To improve and keep our maps up to date, automated processes are in place analyzing user drives and detecting potential map problems. Finding these map problems is important because they can often affect the route quality for hundreds of drivers. While some of the map problems are automatically fixed, others require human intervention. This is where the map editing community come in.

In this Waze World Records post, we are taking a look at the Waze map editors to close out the most system-generated problems.

Get to know a little bit more about our top 3 mappers in this category below.

The Winner

Mark (aka HavanaDay) is an accountant from Charlotte, North Carolina with a true love for problem-solving. He also happens to be a record holder in a previous category. Learn more about Mark here.

The Runner Up

Anthony (aka anthyz) is a software engineer from San Diego that been map editing with Waze since August 2010. His motivations for mapping come from, “seeing improved directions, especially when the directions can be changed to look and sound more natural and better align with what a driver is actually seeing.” Anthony, a Country Manager, does most of his editing from home. In the future, he’d like Waze to continue improving “the community aspects” of its product.

On Why He Started Editing:

“The very first time I tried Waze, the directions included a road segment that was long gone.  I attempted to delete the road and others in Cartouche but quickly found that I would need to become an Area Manager if I wanted to make a serious attempt to improve the map.  There were very few active Area Managers in San Diego at the time and none covering the area where I lived.  Over time as I edited more and more, I increased the size of the area I managed.  There were lots and lots of map problems, and I began to really enjoy spending time solving them which in some ways is like solving puzzles.”

The Third Place Winner

Jeff (aka jhfrontz) has swiftly risen up the ranks, joining Waze’s map editing community in December 2011. Jeff, a software engineer from Ohio, is motivated to map for three reasons – his  desire to learn about new areas, the satisfaction of helping others and the challenge of solving a “real-life multidimensional” puzzle. Jeff is an Area Manager of Ohio, several islands in the US and British Virgin Islands, and the East Bay (San Francisco, California area). Most of his editing is done at home on the couch while watching re-runs of old TV shows.

On Why He Started Editing:

“I started editing because I wanted the roads around my neighborhood to be correct (we live on a complicated street with tricky terrain that has caused difficulty for every mapping/GIS device, site, and app). We routinely have first-time visitors tell us that their GPS told them to drive off of a bridge and to take the wrong way down our one-way street. The unusual terrain gives the mistaken impression that roads at different grades actually intersect.”

What motivates you to map?