The Incident Reporting Feature Google Maps Needs but Will Never Get

Google has been offering the ability to pin hazards on the map for many years. While Waze – another Google-owned navigation app – is all about incident reporting, Google Maps got this feature in 2019 on mobile devices.

For some reason, Google never seemed too keen on bringing it to where it makes more sense: cars. Incident reporting remained exclusive to mobile devices, without Google even exploring a potential expansion to Android Auto and CarPlay.

Google's strategy changed almost overnight this year. The incident reporting component landed on CarPlay and later on Android Auto, so now all Google Maps users can flag hazards on the map.

There's only one issue: not everybody likes this feature.

Users started complaining about the incident confirmation prompts in Google Maps shortly after the new feature started rolling out. The general sentiment is that these prompts appearing on the screen during navigation defies Google Maps' purpose. They eat up valuable screen space, cover the map, and make navigation more difficult.

Users claim Google Maps should disable at least part of this feature and no longer display confirmation prompts when they drive. Some say the requests to confirm the presence of reported hazards make them take their eyes off the road, while others say interacting with what happens on the screen is dangerous.

As a side note, Waze has been offering similar capabilities for years, but nobody complained about it. In fact, Waze users love the ability to contribute traffic data, and this is why the application is now one of the leading names in the navigation space.

A reader recently highlighted the biggest issues caused by incident reporting in Google Maps.

Reader SharpShooter describes this update as "the worst thing to ever happen to Google Maps," so they clearly don't like this feature. Their problem isn't the ability to pin hazards on the map but the same confirmation prompt that seems to irk most users. "They cover about ¼ of the screen, blocking the area that displays your next turn."

The main difference versus Waze is that the confirmation prompts here are less intrusive. While users still have to look at the screen and interact with the message, they can easily ignore it and continue navigation without interruptions. In Google Maps, the confirmation prompts are more prominent and intrusive, getting in the way when users need navigation instructions.

Our reader also claims the reports are not accurate, as they are non-existent, "useless and annoying." The problem here is that every user is there to make them accurate, and without confirming the presence of a traffic report, it's impossible for Google Maps to improve this feature.

Their suggestion is simple: add a button to turn it off.

I agree with this request, as it's the most convenient way to handle incident reporting in Google Maps. However, it'll never happen, and this isn't an option that Google is ever likely to explore in its navigation application.

Users have always considered Google Maps the more convenient, straightforward, cleaner, and quieter alternative to Waze. It doesn't offer routes as complex as Waze, and the streamlined navigation that doesn't spam the user with messages, notifications, and alerts has long been a main selling point.

This has all changed with the introduction of incident reports, and Google Maps users believe that making the application more like Waze defies its purpose and turns it into something they don't want.

An option to disable incident reporting or the confirmation prompts would help them regain the convenient Google Maps experience they loved.

This won't happen.

First, the confirmation prompts are there for a reason. Google must get input from users over every single traffic report. Without users submitting confirmations, a crowdsourcing traffic reporting system wouldn't make sense.

Users must confirm or deny traffic reports for this feature to make sense. It they don't, Google Maps will struggle with inaccurate reports – just like our reader complains. As such, the confirmation prompts are here to stay and won't go anywhere as long as the incident reporting component is bundled with Google Maps.

This gets us to the other part of the problem. The ability to pin reports on the map has long been a top feature request, and now that Google has added it to Google Maps, it won't undo its decision. Incident reporting will remain a key feature of Google Maps, and because it needs confirmation from users on the road, allowing users to disable the feature or part of it doesn't make sense.

There you go. This is the new Google Maps, and you've got to live with it. An option to disable this feature will never go live, and the only thing you can expect is Google rolling out more refinements to make these prompts less intrusive – which I'm certain will happen earlier than expected.