Waze Sued For Allegedly Stealing Map Data

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Who knew there was this kind of competition in the world of mapping?

Google and its mapping service Waze are being dragged to court over allegations that Waze stole data from a rival's map database. The lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court on Tuesday by PhantomAlert alleges that the navigation app used proprietary data from PhantomAlert without permission.
 
isn't waze's information totally crowd sourced? how can they prove that it wasn't some random user that put in the "fake" data?
 
What is there to steal? Reviews for PhantomAlert on Google Play store have the common complaint that the data is inaccurate. Maybe PhantomAlert should be stealing data from Google/Waze if they're going to charge customers a subscription.
 
ml_paladin888 said:
isn't waze's information totally crowd sourced? how can they prove that it wasn't some random user that put in the "fake" data?
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The current conditions reported by Waze users are completely crowd sourced. This is referring to points of interest / place names on the map itself.
 
I think you can map roads on Waze as well. I know you can edit roads, or segments of roads.
 
I had a buddy who wanted to be a cartologist for some reason. He told me how crazy competitive and protective businesses and other cartographer were about their maps. They would put fake roads and landmarks in hopes of catching someone who was trying to just copy their work.
 
I assumed that Waze got its map info from Google... since Google owns Waze...

Why would they need to get info elsewhere?
 
TheGamerZ said:
I assumed that Waze got its map info from Google... since Google owns Waze...

Why would they need to get info elsewhere?
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Before google bought waze they had a basemap.
Google licenses their map starting at 10k a year. For a startup that's a significant cost right off the bat. There are open source maps such as open street maps, but their POI data is a bit lacking.
 
Mapping companies are worth huge $s right now. I strongly suggest reading recent financial news on this topic if you are interested. We are talking billions of dollars with world conglomerates and consortium of businesses vying for the few available players. Going about this one your own is not easy. Remember Apple maps?
 
There's a ton of map editors on Waze so there's a lot of feedback to try and keep maps to up to date. For example, my neighborhood is brand new so we weren't on the map so I put it in so I could input my home address easily. If there's a log of someone editing a specific area, there probably isn't a case here.
 
Waze should find a way to keep people from posting fake accident points to screw with people and force traffic into other points they should never go.
 
Methadras said:
Waze should find a way to keep people from posting fake accident points to screw with people and force traffic into other points they should never go.
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Where does this happen at? In my area, I have not seen anything like that happening.
 
Methadras said:
Waze should find a way to keep people from posting fake accident points to screw with people and force traffic into other points they should never go.
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You realize this doesn't actually happen right? People just downvote BS data on the map. Also people who have a lot of upvoted information posts have more weight carried by their new posts. One person can't just go get on Waze and screw up everyone.
 
1% represent! Yep you can't screw with traffic conditions since people will down vote you and negate your report. I'm in the 1% because I'm always reporting reliable traffic conditions so there's more weight given to my reports over others. Those people who keep posting bullshit reports? As they keep constantly putting "Not there" reports, it's a matter of time before Waze regards you as a bad reporter and you just won't appear on the map except to yourself.
 
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