Google goes its own Waze

After much rumor and speculation Google seems to have won the bidding war with Facebook (if there really was one) and pulled the trigger on a purchase of beloved mapping program Waze.

If you have never used Waze then you are missing out. The service takes what Google Maps already offers and adds a bit of social to it. There is real-time traffic data, users alerts on other problems (including speed traps) and much more.”To help you outsmart traffic, today we’re excited to announce we’ve closed the acquisition of Waze. This fast-growing community of traffic-obsessed drivers is working together to find the best routes from home to work, every day”, announces Google.

The Waze product development team will remain in Israel and operate separately for now, but Google plans to slowly integrate the service into its Google Maps.

Perhaps the result will be the most comprehensive service yet. It certainly has all of the markings of such. The power and money of Google could take this a long way.