Navigation Apps: Getting to the Gig!
In the wake of Mapquest, three main navigation apps now dominate smartphone users’ devices. Musicians rely on navigation apps (as well as good old fashioned common sense) to make their way from venue to venue, and crucially, to help plan their days. As with anything else, timing is everything. We hope this article will shed some light on one preferred workflow which utilizes the big three for some navigation hacks for musicians.
Waze:
The mobile app Waze has an even better version of what the desktop version of Google Maps offers: estimated (but pretty dang accurate) time-to-destination based on average daily traffic at specific times. While neither solution is perfect, Waze gives you a thorough breakdown of the estimated time it will take to get from either your current destination, or a destination of your choosing to your end point. You get a whole breakdown of the expected time based on when you need to arrive. If, like many musicians, you have a packed schedule and lots of car time, this feature will change the way you are able to plan your days. Before I knew about this feature, I would have to check the travel time the day before at the same time of day, a poor option seeing as things could vary widely if you are checking on Saturday night for a gig on Sunday night, or checking Friday at noon for a gig on Saturday at noon. Furthermore, Google Maps (on desktop) gives you a massive window of possible timing, sometimes as much as two or three hours. This is not usefully if you have closely planned events.
Waze’s predictive traffic feature lets you choose day of the week, starting destination, and intended time of arrival. While startlingly accurate, it is still best to leave yourself a bit of extra cushion.
Cons:
While Waze does excel in traffic prediction and navigation guidance, one area that it falls short in is interface and reliability. The app is more affected than others by changes in network signal strength and flexibility in that regard. The app also crashes, at as of this writing, noticeably more often than others.
Summary:
Waze is my go-to for trip planning, but not for in-car real-time navigation. One situation it might help in is when severe traffic stikes out of the blue. Waze can get creative and provide you with a crafty route you would not have otherwise found, but in 99% of situations, Google Maps is my #1 choice.
Google Maps:
Whether you are on Android or iPhone, Google Maps can do an excellent job of moving you from point A to point B. GMaps stands out for its flexibility, search functions, Google Suite integration, and overall stability. When planning a trip with more than one stop, WaZe and Apple Maps can only accommodate one additional destination. Google Maps, on the other hand, can add as many stops as you need, and will show you the amount of time your entire route will take, factoring in traffic and all the other variables it always includes. For me, this makes GMaps the perfect tool for day of the gig times when perhaps you are making pit stops between home and your venue of the day. GMaps makes it easy to add that stop at the music store, cafe, and gas station, all while keeping your original endpoint locked in. Exiting Navigation Mode, you can also easily rearrange the stops on your trip if you add something else to your list or change your
Cons:
The only noticeable bug I have noticed so far is the need to occasionally restart your app when doing a multi-stop trip. This however does not happen often and is less than a minor annoyance. Another annoyance was recently solved in an IOS update. GMaps now behaves just like Apple Maps, with the blue navigation bar shortcut up top the screen when in Navigate mode.
Summary:
I am a huge fan of the way Google Maps ties into your app ecosystem if you also are on Gmail and Google Calendar. Of course Google has become all powerful, but as far as I am concerned, the benefits do outweigh the costs overall.
Apple Maps:
Until recently, Apple Maps did have the best stability and IOS integration of any maps app. Since Waze and GMaps received their bright blue top bar\, Apple Maps, in my opinion, moves to the back of the line for now. We should take a moment to acknowledge what it does well and does attract users. A 3D map visualizer makes it almost videogame-like and does give you a sense of accomplishment navigating the streets.
Cons:
There is no commute feature in Apple Maps as there now is in Google Maps, for those with a steady “day gig.” Most importantly for traveling musicians, there is no historical traffic planning available as in the other two apps.
In Conclusion:
Freelance musicians are true road warriors; we log many hours on the road, and in our cars, sometimes up to 72 hours a month! So for sure, it is crucial that we develop a smoothly efficient map workflow. From this writer’s perspective Waze is the perfect tool for advanced trip planning, while Google Maps takes the cake for real-time navigation app of choice because of the ease of adding multiple stops and its overall reliability.
We hope this article helps make your gigging/teaching/planning life better! Don’t forget to comment with any hacks that make your life on the road easier and let us know what is working for you!