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Taking the same crowd-sourcing approach it applied to traffic, the Waze mobile app is going to improve the quality of information about local businesses and residences. It will need help from its users, though, and that’s where the new Places feature comes into play.

The latest version of Waze, which is owned by [company]Google[/company], lets people update or add information about the places they visit. The company did much the same when it debuted, sharing user-submitted data about traffic on the roads. With Places, it’s the same recipe, only applied to locations. The idea is that if everyone adds details about the places they visit, the whole community benefits. Of course, that user-submitted data will also make a fine addition to Google Maps as Google bought Waze last year for a reported $1 billion.

The Places feature supports user-submitted photos of places and editing or addition of details including parking options. Even if you’d rather not add data to Waze, the update is still worth a download: It now places a pin on the Waze map where you parked, making it easier to find your vehicle.

The new version of Waze with Places is freely available for Android in the Google Play Store and iOS in the iTunes App Store.