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-   -   Waze or GPS in Spain (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/waze-or-gps-in-spain-1659654/)

iuaustin Oct 27th, 2018 08:30 AM

Waze or GPS in Spain
 
Does Waze work in Andalucia? It was a great help during our trip to Costa Rica and wondered if it is used in Spain as well?

If not, other suggestion for GPS app?

Thanks in advance!

phillyboy Oct 27th, 2018 08:43 AM

Don't know if Waze will or won't work, however, we used Google maps in Spain this past July, and it worked fine.

hetismij2 Oct 27th, 2018 09:04 AM

The problem with Waze is you have to have an internet connection for it to work. Unless you have a good roaming deal (or an EU phone) it will cost you a fortune to use Waze on your phone.
Use Google Maps and download the areas you are visiting before you travel, then set it to off line use, or download Here We Go and download either all of Spain or the areas you are visiting, and again use it off line.

twk Oct 27th, 2018 09:55 AM


Originally Posted by hetismij2 (Post 16815734)
The problem with Waze is you have to have an internet connection for it to work. Unless you have a good roaming deal (or an EU phone) it will cost you a fortune to use Waze on your phone.
Use Google Maps and download the areas you are visiting before you travel, then set it to off line use, or download Here We Go and download either all of Spain or the areas you are visiting, and again use it off line.

This. I brought a Garmin GPS unit, which I prefer to use over my phone, but when I got in a jam a couple of times, I resorted to Google Maps for a second opinion (not with pre-downloaded maps) and it ate through data quickly. I had purchased a pre-paid SIM card and actually had to add a little additional data at the end of the trip due to the map use. If you are going to rely on a phone app for all your navigation, you're either going to need to use the pre-downloaded maps or be ready to pay for a lot of data.

joan Oct 27th, 2018 10:23 AM

Just back from renting a car in Andalucia. Google maps worked great (we have Sprint so we had free data). Did you know that Google bought Waze, and now the incident/traffic feature is being incorporated into Google maps? We also pre-downloaded the offline maps for the region, but really didn't lose connectivity too much.

jelle Oct 27th, 2018 11:11 AM


Originally Posted by iuaustin (Post 16815713)
Does Waze work in Andalucia? It was a great help during our trip to Costa Rica and wondered if it is used in Spain as well?

If not, other suggestion for GPS app?

Thanks in advance!

I suggest using google maps again ,since waze is not that popular in spain.
So there are no benefits of using waze.

jelle Oct 27th, 2018 11:18 AM

I suggest using google maps since waze is not popular in spain so there are no benefits of using it.

ribeirasacra Oct 27th, 2018 12:31 PM


waze is not popular in spain
How do you come to that conclusion?

iuaustin Oct 28th, 2018 04:50 AM

Thanks everyone! We have T-Mobile with free International data, so as long as there is connectivity, we will can utilize data.

I also created a Google Map with driving directions, points of interest, etc, that I will download. Hoping that the maps are up to date and the roads are correct LOL!

bvlenci Oct 28th, 2018 09:31 AM

I recently visited the US using a very basic international plan from my Italian provider, which allowed a small amount of data each day for €3. In order not to risk using up that limited data quota, I downloaded Google Maps for the area where were staying. This is the first time I've done this, and it gave me all the GPS services I needed without using data at all. The area covered was about 50 miles in each direction from where we were staying. The one thing you don't get is up-to-date traffic information.

In the future, I'm going to do the same for travel in areas in Italy where I know cell service is spotty.

Robert2016 Oct 29th, 2018 09:51 AM

Waze
 
Yes, Waze works, but I wouldn't bother using it anywhere near a big city where there is traffic. Too many updates in heavy traffic, which can be confusing when you're driving in a place you're not familiar with.

We have T-Mobile, and use both the Google mapping and the Apple Maps, which works just as good as Google IMO. If fact, Google can be downright irritating at times. With either map app you can update your directions as you move along. Both offer the latest info in real time, and are excellent when walking around any city.


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