Sounds ominous … not sure I want to be on this list any more :lol:
PS I don’t believe has ever been a published list but personally, I’d be happy for one to be added to the wiki.
This topic came up whilst I was “on hiatus”, otherwise I would probably have responded before now with some “official” explanations. 
Overlapping AM Areas
We have nothing against overlapping AM areas. As pointed out earlier, this can be very helpful with helping to cover busy areas when we all have to do this in our spare time. It provides an additional information resource: it can give you a good idea of editors who can be contacted who may have local knowledge or may even be able to make a site visit to check something out. Another bonus is that a new AM may know he can get help from an experienced AM covering the same area.
Lastly, a small overlap between AM areas is beneficial. If there’s an issue right on a boundary between 2 AMs, it may be that neither of them can sort it out completely.
Country Managers
There is no list of Country Managers because the position is really only different from Area Manager in scope. There are no additional responsibilities expected of Country Managers. In some respects, a promotion to CM reflects a recognition of editing experience: not all CMs necessarily cover the whole country and they are not obliged to do so. Whilst there is absolutely no secret to who is a CM, I would hesitate to provide a list as they might then feel pressured to do more than they have to.
CM/CA original AM Areas
There is no requirement to remove AM areas when you become a CM. Indeed, there is a positive bonus to keeping them. We do ask that CMs still try & keep on top of their original areas, so the appearance on the map can indicate where they are likely to be most active or have local knowledge. Looking at myself, for example, I have left my London area intact as that’s where I live and drive. In practice, I edit absolutely anywhere in the country that needs it.
Reviewing AM Areas (and ranks)
This is, without doubt, the most difficult part of being a Country Admin. Without clear evidence of consistent poor practice and an outright refusal to communicate or improve, it is very difficult to justify any removal of editing rights and ranks. When we became a self-managed country, there were a lot of “legacy” AMs, who received their areas simply by asking Waze. Improving the standards of some of these editors would have required a massive education campaign and, no doubt, some unpleasant situations and arguments.
In that respect, we were very happy when Waze introduced the process to automatically drop AM areas after 90 days not editing. This means that most of the legacy AMs were dropped without anyone being to blame for it. If anyone takes a break and loses their area, our default position would be to re-enable it, but it does give us a good chance to review edits and make sure the promotion is justified.
As for rank reductions, that is even more likely to be contentious. If you’ve “earned” L4 or L5 based on number of edits, why should we have the right to refuse a promotion or force a demotion? In practice, we may very occasionally review L4/L5 editors who haven’t edited in a considerably long time and reduce their rank. This is as much a matter of them not being up to date with current practices as anything else. And if a former CM who had been demoted contacted us when resuming editing, we would restore the rank as long as there were no major concerns.
I will note that there are a couple of AM areas in the UK that haven’t automatically disappeared despite the editor now being inactive. It’s not a high priority, but I was considering a few days ago whether to remove a couple or contact the editors concerned.
Taking on an Unloved area
This is definitely a helpful thing to do! We wouldn’t expect it as a first AM application and we would expect you to still keep on top of your main AM area, but this is very important to improving the map. I started back in 2012 and took on an AM area for SE London. Shortly after that, I took on the whole of South Wales, which was mostly untouched back then. I relinquished that AM area a long time ago, but not until I had sorted out a massive amount of bad mapping.
You may feel that the best method is to take on an unloved area and get it “sorted out”. Generally, I find the improvement causes an increase in Waze usage and new users point out things you’ve missed. After monitoring for a few months, you could then give up that area and move on to another.
Who covers it if there is no AM?
It’s hard to say. Some of the CMs are very active across wide areas. I can tell you what I do:
- I scan the country using UR-MP. I then start with the oldest UR and work my way down the list. I reply to ones that haven’t been touched. I fix ones that I can solve. I intervene in ones that have a reply but no action for a long time and I close ones that can’t be resolved.
I’ve been doing this for 3 years now. When I started, the oldest URs were more than a year. Nowadays it varies. I occasionally get it down to nothing older than 30 days. In the last week or so, I’ve touched everything from July/August and I’m somewhere into September.
- When HQ aren’t screwing up MPs in general and Closure MPs specifically, I deal with a lot of those. I recently passed the milestone of 10,000 MPs closed.
With both of these scans, there is something very important: I look around. If you fix an incorrect junction, there’s a good chance there are other problems nearby because nobody is editing in the area. I don’t just fix a UR and move on, I check what else needs doing. Sometimes it’s 10 minutes work. Sometimes it’s an entire town that gets bookmarked and come back to later for a proper sorting-out.
It annoys me when I see a set of badly-mapped roads with a city name or speed limits set - because someone “took” the easy points and moved on. One thing we would expect from AMs requesting is thorough editing.
Last thought
Don’t get over-committed and feel under pressure. We ask that AMs edit well. We don’t ask that you edit a lot. Nuts like me edit for hours every night and at the weekend, but none of us get paid. If you feel you’ve got too much area, ask for a reduction. If you want to take a break for a while, let us know: we’ll completely understand and be ready to welcome you back when you feel refreshed. :mrgreen:
Still new to this but I am seem to be in an area nothing happens. I add or update a POI it never gets updated. Unless I post in here nothing happens, more frustrating lately i responding to UR and someone else takes the answer they give solves it and closes the reports. Being cynical its seems the new editors are not allowed the chance to improve and get more edits to get to the next level.
It sounds to me like the people closing your requests haven’t read the Wiki and are unfamiliar with “UR etiquette”.
This is a direct quote from the Wiki here: https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/United_Kingdom/UR_Guidelines
Closing a UR with a Conversation
If you are not the editor who originally started the conversation, or an AM for that area, or a Country Manager/Administrator (CM/CA), you should not close the UR.
If there has been no response for at least 7 days, the editor who originally started the conversation should consider closing the UR. An AM/CM/CA may also close the UR, but it would be more polite to add a message to the conversation - such as “Since there seems to be no further progress here, do you want to close this UR now?”.
When closing a UR, please leave a message as to why you are doing so.
If people do that to me, I send the a polite PM via the forum querying why they closed it and then point them off to the link above if needs be.
Hey Ian
I have seen some of your UR’s in the T&W area, there are a couple of editors that don’t use the forum and just do as they wish upto their level.
I have (in my area) authorised some of your updates, but removed others where there was a clash and the alternate had more information.
It is a pain being L2, I have been for a very long time (longer than some of the L5 have even been using Waze 
)
You can view the closed UR’s and see which users have gone against etiquette, then drop them a message or I think there is a mechanism for it to be dealt with by CM’s…?
Jonnaz
Hi Ian (we need as many Ian’s as we can get, we will eventually take over!) 
Welcome to the wonderful, and very frustrating world of WME. Unfortunately, if you are in an area where the AM is not very active, or there isn’t one (an opportunity just waiting to be had!) it can get very frustrating waiting for someone to update your input. Once you have done a few, post on the forum in the editor requests with a link to them and someone will usually fix this quickly. The senior editors watch this daily. If you do not post them in the forum, you do not stand much chance of someone just happening to pass by, with the zoom at a level where they can see them, and approve (or reject :o) them.
To get from L1 to L2, when you no longer need the approval, look around your local area where you drive and you will find many streets at L1 that need work to correct the geometry or add the speed limits (or add the ?!! car parks - read the wiki pages first to make sure you do this correctly). This is how most of us got over the initial hurdle of the L1 limitations. You will be surprised how quickly the first 1k edits comes around.
All the best
Ian (the one mostly in Essex)
Edit: Just looked at your profile, and see that even as I was typing, you are shooting up the scoreboard!! At this rate you will soon be L3 and ready for your first area. Well done
Thanks, I opted on adding street names and speed limits. The Parking thing seems an absolute waste of time, I add them then they vanish, so i add again then next time I can see 2 so I try to stay well away from them.
It is worth checking EVERY time you work on car parks that Parking Lots is ticked in the far right hand drop down menu. I have noticed this is somewhat random and when I start up has a 50 /50 chance of being ticked or not. If not you can’t see the car parks!! Then when it is on, you then have several! Unrelated but Live Users is the same! Comes and goes at will. :?
I think I’ll just start calling everyone Ian… Good chance it’s their name anyway, and this way I only have to remember one! :lol:
But you can still get into trouble, one of us is sensitive about the number of "i"s in his name! :lol:
:lol: Hi Ian, would that be Ian or Iain, or possibly Iian? Could be Iaiin as well… Though Iiiiaiin would just be silly, wouldn’t it!
LOL
At least I only have one - spelt the English way
Or in this Ian’s case, dip your toe into editing, become addicted very quickly, spend every waking hour on here because there’s no rehab and then quickly surpass many other ‘older’ editors with your number of edits.
There’s no saving Ian now. He’s a lost cause. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Another L5/CM here, I too have been known to solve the odd UR and use UR-MP tracker as I think Iain does. Sort by age, work my way down - pausing to tweak nearby roads in less visited areas. Having the “GPS Points” layer on can help identify road changes and additions, but just be wary of temporary changes.
Happy to help new editors if I can, too - you’ll often find me in map-chat.
I see from the AM map, http://waze.cryosphere.co.uk/area-managers , that a few of you have added bits to your areas and a few new ones have joined in the fun.
There is still room for a few more, particularly in the north of England.
What is wrong with Melton Mowbray, Wrexam & Oswestry in the Midlands and then the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland that no-one loves them enough to take them on as a AM?
If any of you from “up north” understood how much pain that question causes a lifelong confirmed Southerner, you would feel guilty and apply to manage these areas immediately. :lol:
Not true, I do sleep occasionally. But then suffer from nightmares about the car parks that are still points and not areas. 
Hi,
I applied for a new area 'oop north nearly a month ago but to date, have only received confirmation of the application (I do understand the CAs are pretty busy! ). Do you have any idea what the current application processing time is?
I suspect some of those areas you suggested have already been grabbed, but are just stuck in the backlog…
Cheers,
Dave
I think Tim has been very busy with the applications. I feel a little (but only very little) guilty at stirring it up.
I would guess a few weeks is the current time to process an application from when you get the acknowledgement.
I was rejected ad told I would be monitored and be reviewed in a month, that was in February.
I am also the reason for the post Here
I realise the waiting is painful, I applied to be an AM at around 20k edits and got it the same day as I hit 25k and level 3! However, just looking around, there is still a lot to do in some areas. I have just taken on Cumbria and I was amazed at how many unknown direction roads, incorrect junctions and unnamed places there are (were! ) I am impressed anyone managed to get directions other than on the main roads. I am now about half way through my “steamroller” across the county.
On the issue of speed limits, the issue is not that this is bad, what the post was saying is don’t “just” do the speed limits, check the road names, the town names and the junctions and all the other bits as you go. This obviously takes much longer, but adds value to the map as you go. I have earned a large portion of my points doing the speed limits, but if you run toolbox, validator, junction angle checker or any of the other tools over any areas I have been through, you will (hopefully) not find any other issues left behind.
All the best
Ian