Waze has become an application for permanent consultation of Argentines: they not only use it to reach unknown places, but also to cover daily routes and thus avoid frequent bottlenecks.
The company registers 877,000 active monthly users in the Federal Capital, who use the app 1.20 hours on average every day. The peaks of connection are recorded during the frequent schedules of entry and exit of work: at 7 and at 18.
"The application is used more in large cities, where there are more bottlenecks." In Latin America, Argentina is one of Waze's main markets, "says Ariadna Travini, general director of operations of the company's local subsidiary, iProUP.
How does it work
Waze is a social traffic application, that is, it offers efficient routes based on the information generated by the users themselves about the status of traffic.
Only with driving while the app is connected to the Internet, the driver is collaborating, since Waze recognizes if the speed drops or stays a long time and uses that information to provide real-time data to the rest of the users about the traffic situation.
There is also a more active form of participation: the motorist can send alerts about what is happening in his journey. For example: potholes, works, demonstrations, accidents, broken traffic lights or other information that impacts traffic.
Ariadna Travini, General Director of Operations of Waze in Argentina
In addition, Waze uses the latest technological trends to interpret this data and provide the best possible routes.
"The routing algorithm is a combination of automatic learning (machine learning) and human support, we take into account all the data we have and try to find the most efficient route, based on the routes, the historical speeds and in real time, the incidents, the road, map quality and other multiple entrances ", explains Travini.
According to the executive, the purpose of this algorithm is "to find the best balance between speed, safety and 'inconvenience caused to the user', such as getting on and off the highway to save 10 seconds."
Being free, the application monetizes, thanks to Waze Ads, its own advertising platform. "In this way, brands can be in the ideal place and time to direct potential consumers to their premises," says Travini.
The executive assures that the personnel of the company in Argentina includes an important sales team, although she did not give more details about the amount of people working in the company at a global level.
On the other hand, he points out that the app does not compete with Google Maps. "Actually, they complement each other and share information," he emphasizes, while clarifying that both apps belong to Google.
"Each has a different purpose, Waze is aimed at drivers who want to know the best route for their destinations, it also feeds from the community that integrates it, while Google Maps has the necessary information for people to locate a point in the map, "said Travini.
Joint work
The repeated cuts of streets by protests usually take by surprise and put bad humor to Buenos Aires drivers.
"All the big cities of the world, such as Buenos Aires, have demonstrations and cuts for works, since Waze we work with strategic partners to anticipate and improve the mobility of cities," the executive said.
In this sense, Travini adds that "Waze has created free tools and agreements such as the Connected Citizens Program (CCP)," which promotes the strategic vision of more than 600 transport departments and municipalities worldwide " .
In addition, they offer their Broadcast program, which helps TV channels, radios and online media to report live traffic.
CCP is present in 185 cities around the world, where there is an exchange of information between the company and local governments to provide real-time data on the maps and thus improve traffic.
"The program provides municipalities with an unprecedented vision of street conditions in real time, while allowing them to take advantage of the data provided by drivers to improve vehicle congestion and take concrete actions that impact the communities." Travini account to iProUP.
In Latin America, 22% of the municipalities and companies that participate in CPC correspond to the country. The cities of La Plata, Santa Fe and Salta, and the Smart Cities Organization ATLAS are some of the 24 Argentine partners.
"The information provided is anonymous and bi-directional, on the one hand, drivers provide real-time data on any incident or speed changes on the routes, and on the other hand, CCP partners share information on government works, cuts and closures. of routes to have one of the most precise, complete and updated visions of the state of the streets ", explains Travini.
Not only maps
One of the options most valued by users of other GPS services (such as Garmin or applications compatible with their maps) is the possibility of receiving alerts before the so-called "dangerous areas".
However, Waze's approach to this functionality is based more on the information provided by governments than on the contributions of users.
"The road is public and everyone has the right to travel, Waze can not determine what kind of routes to take, if at any time, the government decides to have roads not allowed, Waze will be docked, but we can not discriminate different streets or areas of the country, "says Travini.
However, he adds that the feature was temporarily enabled in Rio de Janeiro, during the Olympic Games, so that tourists receive alerts if they went to places with high levels of crime, after an agreement with Brazilian authorities.
In Israel, on the other hand, the function is permanently activated in those areas defined as "controlled areas" at the request of the government of that country.
In addition, Waze enables integration with other services so that users can improve their driving experience. Some of them are Spotify, Scribd and TuneIn, which allow you to listen to music, audio books and radios without being distracted.
"Waze allows you to tune your favorite songs and change them from the application, without having to change the platform and be able to pay more attention to the map and the road that is being traveled," says Travini.
In this case, the company offers Waze Transport SDK, a development kit so that the firm's partners can integrate their applications within the social GPS screen itself.
"Using the SDK, allied companies can improve their service by using the ETA (estimated arrival time), the turn-by-turn navigation and preferred routes, all this reducing the friction of having to switch between applications," he says.
The executive points out that there are other functions besides the street guide. For example, Travini highlights the following characteristics:
- It is possible to share with Waze friends or Facebook the location in real time so they can calculate when it will reach its destination.
- Silent alerts: although there are audible alarms that warn about traffic conditions, it is possible to deactivate them to drive silently.
- Voice commands: to prevent the driver from taking his hands off the wheel, the app recognizes spoken commands.
- Personalization: Waze can better understand the needs of the user when entering the type of vehicle (private, taxi or motorcycle) or if you want to avoid routes with tolls or dangerous junctions, among other issues.
- Avoid fines: you can set an alert so that the app warns the driver if it is passing the speed limits.
Finally, before the consultation of iProUP on Waze Carpool, a service that allows a driver to take other users of the application to the same destination and thus share the cost of the trip, Travini said he has not yet released in Argentina .
