Ever since I started using Waze we have discussed the need for a Continue Straight or Continue on the Current Road instruction. I constantly hear about it as a future feature, but still it does not come to life.
I recently reviewed the open/pending features/bugs in Bugzilla and I cannot find anything like this feature. Now that does not mean it does not exist in the developers list of things to do, but I would like to create an entry with our recommendations. I am posting this thread to get community feedback on such a feature.
Here are my thoughts for what I will put in the Bugzilla report.
Continue Straight
When a junction is created, enable the ability for the editor to check a box that will force a navigation instruction for what would otherwise be the straight though route today.
1.1 “Continue on the current road” instruction if the road name does not change
1.2 “Continue straight” if the road name changes, but no change in driving angle is present to give an idea that the road has changed.
Only One Segment Possible for the Continuation
2. If a junction provides only a single exit from a segment and the road name changes, force a navigation instruction of any of the available turn or keep left/right instructions.
2.1 If the road name does not change and no other segment connects, then no instruction is required (as it works today).
2.2 If the road name does not change, but other segments are connected to the junction but are all disabled turns or not possible due to traffic flow directions, provide a navigation instruction to prevent confusion by the driver. They may not realize all the other turns are not possible and would benefit from a navigation instruction at that multi-segment junction.
Alternate Navigation Instructions
3. There are more complex intersections where a turn is not necessarily a hard right/left turn at 90 degrees. Today we have a “Keep right/left”, “Turn right/left”, “Exit right/left”. We need additional turn instructions especially when an intersection has more than 4 roads intersecting, or they are not at right angles to each other or the incoming road. Check the street view from this segment to see an example https://www.waze.com/editor/?zoom=8&lat=37.32644&lon=-121.87625&layers=TBFTFFTTTTFTTFTFTFTFTTTTTF&env=usa&segments=5277714
3.1 Turn slight right/left - intersections with 22-67 degree turns from straight.
3.2 Turn hard right/left - intersections with 100+ degree turns from straight.
Would a simple check box do? What element would the check box be associated with? I think you might need to identify both segments, the one you are leaving and the one you are entering and be able to indicate if going from one to the other then you should get a continue straight instruction.
I would also note that I didn’t think any jurisdiction has both “Exit right” and “Exit left” instructions. Right hand drive jurisdictions have “Exit rights” and left hand drive jurisdictions have “Exit lefts.” It would be nice to have ability to trigger both globally.
I agree there is probably more in the details to spec out. At one point I was thinking about following something similar to Time-based turn restrictions. It is very related. Maybe there is a way to trigger off the turn arrows like we do today. Maybe it is the other side of the arrow. :mrgreen:
Agreed. Restated in case someone did not follow completely. The US (in particular but not exclusively) generally has Exit Right roadways, but there are Exit Left examples in all states, so it would be good to have control of what is said.
I agree, there definitely should be an option to force instructions Keep right/left vs Exit right/left & continue straight ect. The whole adjusting angles thing confuses many editors.
This, basically. We have something for this that we know is coming (whenever it comes), it works well enough for now, and we all know how development moves here. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe or even ask for some kind of temporary alternate solution for something that already has an upcoming solution.
Because there are hundreds of thousands of basic intersections where continue straight is the correct command. We shouldn’t need to add a junction box to get that command.
For UK Motorways (Freeways) we have many instances where we’d like to have ‘keep right’ to stay on the current road (left-hand drive), and have resorted to complicated hacks to make it happen (as per Highway Splits in the Wiki). We’d like to be able to force this instruction without mucking about with short segments and the like.
Furthermore, we’d really like to have a ‘soft instruction’ which is read out by TTS (once), but not shown on the display or in the route list. This is so that the driver can see how far it is to the real exit from the Motorway, but still get the occasional nag to move out of the lane which could exit them prematurely. Optionally, these ‘soft instructions’ can be turned off completely for those that would prefer not to hear them.
If this is something that the Junction Box will provide, then that would be great…
Continue straight, for the most part, doesn’t need to be said at all. Four-way junction of four segments and one changes names. No need for it. The logic to determine when to say it isn’t totally straightforward. (pun intended)
This is absolutely true. Maybe we should separate our request into two separate ones so that continue straight can be solved outside of junction boxes.
As for waiting on junction boxes for the other turn instruction control, I would feel better about waiting if we got some level of confidence it was actually in the works or maybe had a target release. I did not find it in Bugzilla, so added it from our Feature Request list just now. https://bugs.waze.com/show_bug.cgi?id=6382 (Vote if you have authority).
Maybe Brian can add more details to the Bugzilla for the community to see the proposal.
Thinking about this more, I love the junction box/object, but as Jon mentioned I am not sure we want to have to add a whole junction object to every 3 way split just to control if you get Keep Left vs Turn Left vs Exit Left.
I still think we need someone to control or change the default settings in a standard junction.
I can’t think of any. Maybe a couple freeway entrances. Arguably any straight other-road –> ramp transition should get a “continue straight, at I-75 S” or whatever, but I don’t know about anything other than that. Might be nice at the start of a long bridge.
I don’t think audio-but-not-display, or vice versa, is a good idea for any instruction. Some rely on the TTS exclusively, some rely on the display exclusively, and some use both. Shouldn’t make it useless for anyone who keeps their client muted (as I often do on highway trips, when listening to podcasts).
Barring that, we use the same hack as highway splits for the “hey, don’t exit” scenario, only in extreme instances (where at least as many lanes exit as continue). “Stay to the left” is technically correct—stay in the left lanes, because the right lanes exit—but it’d probably be better to show “︎ I-10 E / New Orleans” and say “Continue on I-10 East, New Orleans” when the road doesn’t actually veer off to the left.
I agree that the junction box will be very good for this… at least hopefully.
Every single three-way intersection where the main road turns and the side road is straight on. That might not happen much in the Midwest, but there are literally hundreds of thousands in the east. We then need to hack the map to put a kink in the side road to get Waze to give anything resembling a correct instruction.
I think these might be some good examples where “Continue Straight” would be useful, there have been many URs here saying no direction prompt was given which is why we had to create “Wayfinders” Permalink 1 & Permalink 2
I’ve run into situations where perhaps “Continue straight” isn’t necessary, but “Stay in the left lane to continue straight” or “only the 3rd lane continues straight” would be very useful.
Other GPS solutions that I use are much better at guiding to the correct lane(s) in complicated situations. Waze on the other hand can be very confusing, and even when the routing is correct you can end up taking the wrong exit, or being forced into a turn because Waze’s instructions weren’t clear enough.
^ Lane guidance is a different animal, and while also very helpful, also a lot harder to implement, I imagine.
Okay, I see what you mean. Something like "if the road types don’t match AND the names don’t match, and the angle is less than 5º-10º, and there are no other roads within 45º, give a “continue straight” instruction.
This is exactly the solution I’d prefer. A simple instruction that doesn’t unnecessarily lengthen the navigation list, and an option to turn it off.
One instance of “in 1 mile, stay left” would be ideal. It annoys me to hear, repeatedly, “in [distance], keep left to I-71 S” when I’m already on I-71 S, paying attention to what road I’m on, and only expecting to hear the name of the next exit. When the Big Green Sign spanning the freeway makes it obvious that to stay on I-71 I need to get out of the right lane, I manage to do so without being told, just as I did for the 20+ years I drove without a GPS. And on the occasions I could not get over in time and had to exit, there was always a sign at the end of the ramp directing me back where I needed to go.
If the app gives instructions for every movement, the value of each instruction decreases incrementally. I have to separate the useful instructions from the non-useful, which requires brainpower that should be devoted to something else, like watching the vehicles around mine. Maybe it’s just my ADHD, but I can’t imagine I’m the only one irritated by this.
Back to the OP, a continue straight instruction (using a junction box, or otherwise) would make navigating through a 3-way road split much simpler. +1.
Another idea would be to have the ‘keep going’ briefly popup on the screen a mile from the junction, perhaps with a ‘bing’ sound instead of full TTS. When further away, you’d only see next real exit.
There are several examples of “Exit left” in the US. While I can only really speak for California, and the Bay Area in particular, I know of several left side exits. Normally you are correct that in the US we exit right, there are enough exceptions that the ability to set both right and left exits really needs to be enabled globally.
︎ I-10 E / New Orleans” and say “Continue on I-10 East, New Orleans” when the road doesn’t actually veer off to the left.