AHM
NES Member
Working around server timeouts and dynamic clog evasion
Waze sometimes can't provide a routing over a long distance, or alternate routes over a modest (couple hundred miles) trip: you get server timeouts. In my experience, timeouts are more likely to happen during a heavy travel time (holiday weekends, rush hours...). If you successfully what-iffed a route from your house late at night, you may be in for a rude surprise when you try to drive it during the day.
Don't panic. The workaround: ask it to route you to some nearer place that you planned on hitting anyhow.
Example: Aug'14 I used Waze to drive from Metro West to Kitty Hawk, NC starting around 6:45AM on a Wednesday morning. It wouldn't even give me a single routing, let along suggest alternatives. So I told it to get me to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, off the end of the NJ Turnpike. By the time I stopped for breakfast at 9:15AM in Norwalk, it was willing to give me at least one routing to NC. And by the time I crossed the bridge into Delaware, it was willing to give me alternate routes.
Also, Waze will indeed tell you if traffic ahead has suddenly lengthened your trip by (say) 5+ minutes in one fell swoop; and it will automagically assign you a new routing if one exists that is better than the one that just started to suck. Say, if I-93 locks up all the way from 128 to Boston. However, it might not notify or re-route you if conditions are degrading gradually (i.e., like cooking a frog); you'll just notice your ETA keeps moving out and out. So stay aware of conditions - occasionally check the next 30-60 minutes of road ahead of you. You may discover that you want to bail on a routing: ask for alternatives, or add an intermediate waypoint that pointedly avoids the clog, or just drive onto your favorite alternate Like A Boss and Waze will eventually cope with it.
Note also that services like Waze are a big help if you are lucky enough to approach an exit ramp just as you spot a sea of brake lights in the distance. Even a wreck that just happened minutes earlier will appear on the map from the people that are closer to the scene. You can decide whether it's worth taking surface streets to wiggle past it, rather than stay boxed in waiting for the wreck to clear.
Waze sometimes can't provide a routing over a long distance, or alternate routes over a modest (couple hundred miles) trip: you get server timeouts. In my experience, timeouts are more likely to happen during a heavy travel time (holiday weekends, rush hours...). If you successfully what-iffed a route from your house late at night, you may be in for a rude surprise when you try to drive it during the day.
Don't panic. The workaround: ask it to route you to some nearer place that you planned on hitting anyhow.
Example: Aug'14 I used Waze to drive from Metro West to Kitty Hawk, NC starting around 6:45AM on a Wednesday morning. It wouldn't even give me a single routing, let along suggest alternatives. So I told it to get me to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, off the end of the NJ Turnpike. By the time I stopped for breakfast at 9:15AM in Norwalk, it was willing to give me at least one routing to NC. And by the time I crossed the bridge into Delaware, it was willing to give me alternate routes.
Also, Waze will indeed tell you if traffic ahead has suddenly lengthened your trip by (say) 5+ minutes in one fell swoop; and it will automagically assign you a new routing if one exists that is better than the one that just started to suck. Say, if I-93 locks up all the way from 128 to Boston. However, it might not notify or re-route you if conditions are degrading gradually (i.e., like cooking a frog); you'll just notice your ETA keeps moving out and out. So stay aware of conditions - occasionally check the next 30-60 minutes of road ahead of you. You may discover that you want to bail on a routing: ask for alternatives, or add an intermediate waypoint that pointedly avoids the clog, or just drive onto your favorite alternate Like A Boss and Waze will eventually cope with it.
Note also that services like Waze are a big help if you are lucky enough to approach an exit ramp just as you spot a sea of brake lights in the distance. Even a wreck that just happened minutes earlier will appear on the map from the people that are closer to the scene. You can decide whether it's worth taking surface streets to wiggle past it, rather than stay boxed in waiting for the wreck to clear.
