A few suggestions for improvements

[daknife]

The answer to number one is better made with a little advertising campaign to users in Brazil as to what the categories of traffic mean, not adding a worthless option. Reporting good traffic does nothing as the default is good traffic. In fact reporting any traffic heavy, moderate or light does little for routing unless the driver is asked for the conditions by the app when it detects they are in a slow-down. This is more an education issue than an add another category of report issue.

As to number two, again not a bad idea, but one that probably wouldn't fix anything. I live in a state that is proud of the fact that speed and red-light cameras are not legal (with one narrow exception that so far no cities are using). Yet I still can delete a couple dozen camera reports every day. It's another user education issue rather than an add another report option issue.

The thing to remember is we need to keep the possible types of reports limited or they will quickly become long lists so unwieldy to use that they make the app dangerous. Any report should be able to be made with just a few taps and no scrolling for options, get many options and that becomes impossible. Also get too many report options and it becomes more of a distraction to a driver to try to determine what the report is actually about. Hopefully one day we will get back the ability to communicate with those who make UR and camera reports and we can use that option to educate the users.

[daknife]

You are right that it does seem pointless to be able to report bad traffic and it have no impact on routing. But there is still no reason to clutter the map with icons showing good traffic. The lack of reports indicates good traffic flow as indicated by the projected travel times being accurate.

And there is value in a bad traffic report that doesn't impact the traffic routing algorithms. Just the presence of reports, prior to the system starting to ask users if they are in a slow-down can warn drivers of a pending slowdown that just hasn't had sufficient data to result in a change in the routing system. Every traffic jam takes a little while to develop in the system, but traffic reports can and do warn us of bad traffic before rerouting begins to take effect. So while such reports (when not prompted by the system asking you if you are in a slowdown), do not affect routing they do give warnings to drivers that may allow them to avoid getting stuck in a developing jam.

I can see no value to reporting good traffic when that is already indicated by the lack of bad traffic reports be they generated by the system or users.

[daknife]

Correction, I can see one value to a Traffic good report. If it would clear a false traffic Jam. If it could do that then I'd support such a report option. I drove for a couple miles today through a stretch of road that was supposedly running at 11 to 18 mph. I was driving at the posted limit of 45 the entire stretch.

[Finesko]

Dear Wazer friends,

I'm a great Waze fan, use it daily and try to spread the word as much as possible. It's a great APP and thanks for making it.

As I said, I find it a fantastic tool, but have found a couple of points that I would like to suggest as improvements. These are the points:

- Good traffic: I speak from experience in Brazil, it has now become totally the rule that people use the "Moderate Traffic" to report good traffic. There are two aspects to this: 1) people like to report good news also, not only problems, traffic, accidents, potholes etc., and 2) although people are well intentioned when they make the report, it is confusing to map viewers as the "traffic" symbol appears on the map. Only by clicking on the symbol to you discover that it is "Moderate" and that the person meant traffic was good. My suggestion: create a green "Good Traffic" option in the traffic reports that will show up green on the map. In fact, it can replace the "Moderate Traffic" button as this isn't really something you report. Why report something average? You report good, bad and terrible.

- Speed Cameras: I believe it is Waze's suggestion to report temporary speed camera's as "Police", so they appear immediately for other drivers and are not permanent. However, people who don't read the instructions (and that means almost everyone) will report a temporary camera as a Speed Camera. Not only it never appears to other wazers, but it also trashes up the map with a huge amount of junk that someone has to clean up. My suggestion: make a "Temporary Camera or Radar gun" button in the Camera section. This would be reported just like police to other wazers.

Once again, thanks for the great APP.

Regards,
John

[Finesko]

Thanks for your answer and thoughts.

Regarding the traffic reports, I do find your arguments a little contradictory. You say that reporting good traffic would have no effect on the routing, but then reporting bad traffic doesn't either. So my question would be: why have one and not the other. If they are both useless, get rid of both.

My thought on this is that you can visually see what roads have good traffic and what roads don't. In the ideal world, Waze takes care of that and paints the roads accordingly. However, a lot of times I find that Waze only finds out a road is blocked when I'm stuck in it!

The good or bad reporting would only have a visual aid to drivers - that's all. If you have one, then why not have the other?

Regarding educating users, that would be great. I just find it shouldn't be the rule and will simply never reach a big enough audience. Ever seen Steve Jobs tell people they have to read the manual? No, he makes it so intuitive that people just know how to use it. Even my 3 year old daughter is comfortable using am iPad. Waze should be the same. If people are doing something wrong because they didn't read the manual, in my opinion, the programmers are wrong, not the user.

As for the speed camera, I totally agree to keep things simple and not too many options. But, as explained above, people are not using it right and, as it is, it brings less value to the users who end up not being warned about mobile radars.

Anyway, just my two cents...

[Finesko]

I still think a "Good Traffic" report would be of value to users and wouldn't pollute the system. Just take a look at the way people are using the Moderate Traffic and you'll see they all agree with me.

As for the speed trap, you can post a report. It just doesn't show up in the map until someone goes online and reports it.

[mpb02]

I love this app and use it every day as well, and can certainly appreciate both sides of this discussion. I was going to suggest that you add a report option for known speed traps, but I can see that that would be a prime example of a report that could get out of control with very little reliability. So forget it. But perhaps as an alternative you could implement personal user settings that allow users to mark locations just for themselves. Personally, I know of about 4 or 5 active speed traps on the new express lanes on I-495 in VA and I would love to be able to mark them on the map somehow in Waze. Just an idea.

I would also suggest another hazard category. Right now you can report an accident in the road or a car stopped on the shoulder. But what about a car that has simply broken down or stopped for some reason in the middle of the road? It's not the same thing as an accident but it happens all the time and can be a serious traffic hazard. It happened to me just this AM on the Clara Barton Pkwy in MD where a van was stopped in the road blocking the left lane.

Anyway, just a suggestion.

- Marshall