When should we un-split two one-way roads?

[pipelongar]

The Getting Started article, in the Waze wiki, says:

Please do not edit the map until you have read best map editing practice and map editing

That "best map editing practice" article says that it is not a good idea to split a two-way road into two one-way roads, but still, I see it happening all the time. Roads are being split for no good reasons. Or am I wrong, is there any good reason to do it (even though the Waze wiki says it shouldn't be done)?

So that is why I ask, when should we un-split these two one-way roads back to a single two-way road?

I normally don't un-split roads, but I feel like it is my duty to do it.

There are so many unnecesary split roads that I am afraid people will start to think, especially new users, that splitting roads is cool, when it is not. Split roads, in the majority of cases, lead to incorrect driving instructions at intersections, which I don't think can be solved witout un-splitting.

Is there a way to discourage the splitting of roads?
What is the general feeling about this?

[Precisa]

I agree, I have been unsplitting roads in my area.
It helps when adding new side streets.
Less Junctions with no turns,
less unconnected segments stopping routing.
much simpler layout to maintain.

Waze is suppose to be a functional map, not a direct representation of all individual roads that exist.
I made the mistake when I first joined of adding separate lanes and little turning roads that did nothing but add complexity and errors, I now know better

I feel that if two cars cant fit on the median, then the road should not be split.
some GPS trails from phones hidden inside cars are not accurate to within 10 metres.
How are they to know which road they are traveling down when the map roads are only 3 metres apart?

I think the easier question to answer would be "When should we keep a road split?"

if the median is 5 or more metres wide (two car widths)
or if the whole road width is so wide (many lanes) that someone might pave a parallel road when driving in the outside lanes e.g 4 lanes either side of a concrete barrier.

Go forth and unsplit the road!

[pipelongar]

Waze is suppose to be a functional map, not a direct representation of all individual roads that exist.

Yes! Exactly!
It doesn't help in any way, on the reduced screen of a mobile device where Waze is actually used, to have two parallel roads, which are actually displayed (if you have time to see while driving) as one thick road.

Added to the "more than 2 car widths, or 5 metres rule", I tend to think that, if the road has intersections then it is not worth splitting it. At every intersection there is a high risk of breaking the functionality of Waze.

Freeways, highways, motorways, those with no intersections are the good candidates for split roads.

[fuzzyBSc]

I did some work unsplitting roads near Eight Mile Plains a while back, only to find they had been resplit a few weeks later. I think we need to get clear standards together on this that everyone basically buys into.

[nmeier23]

For questionable situations like this, I've just been locking the segments after the edits (with AM rights) so it at least reduces the chances of edit reversals. I would hope that another AM would first PM you to ask why it's been locked before just going ahead.

[pipelongar]

I think we need to get clear standards together on this that everyone basically buys into.

The standard on this is clearly specified in the Best Map Editing Practice but still people don't pay attention to it.

It might be that people just get into editing maps without ever going into the wiki or the forums, so they don't know the standards. But hopefully one day they will be curious about checking the wiki or the forums.

But what about the people that do split roads unnecessarily even when they know it shouldn't be done?

[hawknz]

Agreed pipelongar, IMO I usually leave split/unsplit roads alone, unless they are so bad they really need to be fixed.
If I'm not editing the new roads I waze, then I'm usually kept busy enough fixing and/or joining up streets that haven't been done properly by other AM's or users.
I only wish we had more Wazers in Brisbane... or Australia as a whole..

[fuzzyBSc]

I don't think we really have a waze community going in Brisbane, and perhaps there is a similar problem elsewhere. I'm on facebook - find me by my username and mention you're a wazer and maybe we can get a bit of a broader social base going on?

[hawknz]

I don't think we really have a waze community going in Brisbane,

Going by the lack of Australian forum discussions, you think that would be the case. Whenever I wazer I may see 1 or 2 other wazers on in Brisbane, but that's about it.
IMO I've stopped using Waze on my phone as it really didn't benefit me and it's still very young. No doubt it will be designed into a better system over time and more people will come to use and rely on it (touch wood).

[Civic01Vic]

There's a community going in Melbourne as far as I know. I used to live in Brisbane and still visit from time to time and is quite familiar with the roads in the inner-city. I wonder if they'll somehow still let me edit the roads there if I ask nicely.