Just last week a buddy at work turned me on to the Waze app. Since we both drive for a living I was intrigued on how this might differ from Google map which I generally use when I'm working. To those unfamiliar with the Waze app the app differs mainly because it is "interactive" with the users telling other users "what ups ahead". With just a quick press of a few buttons you can inform others where there are speed traps, accidents, heavy traffic, police presence and many other things. When you do this the app leaves an icon for said incident at the exact spot on the map that others using the app will be able to see. The app then sends a pop up on the screen to people who are approaching informing them of the incident ( as they get close to the incident , usually within a half mile ). As someone who drives for a living I found this to be absolutely marvelous. Now apparently a lot of people use this app because I'm seeing notifications of everything there is on the road. I've been saved a number of times now by the app informing me of speed cameras or police on the side of the road.

Just the other day I had the idea; "What if the Waze app had a setting that would allow cyclists to transmit a moving GPS signal informing anyone using the app that a "Cyclist" is up ahead! That would be Awesome!. Yeah, not everyone uses the app but for those that do they would get a verbal warning and an icon on their screen informing them a cyclist is ahead. Anyway, I thought it would be a cool idea. Of course for it to work a cyclist would either need to be using the Waze app on their phone or a special device provided to transmit the GPS signal to other waze users. I thought it might be a good enough idea to write to the people who created the app to see if they might think my idea is something that might be doable in the future....Your thoughts?

Interesting. However, my understanding is that earthbound GPS units, like the Garmin on my handlebar, receive GPS signals from satellites. The Garmin doesn't transmit anything.

We used the WAZE app during our evacuation of Hurricane Irma. We left with my daughter's family, her inlaws and us. That app became invaluable during the trip out of Florida and more so for the return trip. It was used in all three vehicles and saved us hours of waiting in a congested interstate by giving us workarounds and shortcuts.You may want to send the developers your idea to see if they can add a cyclist icon so those using the app. Although it's a excellent app when traveling on interstates and highways, I don't know how useful it will be and how many people use in when driving in city traffic.

Interesting idea.

You could probably use an Internet data connection through your mobile phone to transmit your GPS coordinates. The main issue would be that you are moving, and this would require constant updating of your GPS location. People report incidents via the Waze app where these incidents are in fixed locations so the processing burden for Waze's servers is not too great I imagine.

^^This^^

I suppose it would get to be quite annoying if lots of cyclists were showing their position on Waze, with too many warnings.

I transmit a signal directly to the approaching motorist, with no app needed.
My Cygolite 150 is bright enough to show up even in sunlight.

This.

Waze isn't designed to be a tracking app.

It provides notifications of things that are stationary.

It also uses positions (and speed) of its users to determine traffic flow. Waze certainly is reporting the GPS coordinates of its users back to its servers.

It reports approximate location of "wazers" but there is no contract that says the location is accurate. It seems unlikely that Waze would have any interest in making that contract.

Yes, obviously the Waze app currently isn't designed to track but some apps do. I'm just pointing out the possibilities. From what I understand there is already devices ( or apps ) that can track a group of cyclists and show each user where everyone is...although you don't know who is who as it just shows positions.

I think this could be done if the people who designed the Waze app chose to create an updated version. The device or app would likely only update your ( the cyclist ) position every 30 sec or so when moving and only every minute or so when sitting still. The person that said there would be too many notifications on the screen if moving cyclists were shown doesn't realize how that is so untrue. First, not every cyclist would be using it ( how many cyclist use lights when needed ) and second, since I drive for a living I don't see cyclists on every road I drive every day. In an urban environment this could change but like every app the users of the app could likely choose to turn off notifications of moving cyclists or just to remove the icon ( or vise-versa ). That said I don't think many people would do that, particularly if they themselves cycle.

The down side is that not every car on the road is going to be using the Waze app and even the ones that are might not see/hear the warning prompts if they are talking on the phone or playing music loud. What's interesting about the idea is that it could also be expanded for things like, "Moving ERV's, school buses", things we are most concerned about when it comes to protecting human lives.

Looking a bit forward, if such a device or application existed it might even start to be included into newer vehicles much like OnStar and GPS is. I figure it this way; If you can tolerate prompts from the current app the occasional prompt for a cyclist isn't going to bother you. Even if only 20% of the vehicles on the road were using it that could be a major step in promoting the safety and lives of the everyday road cyclist.

And as the driver has their eyes on their phone, they hit a cyclist because they were distracted looking at waze for a cyclist.

If you're the driver of a motor vehicle, no denying almost anything you can do with a phone can be distracting..."IF"...you are interacting with the device "physically". Now if you are one of those people who have a problem changing radio stations on your car radio, pressing the power buttons on your windows or sunroof, adjusting the mirrors, changing the fan speed, playing a CD, answering a phone call on your blue tooth....(need I go on? )....and safely controlling your vehicle at the same time then yes, interacting with the Waze app could be dangerous. On the other hand "interaction" isn't a requirement with the Waze app. If you want you can turn it on and just use it just like any GPS or map app and just let the other people tell you where everything is. Looking at the map screen is no different than looking at the speedometer, GPS screen, clock or any one of your car mirrors. No need to stare at the screen, a quick glance does the trick.

All things considered I would think the positive element of letting ( possibly ) hundreds of people know there is a cyclist on the road ahead of them would far outweigh the negative element of some nincompoop possibly losing control of their vehicle because they can't chew gum and drive at the same time. Regardless if there's an app or not, people will continue to use their phones while they drive whether they know there are cyclist's on the road or not and some will no doubt even hit cyclists. Nothing will change that fact and while I can't speak for others I personally would like knowing that at least some people driving a car or truck might have access to a navigational tool on their phone that gives them a "heads-up" that I'm a quarter mile ahead of them riding a bike on the side of the road.

I've thought about this from a slightly different angle. There are places I ride thru where a "Cyclist Ahead" notification on Waze would be an invitation to find and harass said cyclist.

But, how about an alert when there is an organized cycling event? The route is established, DOT and local police have issued permits as needed. Why not a notification "This route is going to be clogged with bicyclists today, wouldn't you rather use that empty road over there that might add 5 minutes to your drive"?

Waze would see slow moving cyclists and report a traffic jam.

Assuming a new innovated app was designed, why would you think it would report your presence as a traffic jam since if you are on your bike you are registering in as a cyclist? That said I took a ride last night using the current app and I saw no indication that the app thought there was a traffic jam. Whatever the app is using to judge traffic I believe it operates the same way the Google map app does...satellite perhaps or maybe it just looks at all the GPS signatures of all the Google map / android users and averages out the speed for a current segment of road. Whatever, one bike going down the road at 15 mph shouldn't do much to change that. Keep in mind many people carry their phones with them even when cycling so if it doesn't change anything now there should be no difference in how the app judges traffic flow.

Said by Podagrower: > I think that's taking paranoia to another level. I'm sure there are psychos out there but I tend not to worry too much about them. In all honesty though I'd be more worried about some run-of-the-muck stressed out / inattentive driver running me over thinking he could ride the shoulder to get around a slow moving driver than some psycho hunting down cyclists. Either way stuff like that you can't change. Best you can do is just hope psycho dude doesn't come knocking on your door one day.. Just remember if there was an app that could set you apart as a cyclist you wouldn't have to use that option if you didn't want to.

Wouldn't be that hard to program.

A funny thing happened today while I was using the current version of the Waze app. I'm driving down Interstate 95 and a warning pops up on my phone screen informing me that, "An animal is on the side of the road ahead". Having never seen that warning before I was assuming a deer, dog or some other animal was trying to cross the interstate. It was rush hour and cars were bumper to bumper on a section of highway usually packed with cars that time of day....As I approach the area of the warning icon ( on the screen ) I'm scanning my eyes right and left when suddenly I catch movement to my right....It took a moment for me to make the mental connection but when I did I started LMAO. Along the side of the Interstate was an old and raggedy looking homeless guy just walking along the shoulder of the highway. Waze has no icon button for humans walking on the side of the road but they do have one for animals....While it might have seemed to be a bit crude I just couldn't help but laugh at the thought that someone had the idea to do that. ( FWIW, it did get the guy noticed. Walking along an Interstate is illegal and also very dangerous ).

Funny thing happened last night while I was riding my bike. I was using the Waze app just so I wouldn't make a wrong turn on one of the back roads I was on when about half way into my ride when the Waze app sends me a pop up asking me if I'm in a traffic jam. ( wtf) I just cleared the pop up as there was no click on for a no answer.

Another strange thing happened on this ride too ( Late night ride ) but not related to the Waze app. When I had finished my ride and was loading my bike onto my car rack, some guy in a car comes riding by and starts yelling something at me. As he continued to drive on he made a turn at a stop sign and continued yelling something. I couldn't make out anything he said and for the most part I just ignored the whole thing but I can't help but wonder sometimes what makes people yell stuff at complete strangers for no reason at all.

As a cyclist, what do I want to be notified about that is up ahead? I can't think of anything except maybe impassable traffic, but I don't encounter that often. In the city, I know there is always a cyclist ahead as long as I'm breathing. Really, we are very common here. In the country where we spend weekends, if I learned there is a cyclist ahead, what am I supposed to do, wave? I do, so how will the warning help me?

Maybe he was just curious. Waze users show up with their identity for other users. You were going much slower than a car but he probably thought that’s what you were.

FWIW, Waze uses the google traffic and geographic database. Google acquired them in 2013. It's an awesome tool, been using it for several years now.


J.

In answer to your first question; How about your next turn ( it's a navigation app ), closed road, crash ahead on side of road, car on side of road or heavy traffic. In answer to your second question; If a newer version of the Waze app were to do just what I said it would, the user would get the typical warnings. What you do with the added information depends on the person. Wave if that makes you feel better. As a cyclist I'm just happy if no one is hitting me or running me off the road. Of course biggest advantage for the cyclists is that the motorists that use the app would get a heads-up/warning whenever a cyclist is about to enter their 12:00 position. ( or perhaps if they are approaching from behind while the cars are stuck in traffic )...that would be cool.

I don't plan on using the current Waze app for cycling. I have other apps that are better for navigation / route planning. Of course if there ever was to be an app like the one I described I'm sure it would give the cyclist the option of letting others see their presence ( via GPS ) even if they weren't using the app ( or letting it run in the background ). Of course there would have to be some fail safes because I'm sure some goof ball would set it for "bike" and then get in their car and drive. An automatic cutoff at 25 mph could work. The current app detects speed very well.

Something else the current Waze app told me just the other day; I was driving through a particular town when a small pop-up informed me that there were over 50K users of the app in the area I was driving through. While I'm sure that didn't mean they were all on-line at the moment I thought it interesting. BTW it was a somewhat rural area / small town.

Such earth-shattering news! I'm so glad they thought that was more important than letting you pay attention to the road.

As for cyclist notifications, there have already been a ton of complaints in the Waze forums about the lack of configurability of the notifications; it's all or nothing, which in some areas means a steady stream of "vehicle on shoulder" and "red light camera ahead" announcements.
If a car is on the shoulder while I'm driving, why would I need to be notified of it? And just how should knowledge of the existence of a red light camera change my driving at all? I'm not going around looking for non-camera-equipped lights to blow through.

You could get to a point where you are driving whilst constantly looking at your phone all the time to see if the Waze app is warning you of something.

There is also another solution to this question. Many car manufacturers have already adopted technology to recognise cyclists and pedestrians via cameras mounted on the windscreen of the car, coupled to appropriate software systems. On my car, for example, the onboard cameras will detect pedestrians and cyclists ahead of me and monitor my approach speed towards them. If the computers determine that I am on a collision course with them then the car will alert me with a visual and audible notification. If I don’t react then the car will apply the brakes as best as it can to avoid a collision with a pedestrian or cyclist.

I think this is an excellent system and does not rely on having a data connection. It does not distract you in any way during normal driving. It just sits there watching the road ahead and only makes its presence felt when you are on a collision course.

Sounds like a winner to me. I would think though it better if the camera was mounted higher. If mounted on the grill of the car I would think that to be a bit low. Still, I'm thinking such a system likely comes at a premium price.

My bad, seems the info on how many people are using it in an area only comes up when you first turn on the app. It appears at the bottom of the screen for a couple seconds. Probably been doing it since I first started using it but I just never noticed it before.

If some app doesn't work for you then you don't use it. I drive for a living. My personal phone, which I use for navigation, is mounted on my dash. I don't take phone calls on my phone when I'm driving. I look at the screen no more than I do my speedometer or my mirrors. The Waze app I just let run on the screen but I do interact with it from time to time. I have a wireless hand-held device and a push to talk phone for my job which I have to interact with as well when I'm driving so I'm used to doing things I'd rather not be bothered with when driving.

I like knowing if there's a speed camera, police car, construction, accident or heavy traffic on the road ahead when I'm driving. Certain notifications give a voice warning. Those work real well. If I program in a destination the app will give me options if it detects heavy traffic, I like that. Of course not everyone needs this information. For me it can mean the difference between getting to the desired client destination on time or missing the scheduled time window.

Knowing there is a car on the shoulder can be quite useful, particularly if it is near an off or yield ramp ( or at night ) Sometimes those cars ( which were stopped ) decide to enter back onto the road way. Doesn't hurt to get a prompt letting you know where they are. If it bothers the user than you can choose not to use the app or just ignore the prompts. In the mean time there are other people who use the app or likely use other apps having to do with navigation. Funny but I view Waze as the modern day C.B. radio network only instead of direct voice contact with other drivers you have an app that just gives you the pertinent information. Given a choice, I'd take the app over the chatter of a two-way radio any day.

Anyway, I wasn't intending to promote the app. I just thought it would be nice if an app ( like Waze ) existed that would also included moving cyclist when giving notifications.