The best app for driving directions (Google, Apple or Waze)

The world of navigation apps has evolved many times. From times where we had road maps, that soon changed to us printing directions out, we’ve changed once more to navigation apps. Ever since we started to use navigation apps the real question now has changed to “ which navigation app is better?” Today we’ll be looking at three big players for navigation. We have Google Maps, Apple Maps, and an app called Waze that serves as an alternative to the other two. Which one is better? Let’s look at them.

Google Maps

Hands down, Google has been in this game for decades. Ever since we started to print directions it more than likely came from Google Maps. Furthermore, Google has a wealth of money and other resources that map the entire world. We’ve seen them before. You know. The Google cars.

From those cars alone, they have driven collectively roughly seven million miles in order to take 360-degree shots, capturing 99 per cent of the public roads in the US.

To top all that, Google has been using that exact same formula all across the world. They’ve also been working on creating detailed 3D images in highly-populated and tourist spots. With that, you can zoom out and you can see a computer-rendered model of the area. You can use this to see the shapes and sizes of buildings.

Because Google has been making massive leaps and bounds, it makes sense that Google will take the gold as the best driving directions app out there. That being said, there is still some worth looking at the others. Not every person is freely using google maps for all their navigation needs after all.

Waze

Coming a close second is Waze. Waze, coincidentally enough, is actually owned by Google since 2013. Bought out by the parent company, Alphabet, Waze stands on its own two feet to provide a nice alternative to Google Map between and Apple Maps. The only kind of connection between these two apps have is the reason they got bought out. Waze gave Google Maps the traffic alert system that’s available on Google Maps.

With this in mind, you can get an idea of how this app actually works. Its main gimmick is these kinds of traffic alerts, but they do it in a different way. First of all, you need to make an account through Waze in order to access the app. From there the app then looks for any other users, called “Wazers”. This creates a social element to the app that you won’t find on Google Maps and Apple Maps.

Thanks to this social connection, the map and directions actually get updated based on what people are saying. If there is heavy construction or some other kind of detour, the directions get updated.

All in all, Waze has a lot of other bells and whistles to it that can be quite useful for you. Give it a shot.

Apple Maps

Before iOS 6, Apple smartphones were using Google Maps as the default navigation app. After that, Apple decided to launch their own app with abysmal results. Like most new apps, the app had a lot of bugs and inaccuracies in the first few years of launch. By this point, the app has smoothed out since then and Apple continues to make improvements and enhancements to it. And it’s been paying off.

Out of the three, Apple Maps has the most visually pleasing design. The look is subjective of course, but the design gives off an elegant sort of vibe which is in the nature of Apple to do. Also, Apple has a lot of integration into daily life. This is the case with Waze and Google, however, one thing to note is Google stays within the Google family, whereas with Apple, they go outside of it. For example, Apple can integrate with OpenTable for making reservations at reservations, ride-sharing apps and also be integrating with Apple Pay so you can pay for those services right then and there.

There’s that and more that you can use with Apple Maps.

Who’s The Best?

Even though Google has put a lot of effort into making a quality navigation app, the other two still have their own benefits that Google Maps can’t quite match up to. Each app has their own uses and there is a lot more to them than what has been described in this post.