Google Maps ' renowned feature Google Traffic, which displays traffic conditions in real-time on cities' main roads, has recently been expanded to Egypt.
While the service is very popular among drivers and commuters around the world, Cairo's especially problematic traffic has fueled local solutions for years, starting with the popular app, Bey2ollak .
Now that Google Traffic is available in Egypt after eight years of a trafficless Google Maps, comparisons are being made between the two, with some speculating that users will sway to one side more than the other. Despite their similarities however, they offer a different set of services and operate in different ways.
Google Traffic's simple interface uses red, orange and green colors to indicate the condition of traffic from severely congested to moderately congested to clear, as well as estimates time of arrival based on the live updates and suggests alternative routes.
Another advantage for Google is that its traffic feature is present in Google Maps, a popular app that users are already familiar and comfortable with.
Google uses crowd-sourced traffic data, analyzing the GPS locations of vehicles transmitted by mobile phones and calculating their speed on any given road to determine the state of traffic as it unfolds.This technique is widely believed to be the most accurate way to draw a picture of live traffic.
On the other hand, Bey2ollak relies on direct updates from drivers on the road to estimate traffic congestion based on their feedback, allowing users to setup profiles, exchange and share information as they would on a social network.
The app's friendly interface uses emoticons to represent level of congestion, ranging from a green grinning face to a red weeping face, it also uses informal Arabic language in its notifications and other features.
These include allowing users to create their own routes and receive notifications tailored to them and a breaking news feature that notifies users about traffic accidents or other obstructions on the road.
Bey2ollak has also recently joined forces with Uber Egypt, allowing users to access the taxi service directly from the app.
"Good morning."
All in all, Bey2ollak offers a much more personalized experience, it has the feel of a travel companion, instead of that of a cutting-edge tech product, which goes a long way with users who experience the misery of being stuck in traffic on a regular basis.
Some users will prefer Google Traffic over other services, but with everything Bey2ollak has going for it, including its 1 million-strong community, it's quite unlikely that it will be discarded.