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from the shortest-distance-between-two-points dept.
An L.A. Councilman is attempting to blame the application Waze for neighborhood "cut-throughs", where people divert to side streets during traffic congestion.
In his view this is a new phenomenon that has never happened before, although it is widespread around the world and has been so for many years, certainly existing long before 'apps' became popular. The councilor is planning on using a data sharing agreement with Waze in order to strong-arm the application into becoming less useful, which will not solve the problem because people will just use other applications, and those with local knowledge will still know the quickest route from A to B.
The popularity of Waze is largely because it helps drivers avoid delays and to find alternative routes based on the the reports received from other drivers. Applying the measures that the councilor is hoping for will neuter the app completely, rendering it pointless. However, the councilor does make one good point - there are more pedestrian safety facilities (e.g. crossing points, barriers etc) on major routes and that the practice might lead to increased casualty rates in residential areas.
(Score: 2) by Aichon on Thursday April 30 2015, @03:03PM
He might be able to strong-arm Waze (whomever that happens to be) but he won't be able to fight off their "competition". Be it Google Maps
Waze is owned by Google. It used to be an independent, crowd-sourced map app and database that relied on users to supply traffic info and map updates, but Google bought it out a few years back so that it could integrate Waze's traffic information and more up-to-date map info into Google Maps. They kept Waze around as a separate product, however.
So, if you're thinking that this councilman can't hold off Google...well, that fight is already on his doorstep.