A Historic First for Pakistan:
For the first time, an editor from Pakistan, NOVAGENOFFICIAL (Me), Attended the APAC Mega Meetup 2025 in Thailand. A three-day event filled with collaborative activities, discussions, and community bonding. The stay and sessions were hosted at Conrad Bangkok. Hence we are in the Waze official editor awareness video. Danit (APAC CM) also gave us a video shoutout.
For Pakistan, this was a major leap forward. For the first time, our efforts were recognized directly by the Waze staff. We discussed the issues faced by the Waze app in Pakistan in great detail, and the team reaffirmed their commitment to supporting our cities and our growing community.
Another significant milestone for the Pakistani Waze community came with KoiFish, Waze’s road-mapping initiative that gamifies contributions by tracking kilometers of roads added.Pakistan earned second place globally. For such a small community, this was an incredible accomplishment, and we sincerely thank our L5+ editors for reaching this milestone.(Aswell as other editors ofcourse). This was highlighted by the Waze staff. I have alot of photos, but due to confidentiality policies I cannot share them but I can tell you that Waze is going to get alot better in the near future. It was an amazing experience overall.
Star of the Month
Our editing contributions received official recognition from the Waze staff in the meetup, and our efforts were featured in their newsletter. Being highlighted in this way not only showcases the dedication of our community but also motivates us to continue improving and mapping our cities with pride.
Global Recognition: Waze Café and Pakistan Virtual Meetup
In addition to the APAC Mega Meetup, I had the honor of being invited to a Waze Café in Poland, becoming the first Pakistani to ever attend one (and as previously mentioned I cannot share images due to privacy concers). During this event, I met with senior editor leading the Pakistani Waze community, and together we discussed strategies to grow our community and improve the maps for all drivers.
Another milestone was the first-ever Pakistan Virtual Meetup, which I organized to focus specifically on our local challenges and opportunities. Editors from Portugal, The U.S., and Nepal joined the session and committed to supporting our community in improving Waze maps in Pakistan. This was a historic moment, highlighting our issues on a global stage and strengthening collaborations to make navigation better for everyone in the country.
Moving on; We have another milestone to our name:
The Central Business District, one of Pakistan’s most important and advanced roads, was mapped first by the Waze community before appearing on any other mapping platform. Thanks to the dedication of our editors, this crucial route was added to Waze navigation quickly, ensuring that drivers had accurate and timely guidance. This achievement highlights the impact and efficiency of our community in shaping navigation across the country.
2025 Floods in Pakistan.
During the recent floods in Pakistan, Waze and Google collaborated closely to support affected communities. Our volunteer Waze community was tasked with marking roads closed due to flooding, placing shelters, and updating both Google Maps and Waze in real-time for drivers. This critical work was carried out swiftly and meticulously, ensuring that accurate information reached those who needed it most. The situation was also continuously monitored and shared on our Instagram page to keep the public informed. We sincerely thank the Waze crisis team for taking on such a vital responsibility and empowering volunteers to make a real difference.
Ongoing Efforts
Our community continues to work tirelessly to map all major roads in Pakistan. Islamabad has been fully mapped, most of Lahore is now complete, and cities like Karachi and Quetta are currently underway. In addition, we are working on translating the Waze app into Urdu to make it more accessible to local users, but we seriously are short of editors (Volunteers) to help us out therefore I thought of posting here to highlight our efforts as we are still a small community at waze.
The Future
Collaboration possibilities are expanding as Pakistan’s pioneer GMaps Local Guide, @KashifMisidia, the PSL Hamaray Heroes award winner, has expressed interest in contributing to Waze alongside Google Maps.
It is truly inspiring to see Waze recognizing contributors from Pakistan in 2024 and 2025. For our communities, this is a remarkable achievement. Looking ahead, as Waze and Google Maps grow closer than ever, I am eager to see more people joining Waze, improving both platforms, and helping make Waze the top choice for drivers and/or people who use apps like InDrive or Yango, sumultaneosly with Google Maps.
I am absolutely thrilled to continue contributing to Waze, and I am committed to fostering stronger communication and collaboration between the two teams.
Together, we can make the editor community one of the strongest in South Asia.
Get Involved:
You can register to become an editor for Waze here
Get to know more about Pakistani waze community here
Join us in Discord here (The app we use for daily communications).
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