I am not a fan of location software such as Tom Tom devices, although I have to say they can be useful on long journeys. My gripe with them is that drivers in particular can become just too reliant on them rather than using a map or set of instructions.
Moreover, mistakes do happen as one user, Benjamin Gleitzman, found when his location app sent him down the wrong road. In fact, apparently there wasn’t a road, which made things worse.
However, rather than make a complaint about it Mr. Gleitzman did something different – he logged into the app called Waze, then left a note to other users who might find themselves in the same position.
Although this may seem such a small gesture, it apparently spawned something unexpected. Hundreds of Waze users have been doing the same thing, resulting in a kind of people’s map.
Speaking with google.com, Benjamin Gleitzman said: “I can see that it gets incrementally better every day.”
Waze is apparently an open source mapping project that began operations in 2006 in Israel. The resultant Android application is now used by around 14 million drivers.
The CEO of the company that created the location software, Noam Bardin said: “Our goal in life is to save you five minutes a day on your way to work. It became very clear this is going to be the way to map the world.”
Interestingly, the idea of creating open source mapping technology was originally that of a UK programmer.
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