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[New Page] Interstate Exit Area Place (IEAs)

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In some states, including my home state of Nebraska, interstate exits are marked as area places. While these are not used as destinations in navigations in all but the rarest of rare use cases, they provide users with a subtle but useful display of upcoming exits as well as a way to see approximately where they are relative to mile markers. While this is not as useful in more cramped urban areas, it is a nice addition in more rural expanses. Examples of the display in-app are attached below:



And while not as visible, it is still useful in smaller, urban areas as well (I don't have an in-app view here, so I fell back on a WME screenshot):



The standard used for these area places are:
Street: I-XX
Category: Junction/Intersection
Lock Level: Equal to the Attached Freeway Segment

I propose that this practice be expanded beyond a few select states to a more wide reaching availability for the sake of consistency from a UX perspective. Speaking from personal experience, I find them very useful and a nice addition to the map as a whole. I welcome dissenting opinions, other anecdotes in favor, and possible standards, minimum area sizes, etc.

Wazeopedia Entry Draft:
https://wazeopedia.waze.com/wiki/USA/Us ... _Exit_Area

Previous Regional Discussions:
NWR - viewtopic.php?f=565&t=275649
PLN - viewtopic.php?f=567&t=275650

Examples of in place area places:
https://www.waze.com/en-US/editor?env=u ... 346.341378
https://www.waze.com/en-US/editor?env=u ... 746.341437
https://www.waze.com/en-US/editor?env=u ... 894.341462

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Last edited by HBiede on Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:11 am, edited 2 times in total.

Post by Inactive user -1649923503-
I think this is a great idea and would add value to the map, it may even add value when trying to enter in RTC when you are searching for that specific location in WME mobile (sure easier to click on the Area Place than a segment).

I share the question on best practice for intersecting highways where there would be multiple exits at the same location. The other question I have (and recognize it may not be a necessary element) is should there be guidance on a stop point or not?

You have my support on this for Vermont.
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Post by Inactive user -1649923503-
I think the human factor of what constitutes a distraction is much more complicated than text on a screen.

An over simplification of the value of an area place would be a landmark or place of significance in giving directions. An exit number is significant. How the end user uses this is a different conversation. I like the IEAs (although the acronym does not roll off the tongue right), and think especially as states move to the mileage based exit ramps more and more it has more value. This is something that may not be ready for national adoption but for the areas that are interested it may serve value to standardize the approach.

Fun read if you want to think about GPS effects on the brain
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Post by Inactive user -1649923503-
HBiede wrote:
johnsninja58 wrote:I like the IEAs (although the acronym does not roll off the tongue right)
Not a massive deal compared to deciding to use them, but I debated using Freeway Exit Areas (FEA) instead.
Just giving you a hard time on the number of vowels :D
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Post by Inactive user -1697532064-
I think mapping interchanges like this would be an improvement.
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Post by Inactive user -1697532064-
Don't knock it till you try it. I mean it might be worth drawing an interchange place in various environments where you drive and considering the effect on the display at highway speeds and zoom levels.
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Post by Inactive user -1697532064-
But if you didn't notice them, how are they a net negative? I was thinking that the reason for opposition was that they would be too noticeable and distracting
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Post by Inactive user -1697532064-
It also would help people out when they are stuck on an interstate with no traffic movement for several minutes and trying to figure out how far ahead the crash is. Hey, it's by exit 234, and I am going 2 mph at exit 256. Wow, that sucks for a lot of people, let's get out of here (somehow).
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Post by Inactive user -1697532064-
herrchin wrote:Should we also remove the text from all roads that are not part of our route? I'm not being pedantic: either these nearby text elements are useful, or they are not.
You've probably noticed that most street names are not displayed when navigating, but not all. This isn't binary. We want to display enough useful information without overloading the user. I don't think one or two area places every mile on a freeway contributes significantly to that, however. Compare that to the impact of all the completely useless names of big parking lots. Even though we think they're ugly and dumb, because they are, is anyone saying or even feeling like these labels increase driver distraction?
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Post by Inactive user -1697532064-
Anyhow, guidance needs to be agreed upon before getting any sort of name to stick. So besides SWR, do other regions want this?
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