[TheRetroGuy]

I'm still learning (and getting used to) all the gadgets in my G20, and aside from short trips haven't really had a chance to put Waze vs. BMW nav to the test.

Just wondering which one navigates better overall? I'm sure they're neck and neck in many situations. I would tend to prefer using the in car nav to route, while using Waze for alerts (mostly for the benefit of the arrows on the HUD and the mini map in the gauge cluster).

But I've heard some say the traffic is better in Waze. Does this hold true even if I keep the hotspot subscription active (not sure if it receives all the traffic data via satellite or if Internet access to the car improves that).

Are there pros or cons to one or the other (with regard to routing I mean) or do they all route you to the destination just as effectively?

[Burrcold]

Waze is much better. Real time traffic is more up to date, and the re-routing is so much better. Sucks that we can't see the turn by turn on the HUD though.

[VipinLJ]

My wife and I had this exact discussion today on a 1.5hr drive. We almost always use waze on her phone and the nav in the car set simultaneously. 100% of the times, both waze and the nav showed the same routes.
I didn’t want to take toll routes today and we set waze to take us via toll free roads. I forgot to turn it off in my car’s nav and obviously it showed different routes. But on the way back, I turned it off in the car’s system and again, it showed the exact same route.
So basically, both my car and waze show the same routes under similar circumstances.

Regarding traffic, I’m not very sure since most of my drives requiring nav was when there wasn’t any traffic.

Both my wife and I love the navigation system in the new BMW so much better than in our Audis and the F25.

[TheRetroGuy]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

Waze is much better. Real time traffic is more up to date, and the re-routing is so much better. Sucks that we can't see the turn by turn on the HUD though.

Curious if you have mobile hotspot + data plan? I'm wondering if that would make a difference in traffic update response time.

[TheRetroGuy]

Originally Posted by VipinLJ

My wife and I had this exact discussion today on a 1.5hr drive. We almost always use waze on her phone and the nav in the car set simultaneously. 100% of the times, both waze and the nav showed the same routes.
I didn’t want to take toll routes today and we set waze to take us via toll free roads. I forgot to turn it off in my car’s nav and obviously it showed different routes. But on the way back, I turned it off in the car’s system and again, it showed the exact same route.
So basically, both my car and waze show the same routes under similar circumstances.

Regarding traffic, I’m not very sure since most of my drives requiring nav was when there wasn’t any traffic.

Both my wife and I love the navigation system in the new BMW so much better than in our Audis and the F25.

The nav is nice in the G20. First built-in nav system I've had where I was didn't mind ditching my portable Garmin.

Only thing is (and this is the BMW personal assistant and not the nav system itself)... when requesting directions by voice, clicking the microphone button is fast but "hey BMW" has a slow response time.. the HUD will tell you to start speaking the request, and as soon as you do the assistant finally starts asking what she can help with in the middle of your sentence being awkward and leading to input errors. I think I will just turn off the wake word feature altogether for that reason.

UPDATE -- disregard the above. The voice command entry problems were my lack of practice with the way BMW takes voice commands versus my Garmin unit. The Garmin worked best when I issued the wake command then waited for audible feedback (a beep) by pausing between the wake command and the directions. The BMW voice command entry works best when you speak the wake command without waiting, like "Hey BMW, take me to 456 Main Street...." etc. What a joy the nav system is to use once you get used to it! Just things like "Hey BMW, turn on split screen" are incredibly useful. That level of integration makes me want to choose it over Waze/Carplay.... not that carplay in itself is less than awesome, and no doubt I will continue to run Waze for the alerts.

[phillyd2]

Now that Google Maps also has Waze alerts its gets my vote for the best. Hopefully one day the info will be displayed in the HUD.

[TheRetroGuy]

Originally Posted by phillyd2

Now that Google Maps also has Waze alerts its gets my vote for the best. Hopefully one day the info will be displayed in the HUD.

I thought Google bought Waze, and thus both used Google map data?

[Burrcold]

Google does own Waze but the same police notification and crash updates are definitely not as updated as on Waze (there would be no reason for Google to keep Waze around if it was to totally redundant in features).

[achk]

I use the native navigation- prefer the direction and map schematics showing up on the HUD. But I also have Waze open in the background through CarPlay to alert me the presence of police/speed cameras.

The native BMW navigation is by far the most accurate and best in terms of routing of all the built-in navigation unit I've experienced.

[bacampbe]

Originally Posted by achk

I use the native navigation- prefer the direction and map schematics showing up on the HUD. But I also have Waze open in the background through CarPlay to alert me the presence of police/speed cameras.

The native BMW navigation is by far the most accurate and best in terms of routing of all the built-in navigation unit I've experienced.

What version of iOS are you using? We are still waiting for our G20 to arrive, but I used to do that on my m240i. But since iOS 13.x, I've had problems with Waze shutting down when I switch to display the iDrive nav. Hopefully it will work better with iDrive 7.

[achk]

Originally Posted by bacampbe

What version of iOS are you using? We are still waiting for our G20 to arrive, but I used to do that on my m240i. But since iOS 13.x, I've had problems with Waze shutting down when I switch to display the iDrive nav. Hopefully it will work better with iDrive 7.

IOS 13.1.1 - CarPlay and Waze works well in the background. I also use Spotify via CarPlay and music info/ album arts are all displayed on idrive 7 screens.

[phillyd2]

Originally Posted by TheRetroGuy

I thought Google bought Waze, and thus both used Google map data?

They did but the actual maps are still different.

Originally Posted by Burrcold

Google does own Waze but the same police notification and crash updates are definitely not as updated as on Waze (there would be no reason for Google to keep Waze around if it was to totally redundant in features).

Are you sure about the alerts? All I've read is that Waze alerts are now available in Google Maps but never saw reference to them being different or limited.

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by phillyd2

Are you sure about the alerts? All I've read is that Waze alerts are now available in Google Maps but never saw reference to them being different or limited.

A lot of the alerts from Waze are on Google Maps but somehow either the timing of the reporting, or frequency of reporting, is not the same. I've tested this having Google Maps running on Apple CarPlay and my wife sitting beside me running Waze on her phone. Waze was had far more reports of construction, accidents, police, etc. and it seemed quicker to respond to redirection based on these.

It could be that Google is slowly integrating these options from Waze to not completely alienate their fanbase, but eventually I don't see the point of having them both if Google Maps will have the exact same details (but better visual maps).

[phillyd2]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

A lot of the alerts from Waze are on Google Maps but somehow either the timing of the reporting, or frequency of reporting, is not the same. I've tested this having Google Maps running on Apple CarPlay and my wife sitting beside me running Waze on her phone. Waze was had far more reports of construction, accidents, police, etc. and it seemed quicker to respond to redirection based on these.

It could be that Google is slowly integrating these options from Waze to not completely alienate their fanbase, but eventually I don't see the point of having them both if Google Maps will have the exact same details (but better visual maps).

Maybe I’ll test it too but it just seems strange because the alerts are out there so either google maps also shows them or it doesn’t.