Waze Data Is Starting To Show Up In Google Maps

Back in June, Google spent an estimated $1.3 billion on Waze, a popular crowdsourced driving app. While both companies assured users Waze would remain a standalone app, many speculated the company's most powerful asset — millions of dutiful active users sharing real-time traffic updates — would be integrated into Google's already powerful map product.

According to some, that process has already begun. Google Maps is now alerting users to traffic accidents via Waze. Screenshots show that the rollout is happening across both Android and iOS. For Google, it's another series of data points that will help not only maps, but many of the company's forward-looking products like Google Now. For the competition, it's just another sign that the data gap between these services continues to grow.

Update: As some have pointed out, this isn't exactly a new rollout.