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Tsamaya and Google Maps: time, distance and risk.
A general-purpose map finds the way. Tsamaya adds whether that way passes high-risk areas at the hour you drive, grades the options, and can hand a route to Google Maps.
What each is for
Time and distance, or risk as well
Google Maps is a general-purpose map and navigator, built around time and distance. Tsamaya adds the risk of the road at the hour you drive.
Tsamaya is a full turn-by-turn navigator with voice, on the phone and on Apple CarPlay. For each trip it fetches the quickest route, tests it against the rated areas in 14 metros for the hour you are driving, and, if the route passes high-risk areas, looks for a way round that does not cost too much. It shows the options side by side with A to E grades. This page describes Tsamaya and the kind of app Google Maps is; for what Google Maps offers today, its own site is the source.
One real trip
What the comparison looks like
A route card from the app, captured 2026/09/25 in daytime traffic. No place names are recorded here on purpose.
| Standard route | Lower-risk route | |
|---|---|---|
| Grade | E | B |
| Time | 49 min | 47 min |
| Distance | 42.4 km | 52.3 km |
| Areas passed | 4 high-risk | 1 medium-risk, for 0.1 km |
That morning the lower-risk route was 9.8 km further and 2 minutes quicker, and the card put it at 99% less risk. It is one trip: another day, hour or trip will look different, and sometimes the lower-risk route is a few minutes slower. The card shows the times either way.
Working together
Tsamaya and Google Maps side by side
- Tsamaya can hand a route to Google Maps with up to eight points along the lower-risk route, so the same road is followed there.
- Locations shared to Tsamaya from other apps open in it, including Google Maps links.
- Outside the rated metros, Tsamaya is an ordinary map and navigator with no risk data.
The primary action in Tsamaya is its own turn-by-turn navigation. The handoff is a fallback. Lower risk is not no risk.
Questions
Asked often
It can: it is a full turn-by-turn navigator with voice. It can also hand a route to Google Maps with the detour points already in place. Whether to keep Google Maps as well is your call.
It does a different job. Waze is a general-purpose navigator; Tsamaya is a navigator built around risk in South African metros. If you want routes that account for areas with a history of vehicle crime, closures and protests, Tsamaya is built for that, and you can keep both.
Usually a few minutes. A detour is only offered when it cuts your exposure, and one that adds too much distance is thrown out, even when it carries less risk. When there is no sensible way round, Tsamaya says so and marks the risky stretches.
14 metros: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Ekurhuleni, West Rand, Secunda, Stellenbosch, Rustenburg, Pilanesberg, Mossel Bay, Durban, Gqeberha, Kruger & Lowveld, Bloemfontein. Outside them Tsamaya is an ordinary map and turn-by-turn navigator with no risk data, and a blank map means no data, not no risk.
No, and we will never tell you otherwise. Tsamaya cuts your exposure to areas with a history of vehicle crime. Crime is not predictable, and no route is safe. Lower risk is not no risk: treat it as better information for the choice you were going to make anyway.
Get the app
Try it on your next drive.
Free, in open beta, on Android and iPhone. Lower risk is not no risk.
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