How does one report a 'road closed'

[stuffhappens]

Can't see anything remotely sensible in the reporting options so what do I do if I find a road or turn closed due to construction or an accident (like I did last night)?

How about something like a 'Road Closed: [Right] [Left] [Ahead]' option ??

Also:

"Hazard on Road" - I came across a broken down car that had stopped in the middle of the road (not able to pull in it would seem) - nothing exists to report that although "object" might do - but an object could be anything from a bit of wheel trim to a fallen tree!

"Hazard on Shoulder" - how about changing 'Car stopped' to 'Vehicle stopped'? I came across a broken down bus + tow truck the other day.

Happy Wazing.

[AlanOfTheBerg]

I would just post a Road Hazard with no subtype and enter notes, and even better, voice annotation. You will not be able to affect routing, however. Vehicle on the road or on the shoulder would be nice addition/change.

If it is long-term road construction, it can be closed on the map, but with the update timing these days, I'd advise against it unless it will be closed for months.

[gettingthere]

So basically there is no valid way to 'close' a road for short term construction that will keep Waze from routing though the closed road.

As AlanOfTheBerg states, if the road will be closed for many weeks/months, you can edit the map to close the road.

Hopefully when the tile building process re-write is done and tested, the process of map updates > tile building > client map update will be back to 'normal' or even better, improved.

[tallfastcanadian]

There isn't, and its an awfully useful feature during minor road closures in a city, especially on major routes.

One of the routing features my Tomtom device has that I love is the ability to mark the road ahead closed for 500, 1000 or 5000 meters. When I do that, it then re-routes me around the road ahead for at least that far. This type of rerouting currently must be done by the user on Waze, which is unfortunate when you don't know the nearby back-roads and you see a back-up starting because of an accident or a burst water pipe, etc.

[gettingthere]

There isn't, and its an awfully useful feature during minor road closures in a city, especially on major routes.

One of the routing features my Tomtom device has that I love is the ability to mark the road ahead closed for 500, 1000 or 5000 meters. When I do that, it then re-routes me around the road ahead for at least that far. This type of rerouting currently must be done by the user on Waze, which is unfortunate when you don't know the nearby back-roads and you see a back-up starting because of an accident or a burst water pipe, etc.

Yes, you are correct. Waze is not as mature in this sense to provide a block or avoid xyz road functionality. These are more 'advanced' features of a full-featured GPS. Waze is still somewhat of a niche GPS application geared towards avoiding traffic. We are not sure if Waze is moving more towards a general GPS application that might include these types of options in the future.

Some things that other general GPS application have the Waze does not:

* Detour around road block
* Avoid xyz road
* Waypoints (trip planning with multiple stops)
* Advanced POI searching (POI on route, POI near destination, etc)
* POI by category (although you can have some success searching by the category)
* The ability to customize the planned route by user preference, such as route by xyz road on route or the ability to modify the route by dragging the planned routes to other roads
* Speed limit data
* Lane assist (how many lanes on current road, how many lanes on at junctions, exits)
* Gas price data
* Mileage tracker
* Traffic status bar on the main navigation screen
* Weather
* Parking space finder (was a previous feature that had little interest)
* POI detailed info (Wikipedia integration)
* On board maps or smarter caching of map data
* Full functionality without a data connection (goes against Waze's business model to collect drive/traffic data)
* Pedestrian mode, motorcycle mode, bicycle mode, commercial truck mode, etc.
* Etc.

FWIW, I'm happy with the focus on a commuter specific GPS with focus on traffic avoidance. I don't expect Waze to do everything. If I want some of these other features, I have 3 or 4 other GPS application on my SmartPhone. Waze doesn't need to copy every feature of every other GPS Application.

As a map editor, I don't want to be burdened maintaining some of the data that would be necessary to enable some of the above features. I would rather see Waze partner with leading providers to provide additional features that require data (speed limits, weather, gas prices, etc). Focus on improving the core functionality and having the leading application for traffic avoidance. For example, improve the traffic algorithm to minimize false/incorrect traffic jams.

[henslok]

I can not completely agree with Gettingthere. Waze is an app focused on real-time traffic and closed road because of road works or accident is major traffic issue. So far I had to find detour all by myself once but this could be done automatically. Traffic bar would be nice to see. Come on guys - road closed is "must have"

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[tallfastcanadian]

FWIW, I'm happy with the focus on a commuter specific GPS with focus on traffic avoidance. I don't expect Waze to do everything. If I want some of these other features, I have 3 or 4 other GPS application on my SmartPhone. Waze doesn't need to copy every feature of every other GPS Application.

Quite a few of those advanced features are fun but unnecessary, I agree. This one however is always annoying me because every summer we have local road closures in the random towns I visit for work and I can't just have Waze route me around them easily.

[bartdesmedt]

I must agree with tallfastcanadian and henslok. The road blocked is a must have, especially with road works on major routes and in major cities, also big events (like New York City Marathon, 10 miles, cycling,...) in busy areas,...

[RobertoGluck]

I also agree that this feature is very much needed. I have this problem of temporarty road blocks all the time.

[gettingthere]

Waze has recently stated that they are working on some type of road closed functionality (as in not by making map changes in the map editor). We don't know exactly what this means or how it will work. We'll have to wait and see.