Anybody Using WAZE? Create a VOI12 Group - To "See" Each Other on the Road

[ROCKET62]

So I was introduced to WAZE a couple of weeks ago and got to thinking how it could potentially be used for those traveling to VOI12. For those that are unfamiliar with Waze, it is a community based GPS based navigation and traffic application for your smart phone. Here is the link to their home page: http://www.waze.com/

In looking at the Waze website, we could potentially create a VOI12 group and for all of those that joined/followed the group, you could in effect "see" other Vipers near you. I have a pretty open schedule with a few stops along the way and it would be great to hook up with other Vipers along the way. Waze also recommends that you set up a separate facebook or twitter account as part of the process.

Possible downside - I don't see if it's possible to create a private group - as it looks like anyone using Waze could search for a nearby group and then follow. The group feature is buried down a few menu's and not very intuitive, so it may not be an issue, but I was just trying to think about some of the potential issues.

Thoughts - or other ideas? I was thinking it would be really pretty cool as you could watch those en-route to Charlotte for VOI.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

That is way cool to be able to see where everyone is and how and where they are moving along! I hope the club will want to pick up on this.

 

[v10enomous]

I loaded WAZE on my DroidX a week ago just to try something other than Google Nav and it seems sorta klunky and the audio voice directions hardly ever work. The functionality seems slick if it functions properly. It could be my first gen DROIDx that's the problem too.

 

[ROCKET62]

V10E - I also have a Droid X and it does seem a bit buggy still. Really would be cool if we could get a number of people to try it so that we could watch everyone descend on Charlotte.

I loaded WAZE on my DroidX a week ago just to try something other than Google Nav and it seems sorta klunky and the audio voice directions hardly ever work. The functionality seems slick if it functions properly. It could be my first gen DROIDx that's the problem too.

 

[Mad Max]

Thoughts - or other ideas? I was thinking it would be really pretty cool as you could watch those en-route to Charlotte for VOI.

I was thinking the exact same thing. I've been testing it out to make sure it worked OK before saying something. I've got an iPhone and it seems to work pretty well. Have you created a group yet? Let me know and we can work on this together if you would like and do some more testing. I think I like the navigation better than my TomTom. It appears to have a way to 'chat' with other users however I've not had anyone reply to my requests, I've only tried a couple of times.

 

[Bonkers]

BindoGPS also claims to be able to track multiple phones/friends
as well, but I have not looked more into it myself. The only issue
I would see with such an app is would it be able to
track/catalog/transmit what could end up being a couple of
hundred sources on a single group cluster? Would our phones
be able to handle that much continuous data without melting
down?

At the very least it would be awesome tool to have - hope it
works out by the end of the month.

 

[Mad Max]

I've setup a group on WAZE. It is VOI 2012 if anyone wants to check it out. I've not been able to find anyone to test it out with me. It will show other users on the map and you can click on them to send a message. I've tried sending messages to several people however no one answers back. Not sure it it is working or not. Maybe they are just ignoring me!!

My user name on there is Viper-GTS. My screen name from here was already taken. It might be good if we could use screen names from here and use VOI as a prefix. ie VOI Mad Max.

Any thoughts or interest?

 

[InjectTheVenom]

I hope these things work with a Samsung Galaxy S3 because I just got one this morning and would love to get involved with testing stuff.

 

[Bonkers]

Ive tried WAZE, can't find any VOI or Viper contact in
search. Its very not user friendly...

 

[Mad Max]

If you already have setup an account this is how you can get to the groups. Once the map is up tap the button at the bottom left of the screen, then select My Waze, on that screen groups should be the 3rd selection, selcet it, on the top of that screen there is a search icon, tap that then tap the search box and type in VOI, at the very bottom left of the keyboard is the search button, tap it and it should bring up the group I created, VOI 2012. Hope this helps. These instructions work on an iPhone not sure about others.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

They don't on my Galaxy S3.

 

[Mad Max]

They don't on my Galaxy S3.

That's a bummer!!

What about the app refered to above? BindoGPS.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Can't even find that one with Samsung Apps.

 

[ROCKET62]

I also tried to locate your VOI 2012 group and could not locate it. Not sure if this meant that no one from the group was logged onto waze or if I could not find it.

As a test, I created "Voi12" as a group and will leave waze active on my phone to see if someone else can "see" me in bettendorf, ia.

This does have potential - just need to work the bugs out.

If you already have setup an account this is how you can get to the groups. Once the map is up tap the button at the bottom left of the screen, then select My Waze, on that screen groups should be the 3rd selection, selcet it, on the top of that screen there is a search icon, tap that then tap the search box and type in VOI, at the very bottom left of the keyboard is the search button, tap it and it should bring up the group I created, VOI 2012. Hope this helps. These instructions work on an iPhone not sure about others.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Rocket I will give it a try right after this message.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Nope nothing whatsoever, whichever combination I tried. Is there some kind of privacy setting that everybody is overlooking?

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Just created "Voi 12" (typed exactly like in between the marks with space and all).

 

[ROCKET62]

Just tried creating a group via the WAZE homepage instead of my phone. group name = voi12 .

???

 

[Mad Max]

I've done a group search for VOI 12 Voi 12 and came up with nothing.

 

[Mad Max]

I can see the group I created VOI 2012

 

[viper_itch]

I tried to create "VIO 2012" and it said it already exists.... but I can't search on it. Maybe it takes time to index and get it to the search servers?

 

[viper_itch]

I was able to search and find and join the Voi12 group using the website dashboard.

 

[Mad Max]

I was able to search and find and join the Voi12 group using the website dashboard.

I was able to join via the website, couldn't get it done on the iPhone.

 

[viper067]

I was also able to search, find, join via the website. Couldn't find the group from the iPhone app

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Website search is what also did it for me, found a group created by user "Jfg1742". Pretty weird that the app thingy doesn't work like it should. Where do we go from here do all the different caravan groups create their own website group and if so will the tracking function still work?

 

[viper_itch]

So now that I'm in the group what do I do? I can't seem to only show the group. I see tons of stuff I'm not interested in that I need to filter out.

 

[ROCKET62]

So now it looks like we have 6 people in the group. I did manage "my main group" and checked the star.

From the WAZE Website via my PC:

- My dashboard
- Create, Join, Manage Groups
- Clicked on the Star - which then turns gold
- message states "Main Group Selected"

(Your 'Main' group is the group that receives your reports + sets your group icon on map)
Main Group Selected​

I hoping this gets us closer ..... but we'll see ....

You must be registered for see images	Name: Rocket2009
Joined: Today

You must be registered for see images	Name: spdacr
Joined: 2 days ago

You must be registered for see images	Name: vkasacavage
Joined: 2 days ago

You must be registered for see images	Name: Viper-GTS
Joined: 2 days ago

You must be registered for see images	Name: venom-srt10
Joined: 2 days ago

You must be registered for see images	Name: Jfg1742
Joined: 3 days ago

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Yup that did it, just joined up also now to find out if the app will be able to find it because coming from Europe I will have to buy a US prepaid card for my Galaxy S3 or I'm paying an astronomical premium.

Maybe its a good idea to do a combined test to see if everyone can see the other to prove that it works? If it does then we need to get this out to all the VCA regions so that participation will (hopefully) be maximized, would be kinda cool if there is a way to record our travels for a VOI movie

 

[markk]

I joined as VOI_markk. I suspect the app only searches within a certain radius of your location. When I search for just "voi", it found 2 groups that had the word "avoid" in the description. Both groups are local to my location. I am now in the group voi12. I can't find a "VOI 2012" even on the website.

I suspect we will only be able to see the others in our group when they are actively running Waze on their mobile device.

 

[VYPR BYT 94]

I loaded WAZE on my DroidX a week ago just to try something other than Google Nav and it seems sorta klunky and the audio voice directions hardly ever work. The functionality seems slick if it functions properly. It could be my first gen DROIDx that's the problem too.

V10E - I also have a Droid X and it does seem a bit buggy still. Really would be cool if we could get a number of people to try it so that we could watch everyone descend on Charlotte.

Droid X here too. I had this on my phone a year ago and uninstalled it because it seemed too buggy. I went with "beat the traffic" instead. I'm sure waze is better now tahn back then.
I'll re-install the latest again.
Rocket... good idea with this.