Routing Issues

[chrysrobyn]

When you submit a user report, a volunteer map editor finds it in http://www.waze.com/editor and clicks on the report. Then we see "wrong route" and about a mile of what it recommended in purple and what you drove in green. If those overlap and there's no additional explanation, there's not a whole lot an editor can do other than mark it as "not identified".

When you submit a report for "wrong route", keep in mind that Waze will try to find you your shortest route (time-wise), and will never consider how much you like another for whatever reason (lack of traffic lights, scenic reasons, etc.), and will not be biased in thinking that a route is faster when it really just "feels faster". That said, in rural areas, there's probably just insufficient data to identify the correct route. Perhaps Waze thinks the route you're smart enough to take is one-way (in the wrong direction), or that you can't make that turn that you're about to make. Driving the right route a few times may clean that up automatically and will give Waze some data about average traffic speeds to make more educated decisions. Driving the wrong route, likewise, will provide average traffic speeds and help it understand that it's really slower (or maybe show you it's faster).

Aside from that, your user report might include the origin and destination so a map editor volunteer can see how bad your recommended route was.

You have map editor permissions for a mile around the areas you've driven. You might take a look yourself and notice what's going on. The fix could be simple to see and ready for you in another week or so when the map server gets updated.

[Kandralla]

Since the username of the person that cleared it is included in the email you could always send them a private message via the forum to give them more information that might help, like the endpoints of your route or at least points that are close.

[Mike-1323]

Additionally, since the report does not indicate either route or track within ~1mi of your start or destination point the UR may, in fact, have no additional data other than wrong route. And since search results come from third-party sources (Bing, Google, YP . .. ) there is no way for the map editor to correct them even if the destination were given.

There's a wazer in my area that is getting frustrated by Waze's apparently erroneous route. Since I can't see his destination I can only check the map along the segments of route and track that are included in the UR. These all look ok so I have to mark it not identified even though a fair description of the problem was in the UR. Editors can't directly contact the wazer who submitted the UR so there's no chance to follow-up or clarify the issue. Within the current tools that Waze gives us there's nothing more that I can do. The editor looking at your UR probably has the same trouble. This will continue until two-way communication is re-established between editor and reporter.

[Mike-1323]

Lack of return communications definitely hinders us editors. I get the same thing from people. The best way to correspond with an editor with a problem report is to free text information, not just say "wrong driving direction." This is hard with my iphone, but for those of you with speech recognition, it may be easier to add comments while driving.

Even that only works sometimes. This particular UR had an entry along the lines of 'should turn left at this road not that road.' OK, fine. There's nothing on the map that would cause that error of routing. It may be an error in destination location from the third-party search, but without being able to communicate this possibility can't be investigated.

[rvtech]

Hello,
I have had routing issues with many different scenarios. Typically, the areas around my rural address in the Columbus, Ohio area are a problem for most navigation apps. When I send a map issue report for wrong driving directions to Waze, I get a return email that no problem was found. This is in response to Waze taking me on a 350º loop, 6 miles around the block before proceeding the wrong direction from my destination.I would like to know how to correct this.

[tgfathergoose]

Lack of return communications definitely hinders us editors. I get the same thing from people. The best way to correspond with an editor with a problem report is to free text information, not just say "wrong driving direction." This is hard with my iphone, but for those of you with speech recognition, it may be easier to add comments while driving.

You do know that you can get into the editor yourself to see what the problem is? You can make edits within a mile of roads you have traveled (as long as some level-4 editor has not locked them...boo hiss) That may be the best solution. You may find wrong-way roads, turns not allowed, segments disconnected, or some other problem that makes it obvious to you why you are being routed the wrong way, but not so apparent to an editor who may not have actually traveled these roads.