is waze does choose strange routes from time to time.
In these cases I think "why the heck should I go that way?!" Last week Waze wanted me to leave the freeway and continue the remaining 20km of my trip through urban area. There was no traffic jam indicated ahead and when I decided to ignore Waze I did not encounter any unusual stuff. The next day, Waze suggested to take a freeway in the opposite direction than I had planned. Again I thought "what the ...?" and decided to take the freeway towards my destination. Well, I got stuck in a neat traffic jam which delayed my ETA by at least 30 minutes. Waze probably hab something better in mind!

Waze reports ETA changes in a pop-up. I too think that it would be pretty cool if Waze could announce something like "Traffic is building up ahaed, calculating new route." Or even state right from the start that there is traffic on the regular route which will be circumnavigated. Then we would know whether Waze chooses an uncommon routing due to map problems or sheer randomness, or whether the divertion actually makes sense because of the current traffic situation.

Gordonski

[txemt]

Waze doesn't state, but it shows you what's on your route when you first start it up.

[gordonski]

Waze doesn't state, but it shows you what's on your route when you first start it up.

Correct, but when it chooses an unconventional route to avoid traffic in the first place, then there's nothing on this calculated route. And Waze still leaves me wondering why I should follow that particular route...

[CBenson]

I too think that it would be pretty cool if Waze could announce something like "Traffic is building up ahaed, calculating new route."

Waze does this for me, quite frequently.

[AndyPoms]

I too think that it would be pretty cool if Waze could announce something like "Traffic is building up ahaed, calculating new route."

Waze does this for me, quite frequently.

I get "traffic is building up ahead, new ETA +[3] minutes" as well as "there is a better route available, recalculating" all the time too...