Waze Provided Route (Turn By Turn)

by **zman1403** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:41 am

I previously posted this issue on the General Map Board. I have recently been receiving multiple URs from Wazers reporting both "No Turn Allowed" and "Wrong Driving Directions". I myself had numerous VERY WRONG Turn By Turn directions in some cases Waze instructed me in routes that would have taken me in circles or turned off a street I was driving on only to return me to the same street after multiple turns.
Now with the New Editor I can actually see numerous "Waze Provided Routes" that instruct Wazers to turn at intersections that are marked on the Waze Map as a Turn Restriction (Red Arrow). Other directions have Wazers driving around in crazy routes when a straight route would have been the proper way.
I dissected one of the routes I drove when I received wrong directions and found no incorrect Turn Restrictions and all of the streets were connected.
I believe if a new Wazer gets mis-directed several times they will stop using Waze. They will also not recommend it to others.

Can anyone advise what might be causing this issue?

by **CBenson** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:43 am

My first guess is the option "prefer goodie munching" is turned on. That option can cause unpredictable routing.

by **zman1403** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:56 am

No that is not turned on mine. However even if that was the issue it does not answer why the Waze Provided Route on the New Editor instructs Wazers to turn at intersections that are No Turn intersections on the Waze Map (Red Arrow). Also the Waze Provided Routes are taking Wazers off the route only to make a right, left, right (example) and put them back on the same street they were on in the first place.

by **RallyChris** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:01 am

It does when you understand that the option is misnamed.

The routing server appears to not know about cookies, and instead what the option does is lower the penalties for doing things. IE: driving on no entrance roads... but more to the point against one ways, and turn restrictions. Lowering the penalty encourage the navigation to give routes in ways that may be legal but just not seen. Unfortunately it doesn't account for legitimate illegal moves.

There has been talks with HQ about first removing that option in the client, as it is causing more harm than good. That seemed to be approved at the Palo Alto meeting, so hopefully we will see that soon. And also talks about changing the penalty system so that their is a very high (or if possible completely restricted) penalty for using turn restrictions entered by hand in the WME (waze map editor). As waze does now the difference between turn restricted because it just hasn't seen it been used, and turn restricted by editing.

by **CBenson** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:07 am

zman1403 wrote:No that is not turned on mine.

Well that makes the rest of my comments moot.

zman1403 wrote:However even if that was the issue it does not answer why the Waze Provided Route on the New Editor instructs Wazers to turn at intersections that are No Turn intersections on the Waze Map (Red Arrow).

Waze will route against turn restrictions and road directionality when I have prefer munching turned on. It seems to reduce the penalties associated with the turn restrictions and road directionality.

zman1403 wrote:Also the Waze Provided Routes are taking Wazers off the route only to make a right, left, right (example) and put them back on the same street they were on in the first place.

This also happens frequently when I have prefer munching on.

As you don't have munching on, I'm not sure what the issue is. There have been times where the tiles don't seem to be fully synced with the routes where I've received strange routes that appear to go against restrictions. But that is not currently happening as far as I know.

by **gettingthere** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:12 am

I feel that some of these items that are now annoying (eg. Option to prefer goodie/cookie munching) were acceptable when Waze was new and non-functional for navigation. The game kept the early Wazers interested.

Now Waze is a serious navigation application in many areas of the World. We can't have the navigation being negatively impacted by the game. Waze needs to adjust as their product matures.

In regards to the penalty system for turns vs not permitted, similar issue. When Waze was new and the maps were immature, Waze needed a way to route without information on turns. This worked great. But now in countries where the map is mature, this needs to be reworked.

by **zman1403** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:26 am

My observations of wrong turns/directions were first as a result of URs I was answering. Then I experimented (Munching Off) on my own and found many of the same issues. But now I am viewing in on the New Editor. With the Waze Provided Route box checked you can see the purple colored line. I believe this line is what directions the Wazer is receiving. They are clearly wrong in many situations. Since many drivers are now starting to use Waze instead of other available navigation systems wrong directions are critical. If a driver repeatedly gets wrong directions or to make matters worse dangerous directions there is no reason to continue using it. New Wazers are using this navigation the same as they would use Tom Tom, Garmin, etc. I believe they are using Waze to supply them accurate directions and traffic. I think very few are currently using Waze as a game or for points. At least not the ones I know.

by **WeeeZer14** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:48 am

Also keep in mind that with the low frequency of map updates, it is possible that a turn was restricted in the editor days/weeks ago but that information has not made it to the clients yet. So the people on the road today are navigating with out of date information but we then see the problems in terms of the current information.

by **zman1403** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:02 am

gettingthere wrote:I feel that some of these items that are now annoying (eg. Option to prefer goodie/cookie munching) were a draw when Waze was new and non-functional for navigation. The game kept the early Wazers interested.

Now Waze is a serious navigation application in many areas of the World. We can't have the navigation being negatively impacted by the game. Waze needs to adjust as their product matures.

In regards to the penalty system for turns vs not permitted, similar issue. When Waze was new and the maps were immature, Waze needed a way to route without information on turns. This worked great. But now in countries where the map is mature, this needs to be reworked.

VERY WELL PUT !!!

Since Waze is now an up and coming Navigation Tool any negative publicity even by word of mouth can make the wheels come off. With all the work being put in by the AMs EVERY USER REPORT AND AM RESPONSE is Critical. And AMs cannot properly answer the User if the answer does not make sense. Waze is not a video game therefore trying to explain about points, penalties and munching to Users makes Waze seem to be a toy not a navigation tool.

by **AlanOfTheBerg** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:03 am

I've had multiple verifications from drivers that they do indeed have prefer goodie munching turned on and that turning it off the very next drive gives correct instructions different from the day before.

This isn't always the case, but it is often the case. The other option, as has been mentioned, is that the current editor state with correct turn restrictions is not the version which is live in the app.

EDIT: Adding that Waze was, early on, very much a video game and was designed as such for very good reasons.