14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Google and Waze announced new features for Android users who take advantage of the navigation capabilities of the Google Maps and Waze applications on their devices.
The announcement comes not long after Google purchased Waze, and is meant to provide users with a better experience when using said software on their mobile phones or tablet PCs.
To be more precise, each of the two updated applications now takes advantage of features and capabilities that the other app has to offer.
Thus, Waze’s crowdsourcing has been borrowed by Google Maps in order to provide users with real time incident reports, Brian McClendon, VP, Google Maps, notes in a recent blog post.
Regardless of whether they involve accidents, construction, road closures and more, these reports that have been submitted to Waze will also appear in Google Maps for Android. (You can go and download Google Maps for Android from Softpedia).
However, the feature is available only in a limited number of countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, UK and the US.
When it comes to Waze users, they will be able to take advantage of Google Search in the latest flavor of the application, currently available for download as version 3.7.2.0. (You can download Waze 3.7.2.0 for Android from Softpedia today).
“Google Search joins a host of other search providers featured on Waze, from Foursquare to Yelp, making it easy to find favorite businesses, home addresses and more,” Waze explains in a blog post.
Furthermore, the company unveiled the fact that map editors will now be able to access Google Maps Street View and satellite imagery as tools in the Waze Map Editor, which should make it easier for them to correct map errors that the community has been reporting on.
In addition to Android users, people who use Google Maps and Waze on their iOS devices can also take advantage of these features, the two companies announced.