The best navigation apps for your summer road trip
The best navigation apps for your summer road trip
Planning a route is easier than ever with the latest sat-nav tech built into our smartphones. But, with a plethora of apps out there, which one works the best?
To find out, Peter Vardy has tested some of the most popular navigation apps, by analysing several popular road trip routes in the UK, Ireland & US, alongside testing random street addresses to see how accurate the sat-nav app was at pinpointing specific locations, and to reveal the best apps to use on your road trip.
The best navigation apps as voted by Reddit
Peter Vardy analysed popular Reddit threads in some of Reddit’s favourite communities boasting 1.9 million members in total. These are the navigation apps with the highest share of upvotes analysed:
With more than half the upvotes (54%) (126), Waze scored top place amongst drivers. Following in second place is Google Maps with 28% of upvotes.
Surprisingly, Here WeGo a map software originally developed by Nokia with 10 million + downloads on the Google Play store, secured 11% (26) upvotes, that’s more than Apple Maps (2.1%) with 1 billion users around the world, and TomTom (1.3%) - one of the first satellite navigation companies.
So, now we know the top four navigation apps; Waze, Google Maps, Here WeGo, and Apple Maps, let’s see how well they fare when we put them to the test for your road trip.
Waze is the only app that works better in the UK
When testing out popular road trips in the UK and US, Waze worked the best in the UK with the app providing traffic and road updates on 80% of UK routes, whereas in the US, just 69% of traffic and road conditions were identified by the app.
Although Waze is owned by Google, the technology seems miles apart with Google Maps recognising 60% of traffic and road conditions on UK routes in our testing. It proved significantly better on US roads, however, establishing 85%.
Interestingly, Apple Maps scored identically to Google overall for both US and UK. But, what Apple Maps fell slightly behind on is location inaccuracies on UK road trips. The app wrongly indicated that Inverness Castle was permanently closed, and the pinpoint was off. So, if you’re planning a road trip in the UK this Summer or beyond, you might want to use Waze, as it will keep you the most up-to-date with traffic and road conditions.
These two apps have the most accurate timings
When following a popular road trip route, you don’t necessarily care for the quickest route as you are enjoying the journey. With that in mind, we tracked 10 popular road trips in the UK, Ireland & US into Reddit’s four most popular navigation apps, to find out which map has the most accurate timings.
We analysed each app’s estimated journey time, then calculated the average time from all four apps and for each route, to compare each app to the average. We’ve uncovered that Google Maps has the most correct timings, scoring 28 points (out of 40) for being the closest to the average time on each route. Falling not far behind is Waze in second place with 25 points.
For that reason, if you’re wanting to know how long a journey will take, or perhaps you need to let someone know your ETA, you would be best off using Waze or Google.
Here WeGo’s time estimation is off target 40% of the time
Likewise, if you’re wanting a good estimate of how long a journey will be, Here WeGo’s time estimation might not be the most accurate.
When we averaged all road trip route timings from all four apps, Here WeGo’s timings was off by 13%. The number of occasions the map software was the furthest from the average was 40% of the time.
However, although the app’s time estimation is out, the map technology is one of the best at providing traffic updates. Here WeGo gave traffic updates on 86% of the routes, scoring joint first place alongside Google Maps.
Waze, followed by Google Maps, had the most location inaccuracies
To uncover just how accurate each navigation app is for street addresses, rather than general locations, we plugged random addresses into each app. Apple had no location inaccuracies for street addresses whereas Here WeGo had 25% location errors, where the pinpoint was incorrect.
However, the app that had the most address gaffes was Waze with the map pinpointing locations inaccurately 50% of the time. Google Maps had the second most inaccurate locations at 38%. Hence, if you’re driving to a specific location, you might want to use Apple Maps for the most accurate door-to-door pinpoint.
But, Waze and Google Maps are marginally better at other aspects than the other apps, with Google Maps being the best for time estimation. So, depending on your preferences you might want to stick with them.
Waze gives updates on 90% of road conditions
Although Waze has the most location inaccuracies, it does lead the way in keeping you the most updated on road conditions. Of the roadworks and other road conditions identified, Waze recognised 90% of them.
Waze relies on its users to update the map and let drivers know what’s ahead. Not only does it utilise user data, it pulls roadwork data from one.network, a roadworks management system that has up-to-date information on roadworks.
The map that updated road conditions the least is Google Maps providing 20% of road updates overall, with the app detecting 0 road updates in the UK.
If you’re a US user, you’ll probably find Google Maps’ updates on roads just enough, as all the road updates the app found were on US routes.
Best infotainment systems as voted by Reddit
So, hopefully, you have found the best navigation app for your road trip. But, which car brand infotainment system comes out on top, and which will work best with your map, or will keep you the most entertained on your road trip?
To find out, Peter Vardy scoured popular Reddit threads in communities that amass over 5.1 million members. These are the infotainment systems with the highest share of upvotes analysed:
BMW’s iDrive system comes out on top according to car fans with the system gaining 15% (306) of the upvotes. Members cited they liked the mixture of touchscreen and physical buttons, not to mention it's intuitive and easy to use.
Tesla’s infotainment is the second-best with 13% (272) of upvotes. Drivers noted the impressive performance of the Tesla touchscreen which works incredibly fast, alongside being easy to use.
The third top car infotainment system is Mazda’s with 8% (160) of upvotes. Members mentioned they liked the performance with great displays and graphics, not to mention it's intuitive to use.
Methodology
We uncovered the most popular road trips in the UK, Ireland & US by looking at Instagram data on 16th - 17th March 2023, these were:
- Wild Atlantic Highway
- NC500
- Cheddar Gorge
- Elan Valley
- Snake Pass
- Route 66
- Highway 1
- Natchez Trace Parkway
- Hana Highway
- Dalton Highway
We then tested 10 of the routes in four of the popular navigation apps: Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze and Here WeGo. We analysed the app for timings (looked at the average journey time for all four apps, and compared each app’s journey time to the average), location accuracy (if the app provided up to date information on opening hours and provided accurate pinpoints), traffic (if the app correctly identified traffic on routes) and road updates (if the app the provided up to date information on roadworks, speed cameras, road closures).
To see how accurate each app was for specific street addresses, we used a random address generator that supplies real random addresses and then tested these in the four apps. Routes and addresses were tested 16th - 18th March 2023.
To find out the popular navigation apps, Peter Vardy analysed 233 ‘upvotes’ (likes or agreements) to Reddit comments in threads across three Reddit communities (r/AskUK, r/CarPlay, r/AndroidAuto) altogether boasting 1.9 million members.
To reveal the best infotainment systems, 2,082 ‘upvotes’ were analysed to Reddit comments in threads across three Reddit communities (r/Cars, r/What Car Should I Buy, r/Ask Car Guys) boasting 5.1 million members altogether.