Addresses serviced by other cities

Map Editors Community House Numbers (Addresses)
1

We have many places where unincorporated (not within any city limits) addresses have mailing addresses with the name of a nearby town.

We also have places that are within the boundaries of one city but have mailing addresses of another city.

In order to prevent map smudging, what is the proper way for marking these addresses?

For cases where they are not within any city limits:

Alt city name on those segments from the address and add HNs?
No city name and add HNs?
Residential places with the city name from the address?

For cases where they are in the bounds of one city but use addresses of the other:

Alt city name from the address on those segments and add HNs?
Primary city name from the address on those segments and add HNs?
Residential places with the city name from the address?

Attached is an example of the later. Red outlines Edmond limits and circles the place in question. Blue outlines Arcadia limits which is the city name used for the place in question.

2

I don’t see a need to create any sort of parity between Waze and USPS. For one, every USPS address has a city name so we would end up having to change everything outside of a city. Furthermore, I believe USPS city names start with the location of the post office, not the physical location location of the home, and use that city name unless there’s an approved alternative.

3

First, I think I can say that because different jurisdictions are different there is no universal answer. For example, in some states the entire state is incorporated as some local jurisdiction (e.g. with townships), while some states have vast rural unincorporated areas.

I’m not yet to the point where I think waze needs to be able to match the USPS address. When waze started, the city names were used only for display purposes (e.g. where the city name appeared on the map and how reports were labeled). In the beginning search results were based entirely on Google data. So the naming standards where originally primarily influenced by where the name should appear on the map.

As waze has increasingly relied on its own data for destination searches in the form of the house number layer and residential places, the question becomes, how important is it to have HN/street/city combinations that match what users search for? The Google data is still used for searches (at least in the US), so if you search using a USPS address you typically should be routed correctly even if the waze data does not use the city searched for. The problem arises when the Google data is either incorrect or is in a form that waze does not handle well (e.g. center of house is near the rear alley). The question then becomes, are there enough incidents of the use of Google data providing bad routing to need us to alter our mapping standard to avoid such problems?

As I said above, I’m not there yet. This is primarily for two reasons. First, I don’t encounter routing issues very often where to fix the problem I need to add the USPS city to the waze data. Second, waze is continually stating that they are improving the HN system and the search algorithms, so trying to adjust mapping standards to the way HNs work is trying to hit a moving target.

So in your example, if I search for 4609 Provencia Dr, Arcadia, OK, I see as the first choice on the “Search Results” tab, “Provencia Dr, Edmond, OK.” I assume this is because Google has Arcadia and Edmond associated there.

4

Thank you both for your replies.

This is another one of those situations where the location that shows up in search is way off of the actual location.

I’ve added a residential place with Arcadia as the city as an experiment and I’m just waiting for the tile update to go through.

I’ll report back the results.

I’m very much looking forward to the revamped search / HN system. Soon…

5

What did you find out?

6

Resurrecting an old thread.

There is a new subdivision near me and within my editing range I have noticed a few new map issues regarding HNs that would easily be fixed by adding in the HNs. While I am able to edit the HNs, this subdivision is in an unincorporated area. As such, the street names are labeled “no city” and as a result, address searches will likely give way to Google data. In this particular case, a user some time ago added in “2028 Abbey Rd” likely looking for a way to properly locate his house. No HNs were on the street so I added them in today and am waiting for the tile update. I was curious to see what Google data showed as the address. In this case the home sits near an intersection so upon a cursory glance it would appear the pin is correct. That is, until you actually click on the correct lot to find it reads “2030 Abbey Rd.” Come to find out, there are several points and lots which this comes up as, so obviously Google data is incorrect here. Of course, what I really want is to update Waze but what I notice is that Google’s search uses the nearby town as an address locator, as would likely be the case for USPS. Waze’s own rules tell us editors not to label a road as being within city limits unless it is indeed within those limits. Yet for practical purposes, if you were a resident giving your friend directions to your home, you would give the address as you would for mailing purposes. You wouldn’t just tell them “2028 Abbey Road” without the city and expect them to figure out the right one. Here in the DFW metroplex alone I get five hits for that address in different cities, one of which just happens to be the right one, but again it is pulling Google data. (I’m curious to see what happens when the tiles update.)

I’ve read through this and a few other threads addressing this issue of HNs in unincorporated areas. For accuracy’s sake, it makes perfect sense not to label a street segment, and thus an HN, as being within a city it is not. We also know this has legal and jurisdictional reasons. However this does not always make practical sense. The average Waze user just wants to be able to get to their friend’s house without getting lost. They don’t give a rip that the address is in an unincorporated part of the county. If the address is near such-and-such a city, and their mailing address is to that city, they will search by that city. That Waze does not allow for this is a prime reason why many people mistrust GPS technology. In my brief time with Waze I have been greatly impressed with the user and editor base, the speed with which my own edits appear on the map, and the organized oversight ensuring accuracy. As was noted above, it appears to be a waste of time to edit HNs in unincorporated areas if the city will simply not show up. Then again, I am awaiting my own test.

I’m curious since the time this thread was last commented on, any headway has been made to improve what seems to be a hole in the system.

WME link to the area in question.
https://www.waze.com/editor/?env=usa&lon=-96.45218&lat=32.69406&s=204975447&zoom=6&segments=65919687,67118509,67118510,67118540,67118541,67118548,67118549,75106582,75106583,75106584,75106585

7

Since the last time this thread was commented on, this topic has been addressed with new community guidance: https://wazeopedia.waze.com/wiki/USA/Road_names/USA/City_names.

8

Thank you. This is exactly the guidance I was looking for. The wiki is rather robust and seems as if I missed this.

9

I recommend using the WME US Government Boundaries script for this purpose:
https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=819&t=213344

This script always displays the US ZIP code/city in the area you are working on in WME.

Note that while the updated guidance calls for the USPS City to be added to segments which are set to “No City” because they are outside of municipal and CDP boundaries, it is also of some value to add the USPS City as an alternate to segments which use a CDP name as the City.

While CDP names are marginally useful for visual purposes, they are not commonly used for USPS addresses and frequently not even used in local parlance, so people searching for addresses within a CDP often do not use it as the city name and might not even know they should, but will recognize a USPS city with that address and are far more likely to search for the address that way.