Service Roads

[WeeeZer14]

I created a new topic to discuss Primary Streets so we can keep focused on Service Roads here.

[gettingthere]

So there is no thought that Service roads may have a bit of a penalty?

Aren't some editos using Service Roads for Alleys?

[WeeeZer14]

Only thing I have every heard or read is that service roads are the same as a regular street to the routing server.

Yes I believe some are using service roads for alleys. I am not sure if that is a conflict with the definition I am working with or not. I think it would work okay. Do you have any thoughts either way?

I'd tend to think that parking lot road may be better -- only go there if your destination is on that segment. It will also suppress traffic reports. Not many people will care that there is slow traffic on a back alley somewhere.

Of course I have been known to use narrow cobble stone alleys in Hoboken NJ for blocks and blocks to bypass the regular roads. But I would NEVER recommend that route to someone else with out a ton of disclaimers.

[MReiser4670]

Only thing I have every heard or read is that service roads are the same as a regular street to the routing server.

Yes I believe some are using service roads for alleys. I am not sure if that is a conflict with the definition I am working with or not. I think it would work okay. Do you have any thoughts either way?

I'd tend to think that parking lot road may be better -- only go there if your destination is on that segment. It will also suppress traffic reports. Not many people will care that there is slow traffic on a back alley somewhere.

Of course I have been known to use narrow cobble stone alleys in Hoboken NJ for blocks and blocks to bypass the regular roads. But I would NEVER recommend that route to someone else with out a ton of disclaimers.

Take a look at all the alleys here in Brigantine, NJ: https://www.waze.com/editor/?zoom=5&lat ... 6,32115965

I made them all Parking Lot Roads because I couldn't imagine the routing disaster that could occur if Waze started sending people down these little driveway access roads. There is no way these could be considered anything that might use them for routing.

[WeeeZer14]

Here is an example of what it looks like in Hoboken via street view

Now to check to see how they are set on the map...

[jasonh300]

One standard down, only a million to go!

With the exception of Ramps that lead into rest areas and weigh stations which may go directly into streets or parking lot roads?

Aren't some editos using Service Roads for Alleys?

If they are, they're misunderstanding the definition of Service Roads as service alleys which is a totally different thing.

Some of the basemap imports used Service Roads as U-turns, right turn shortcuts and a couple of other things that I can't think of right now.

https://www.waze.com/editor/?zoom=4&lat ... TFFTFTTTTT

This is a service road that's set as a Minor Highway. The whole thing is the Westbank Expressway, or US-90 Bus. The blue part is elevated limited access, and the yellow part is ground level service road. You can travel the entire length of it at ground level at 35-45 MPH speed limit with 3 lanes, and that's how you access any businesses on the expressway. The ground level roads are labeled "Westbank Expressway" on the modern signs, but if you look closely, you can still see some very old black and white signs on utility poles set far off the road that actually say "Service Rd", which date back to before the elevated expressway was built.

To top it all off, the elevated portion is labeled "I-49 future corridor" and it's currently an unsigned interstate called I-910, but nobody's supposed to know that. Recently it's name has been changed to the "Harry Lee Expressway", but there's only one sign indicating that and it hasn't caught on.

For now, I'm leaving it exactly as it is.

[bmitch3020]

Aren't some editos using Service Roads for Alleys?

I've seen service roads used for the "official use only" connections between the sides of the interstate (e.g. those bits of road used by police). I'm pretty sure they should be changed to private or parking lot roads. I guess an editor read that as "a road for service vehicles" and was probably the same thinking for those alleyways.

I've also seen a lot of routing issues where people are routed off of the major/minor highway onto the frontage roads. I need to double check that the street name didn't change in any places where that happened. But getting some feedback on the routing penalties/preferences for each road type out of Waze would be useful.

[DonJ2]

Another consideration for service road definition...

In venues such as theme parks (like Disney World), college campus and large parks, I have seen many examples of roads that exist for service vehicles only, not for public use. In many cases, the basemaps have them labeled as streets, and of course waze will use them for routes, even though they are not for public use. I've seen a lot of URs due to this issue. If service road had a lower priority than street, we could assign service road to these segments to try to prevent their use. I have already seen many cases were service road type is being used on these road segments, but if the priority is no different than street, then it seems pointless to change the type at all. Maybe we should be using private road instead? Does private road actually have a penalty lower than street? I used to believe that I knew how the different road types affected routing, until I read in the forum that primary street has the same priority as street, I always thought that primary street was used over street, it still blows my mind that this is not true.

So what road type should we use for roads that exist for service vehicles only?

[CBenson]

I would add one more dimension into this discussion. It seems to me that the service road type may have been necessary when waze seemed to be maintaining it own address numbers. Thus, we might need some guidance from waze on what the long term plans are for address numbers. If the only difference between "street" and "service road" was that routing worked better to address on the "service road" if there was an adjacent highway of the same name and waze is going to rely on third party sources for address information going forward, then the "service road" type may well be obsolete now.

[bmitch3020]

So what road type should we use for roads that exist for service vehicles only?

Right now, I'm planning to use "Private Road" for anything that shouldn't be routed and isn't a parking lot.

Feature request: I'd like to have the ability to tag the types of private roads, and then have a choice on the app to allow the usage of certain types of roads. E.g. tags for residential usage, gated community, cemetery, business/theme park, emergency vehicles, and military base. I may not mind Waze navigating me to my friend's driveway, but don't try to drive me through a military base. The app can automatically allow a tag when it sees you use a road, and prompt to allow a tag when navigation could use a private road.