In this country, Waze shows drivers over a hundred miles away from their real location

You might not know this, but Waze was an Israeli company when it was purchased by Google for $966 million in 2013. Many figured at the time that Google Maps would use some of Waze’s crowdsourced system to report driving delays based on road closures, police action, weather-related issues, and heavy traffic, and then get shut down by the Alphabet unit.

13 years after being bought by Google, Waze and Google Maps co-exist

But here we are, nearly 13 years later, and while Google Maps did get some of Waze’s best features, Waze is still around. However, in its birthplace of Israel, the app has been disorienting users and giving them incorrect driving instructions.

IDF wants to confuse drones using GPS to navigate

The reason why this is taking place has to do with the military activity in the region. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been jamming GPS signals in northern Israel to send attack drones off course by confusing their navigation systems. Unfortunately, this has confused Israeli drivers as well.

Waze users in Israel have been having trouble using the app to reach their destinations because the IDF’s GPS jamming results in the app incorrectly showing them in Jordan, Lebanon, or even in the middle of the Mediterranean. This is taking place in Haifa, the largest city in northern Israel.

Screenshot shows GPS tracker placing Tel Aviv user in Amman, more than 100 miles away.

Waze user went for a run on Tel Aviv beach and his GPS tracker showed him in Amman, Jordan. | Image by Reddit

There is no end in sight for these disruptions as the IDF continues to be on high alert, worrying about surprise drone attacks. As long as there is that fear, Waze could continue disorienting Israeli drivers for many more months.

GPS trackers are showing Israelis in other countries over one hundred miles away

People are complaining in the Israel subreddit. Not all drivers in the country are getting disoriented by Waze, but they are having other problems. For example, a Reddit subscriber with the username “supermannman” explains that he hasn’t been able to get a map to appear in the Google Maps app for some time. Another Redditor, with the username “Mark-It_Maker,” said that everyone using Waze in Israel has at one time or another shown up on the app in Cairo Airport or Beirut Airport.

Pokémon GO players are happy

The same Redditor says that when it comes to Waze, it doesn’t connect to GPS many times. Other times the GPS starts working intermittently. Other GPS trackers are having the same problem as one person went for a run in Tel Aviv and his device showed him in Amman, the largest and capital city of Jordan. It is 135 miles to 150 miles from Tel Aviv.

There is one bit of good news that has come from this, according to an Israeli Pokémon GO player. He says that he caught a lot of Pokémon in countries that he has never been to, such as Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon.

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