Recalculating Route Ruins Waze

by **AlanOfTheBerg** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 4:18 am

What I have seen many times is that until it is able to actually figure out a route based on my location, or it is able to contact the server to compute the route, it cannot show anything. Waze is an online nav system. it doesn't keep the a full world or US map saved to do local route calculations. It requires the server.

If there is a problem with intersections and roads in your area, then just driving with Waze running will auto adjust road location, direction and intersection turns allowed. When you notice problems, please open a map problem request and an Area Manager can address it. When I started with Waze, I got crazy and odd routes. After driving with it running for 2-3 weeks, it had updated the roadways and began to give good results.

by **AlanOfTheBerg** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 5:14 pm

fdbryant3 wrote:Then for whatever reason the system decides it needs to recalculate the route, for whatever reason that this point the server times out. That is when the route disappears at least till it recalculates again.

What Waze should do is once the Waze client receives a route it should be cache. That way when it recalculates if it is unable to receive a new route it can continue to display and work off the cache route.

I have seen this happen several times, too. Now I understand more of what you mean. I haven't been able to determine why it does this, but it could be poor GPS reception or a poor GPS device and Waze thinks I'm now on a different road close by, so it thinks it needs to recalc. That's a valid reason to recalc.

Now, how Waze handles the recalc is another good topic. It can't recalc just a middle portion of the route, which is frustrating, and once it decides it should recalc, the old route is wiped and you're screwed. You area correct about this and it would be nice to see this changed.

You should put up a uservoice suggestion to get some votes and get it in front of the developers.

by **Ayindi** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:51 pm

Just want to add that recalculating puts a big fat black sign above the map that it recalculates... (at least on Android) Great feature to block my view to the map when I actually need to find my direction manually...

by **BrutusNL** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:02 pm

RallyChris wrote:Note that the built in search on the forum is useless. The common word filter is on, and it's basically removed all the words anyone would search on.

True! Searched on a username in combination with 'login' 'button' and those where too common. :roll:

by **cobra** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:11 pm

What area are you in? It shouldn't recalculate unless you leave the route it set. Is this happening? If the maps in your area are very inconsistent, then that will cause it to re-calc a lot.

There does seem to be a bug in the re-calc, as you mention. I see it happen also. I'm not sure if it fails to re-calc the route, and then stops displaying routing, or if the server connection fails and it stops displaying the routing, but it does sometimes seem to just go away without any notification in this case.

by **fdbryant3** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 8:38 pm

My biggest problem with Waze is that when I'm trying to navigate somewhere that I am constantly getting Recalculating Route every 30 sec to a minute. Is it really necessary to notify me of this? Can't the system just do it silently. This though is just an annoyance. What makes Waze unusable is that 50 to 90% of the time it comes back with that Routing Server has Timed Out and the route that it was displaying disappears till maybe the next time it recalculates the route (presuming it succeeds and of course only lasts till the next time the routing server times out).

This makes Waze completely unusable except for mapping and reporting traffic. I'd like to set my wife up with Waze but I know she wouldn't use it because of this.

I get that Waze is constantly being updated and in theory that your route may be adjusted due to updated traffic but if the server times out leave the existing route displayed, I'd rather have that than no route at all. Maybe change the route's color so we know that it isn't up to date with latest traffic information but always display the route.

by **fdbryant3** » Wed Aug 25, 2010 1:25 am

cobra wrote:What area are you in? It shouldn't recalculate unless you leave the route it set. Is this happening? If the maps in your area are very inconsistent, then that will cause it to re-calc a lot.

There does seem to be a bug in the re-calc, as you mention. I see it happen also. I'm not sure if it fails to re-calc the route, and then stops displaying routing, or if the server connection fails and it stops displaying the routing, but it does sometimes seem to just go away without any notification in this case.

I'm in the Jacksonville/Northeast FL area. For me it is constantly recalculating the routes every few hundred yards or so. Even when there isn't a turn to be made. Heck I've started a route at stop light, drive straight and within 50' it will recalc. I don't how well the roads are actually mapped out around here but for most roads I travel there are no opportunities for dot munching.

Again for it isn't so much that it is recalculating than it is that the route disappears if the server times out.

I love the concept behind Waze but if I want to get anywhere I have to use something else.

Oh yeah for what it is worth I'm using a Touch Pro with a WinMo 6.5.5 ROM on MetroPCS. I am using the latest beta of Waze.

by **fdbryant3** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 2:39 am

So, I started using Waze again the past couple of days and I see my problem still hasn't been addressed. I have though open a report on UserVoice here: http://waze.uservoice.com/forums/59223-client-how-can-we-improve-waze-on-your-phone-/suggestions/1343005-system-constantly-reroutes-then-the-server-times-o.

I really want to use Waze on a regular basis, I want to be able to recommend Waze but I can't if the route disappears. By the way I'm not talking about being somehow covered, or somehow not getting points.......I mean the line and all UI telling and showing me where to go disappears. It is as if I hadn't set a route. This makes it unusable.

by **fdbryant3** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 4:49 pm

Waze is an online nav system. it doesn't keep the a full world or US map saved to do local route calculations. It requires the server.

I get that it needs to be able to connect online in order to calculate a route. My problem is it has calculated and displayed a route (with maps and everything, heck it often displays the map without network connectivity). Then for whatever reason the system decides it needs to recalculate the route, for whatever reason that this point the server times out. That is when the route disappears at least till it recalculates again.

What Waze should do is once the Waze client receives a route it should be cache. That way when it recalculates if it is unable to receive a new route it can continue to display and work off the cache route.

by **fvwazing** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:44 am

I only saw that recalculating like crazy only once, on a one-way-road, fixed, that was pointing in the opposite direction. Are you very very sure that the road this happens on is defined completely right?