Category: Waze

As we wrapped up the year, we explored how traffic patterns changed in 2022 compared to 2021 when most of the country was still in lock-down. We worked with Waze to pull traffic data and found many Canadians have returned to the roads (Driving.ca). In some cities, office commutes experienced a huge jump (Hamilton Spectator/Toronto Star: Office commutes in Hamilton jump by 161 per cent over 10 months). Navigation to Niagara Falls increased by 94% in August 2022 compared to July (MobileSyrup). We arranged for Waze’s Andrew Stober to chat with Elias Makos on Montreal’s CJAD800 – In Transit – about traffic in the city.

Of course, we can’t talk about Canada in December without mentioning our winter weather. Right before Ontario’s first major snow storm in December, we reminded drivers about Waze’s unplowed road feature if they must venture out (Wheels.ca, Cambridge Today, Toronto Caribbean Newspaper). 

We recently worked with Waze’s Andrew Stober to secure a spot at Collision’s City Summit to talk about mobility and transit for a post-pandemic future. That panel sparked a story idea resulting in a more in-depth discussion with the Globe and Mail, during which Andrew was able to elaborate on what rush hour will look like across Canada as restrictions ease.

StratAmp worked with the City of Calgary and Waze to get the data-sharing partnership news out to national and local news media (e.g. CBC, CTV, The Logic), tech sites (e.g. ITWC, MobileSyrup), municipal outlets (e.g. MIN), automotive publications (e.g. Canadian AutoWorld) and Chinese dailies (e.g. Sing Tao).

As cities around the world began moving toward reopening in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Waze announced it would welcome people back to the roads with a refreshed brand identity and new Moods to inject even more fun into every drive. We prebriefed select outlets on the news, including Mobile Syrup.

Waze uses driver input to help plan routes but it also relies on a global community of volunteers who edit maps and improve the user experience. To raise awareness of the 60,000-strong Waze community, StrategicAmpersand brought Driving.ca, MobileSyrup and L’actualite to a gathering of map editors in Miami for the North American Mega Meetup. Media spoke with dozens of Waze staff and volunteers and came away with a new understanding of what makes Waze different, resulting in nine stories in the weeks following the event.