One of the Google Maps trends of 2019 was for Google to bring features from its second-best navigation app over to its top navigation app. Waze’s beloved crowdsourced incident reports have slowly made their way to Google Maps, although it’s still Waze that delivers a better experience to users looking for live information about the drive ahead. Now, Waze just got a brand new type of incident report that Google Maps should totally swipe.
Waze will now show you snow conditions in real-time, warning you if the road you plan to take hasn’t been plowed. Winter is here, after all, and this is the sort of information you should have on hand if you’re doing a lot of driving on unfamiliar routes. In turn, you’ll be able to report unplowed roads to help your fellow drivers.
The new feature will be available in over 185 countries, Waze explained, where it’ll be found on the Hazards menu under Weather — just look for the Unplowed Road report.
The feature is a result of the collaboration between Waze and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Waze said in its announcement. What’s interesting is that VDOT plans to make use of the data from Waze users this winter to improve its operations for winter. The department will monitor data from Waze users as well as people who are shoveling their driveways and sidewalks. In other words, installing Waze might be the best way to shovel snow this winter, at least in Virginia.
While this may be a feature developed under the Waze for Cities Data program, Google should also bring it to the Google Maps app in the future, as it may turn out to be an essential kind of feature to have on hand while driving during winter.
