On the road

Driving, driving, driving, driving, oh right, this article: Waze and Google. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

I’ve spent a heck of a lot of time driving long distances this week, so you’ll forgive me, I hope, for writing about driving.

Because when I spend hours on hours in the car, I often find myself running two real-time mapping programs on my phone at once: Google Maps and Waze.

Google Maps seems to be a better, faster-loading map program that shows alternate routes on long trips more quickly.

But Waze, which is actually owned by Google, has a feature I greatly appreciate: It lets other drivers warn of the locations of road hazards and police speed traps.

I'm not an especially lead-footed driver, but I'd still rather know where the cops are. It's been a very small first-world problem for me that Google didn't just combine both apps.

Last year however, Google announced the next best thing: drivers would be able to report hazards, slowdowns, and speed traps right on Google Maps.

There was only one problem.

It’s that Waze, unlike Google, has a bit of a renegede vibe.

And as a result, it’s attracte…