How Mapssy works: what we measure and what we estimate

Mapssy asks Google and TomTom for a live driving time at the same moment and shows their answers side by side. Waze has no public routing service, and the Mapssy website doesn't ask Apple's, so Mapssy calculates a figure for both and labels it estimate.

What happens when you compare a route

The website sends your start and destination to Mapssy's server function, which sends two requests at once so both answers describe the same moment on the road:

• Google Maps: Google's Routes API (computeRoutes) for a car, with the routing preference TRAFFIC_AWARE_OPTIMAL. Google documents this as equivalent to the mode used by maps.google.com and the Google Maps mobile app. No departure time is set, so the trip is timed from the moment of the request.
• TomTom: TomTom's Routing API (Calculate Route) with traffic on, which TomTom describes as using all available traffic information.

Each service returns a time and a distance. The server works out the two estimates from them and returns four cards, and the results page shows Times checked at HH:MM, when your comparison ran.

The suggestions that appear as you type come from TomTom's search service, so each place you pick carries TomTom's coordinates. If one routing service fails, its card says unavailable: the Apple Maps estimate then uses the one live time left, and Waze uses TomTom's time when Google is missing.

Which numbers are measured and which are estimated

Measured means the app maker's own live answer for this trip. Estimate means Mapssy calculated it, and the card says so.

How the Waze estimate works

Waze has no public routing service. Its developer site documents travel times only in the Waze Transport SDK, which is limited to approved partners building apps for professional drivers and loses support on 1 November 2026.

Mapssy's model assumes Waze tends to quote a slightly quicker drive than Google, so it multiplies Google's live time by 0.95 and keeps Google's distance. The 0.95 is Mapssy's own assumption: Waze publishes no such figure, and Mapssy hasn't yet checked it against a large set of real Waze answers. Because it is a proportion, the gap grows with the trip: a drive Google times at an hour comes out three minutes shorter on the Waze card.

How the Apple Maps figure works

Apple does offer directions and travel times to websites, through MapKit JS and the Apple Maps Server API, but only with a token from an Apple Developer account. The Mapssy website doesn't use them. So on the website the Apple Maps card shows the average of Google's and TomTom's answers, marked estimate.

The Mapssy iPhone app asks MapKit's directions service, which Apple describes as asking the Apple servers for directions and travel time, so that time is a real Apple answer. Apple's own search places the names you typed, and when you start from your location the time is measured from your phone's live position, the same start Apple Maps uses. Open in Apple Maps then opens exactly the points Apple timed. If Apple doesn't answer within six seconds, the card falls back to the estimate.

Why each app gets its own destination point

Map companies can place the same name slightly differently, and a time only means something for the point it was measured to. So every Open button goes to the point that app's number describes:

• Google Maps: the name of the suggestion you picked, usually TomTom's address text, goes to Google as an address, so Google itself decides where it is, and the button passes the same name. If Google can't place a name, Mapssy asks again by the place's coordinates, and the button passes those.
• TomTom: the time is measured to the point TomTom's search returned for your place. The button opens TomTom's route planner, plan.tomtom.com, at exactly those points.
• Waze: the estimate comes from Google's route, so the button opens Waze at the point Google drove to, using Waze's documented deep link plus a start point: the app on a phone, Waze's website on a computer.
• Apple Maps: on the website the button passes the place names and Apple Maps places them itself.

For why one name can lead to different places, see Same name, different place.

Why your app may show a different time a minute later

Traffic information changes minute by minute, and each service updates its own. An app opened a few minutes after the comparison can show a different time, which is why every result carries the time it was checked.

Your app's settings matter too. Mapssy asks for the fastest car route with nothing avoided. If your app avoids tolls or motorways, it may pick another road and another time. Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze all offer both (Waze calls motorways freeways), and in Waze a change made before one drive stays on for later ones. See setting up the apps for Central Europe.

What Mapssy does not do

• It doesn't store Google or TomTom travel times. Their terms forbid it. Google bans caching its content except where its service terms allow it: for the Routes API, coordinates for up to 30 days and place IDs, never travel times. TomTom prohibits storing results except in the user's own client, within its cache-header limits.
• It doesn't publish the map apps' travel times in articles. Route guides cover roads, borders and costs, then point to a live comparison: compare a route when you are ready.
• It doesn't track your location. The website asks for it only when you tap Use my location. The point goes to Mapssy's server, which asks TomTom's reverse geocoding for a nearby street address, and to Google and TomTom to time the trip. Mapssy doesn't store it (its hosts may keep short-lived technical logs) or use it for advertising. Opening Waze or TomTom from a card passes them the start point too.
• It doesn't make you sign up. Free comparisons need no account. Pro, the paid plan, adds a ranking from fastest to slowest and a search history kept on your device. The ranking includes the estimates, so Waze always ranks ahead of Google, and on the website Apple Maps always sits between Google and TomTom.
• It doesn't show ads in the route tool. Mapssy places Google AdSense ads only on content pages such as the guides, never inside the comparison.

What the numbers can't tell you

Mapssy can't tell you which app is right for a trip. It doesn't collect how long your drives take, and has no large set of real drive times to score the apps against. Other limits:

• An estimate is arithmetic on another company's answer, so it can't reflect a jam or closure that only Waze or Apple knows about.
• Two apps that disagree may simply be driving to different entrances of the same place.
• Tolls, vignettes and border checks are not part of the comparison. The guides cover them, starting with motorway vignettes 2026.
• If a result looks wrong, contact us with the start, destination and time checked.

For why the apps disagree in the first place, see why the apps show different arrival times.