I’m a new Waze user, and a new map editor. I live in a somewhat rural area of north-central Maryland. After looking through the forums for answers to a question (see next paragraph), I’ve enabled the “area managers” layer and noticed there is no area manager immediately near my house. However, there is an area manager for a polygon starting about two miles away.
There are a few gravel roads in my area (of varying quality) that are marked as paved. Searching the forums, I’ve noticed this problem has been handled in the Midwestern US states by marking gravel roads as paved, and dirt roads as dirt. I understand there can be a BIG difference between a gravel road and a dirt road, however, I think this may be an issue that is handled differently in different areas – here, I don’t really know of any (publicly driveable) dirt roads – though I wouldn’t be surprised if there were. I think we’d want to make a distinction between gravel roads and (asphalt/concrete) paved roads. My first thought after looking through the forums was to find and contact my area manager to see if there’s been any decision about this.
The area where I live is sufficiently rural/open that I would think that the adjacent area manager two miles away should be familiar with my area, so should I contact that person? Should I apply to be an area manager myself? (Am I too new? How would I apply?)
Can you provide a Permalink of some road segments? We can take a look at them to try and better answer your questions.
The position of Area Manager is by appointment. To become an area manager, you must meet the prerequisites and then submit your application, you should read over the Wiki or Wiki (USA Specific) though before Applying.
The primary effect of typing a road a “dirt” is that the roads can be avoided with the avoid dirt roads option in the client app. As you say there aren’t too many actual dirt roads around here. So the question becomes whether most users that would select avoid dirt roads would want to be routed on these gravel roads.
Cross Section Road, Westminster, MD 21158. Public gravel road, maintained by Carroll County Highway Department. Only the selected segments are gravel. The rest of the road is asphalt paved:
Basehores Mill Road, Westminster, MD 21158. Public gravel road, unknown maintenance. Only the selected segment is gravel. The rest of the road is asphalt paved:
Baumgardner Road, Westminster, MD 21158. The selected segment should be divided into a short, asphalt paved public road, and a longer, gravel private road (on private property):
Personally, When I’m determining to mark a road as dirt I put myself in the Wazers shoes. A LOT of dirt roads may not be properly maintained, some might have big rocks or boulders, big holes, giant puddles, things that could potentially be unsafe for typical drivers, plus a lot of these roads might not receiving plowing during the winter months. So personally, if the road surface is relatively smooth and is plowed by the city/twp during the winter months I would potentially say it could be safe to mark it as a street rather than a dirt road. Otherwise, It could possibly be deemed a Private Rd too. But that is just my 2 cents, advise from a Waze Champ might be better than mine.
I would mark a gravel road as a “dirt road”—I think a more apt description would be “unpaved”.
As I see it, the impetus for choosing “avoid dirt roads” is to avoid uncomfortable roads and roads which might damage your car. In my experience, both gravel and dirt roads tend to be uncomfortably bumpy, and while dirt roads are more likely to have big tire- and suspension-killing holes, thrown-up gravel is far more likely than dirt to damage your car’s undercarriage. So it’s a wash.
A well-graded gravel road may be a decent way to get around, but I would generally prefer a nearby paved road if I had the choice. And the setting allows users to make the choice.
As it stands, the option does say “dirt roads” both in the client and in the editor, so maybe I’m putting personal opinion ahead of the facts of the matter.
Yes, exactly. Up here in Connecticut drivers expect the “avoid dirt roads” option to avoid everything that is unpaved, however, down in, say, Louisiana, where many roads are unpaved, but well maintained (with high speeds), drivers expect it to avoid those roads that are more like two tire tracks of dirt with some grass between them. It’s a local decision.
I guess what I’m trying to find out is what the local treatment of gravel roads is. I imagine this is something that can even vary depending on what part of the state you’re in. Carroll County is somewhat rural, and maybe some of the locals wouldn’t mind using gravel roads, however, I doubt you’d get the same attitude from someone in Baltimore City.
Hence why I was looking for a local area manager.
Personally, I don’t mind using the gravel roads (unless it’s raining or snowing, which just means I have to go to the car wash more often). A dirt track, on the other hand, I’d rather avoid at all times.
But even in Carroll there aren’t really dirt tracks that take you anywhere are there? There also aren’t really well maintained, graded and oiled gravel roads are there?
If the road is single ended, or there are other unpaved dead end roads the branch off of it, and therefore the driver has no other option but to drive that road to reach their destination, I just leave it marked as a street.
If the road connects between two or more paved roads, and Waze could possibly route someone over the unpaved road as a through connection, then I will use the dirt road option.
Now, we’ve been promised an “unpaved” road option apart from the current “dirt road/4x4 trail” for a few months that would allow editors to better differentiate between a state or county maintained gravel road and an actual 4x4 trail running through the woods.
As has been pointed out, it varies by location. But let me just point out that there is a push to get an “unpaved” option added that would allow us to mark an unpaved street as a street while still marking an unpaved non-street (think of a road that only a pickup truck would likely get down) as 4x4. Then users can choose to avoid unpaved and/or avoid 4x4 routes. So eventually it should be easier to make this standard everywhere.
Also note that if there isn’t an area manager, you can always contact the regional manager. But a nearby area manager will generally be willing to answer any locally specific questions for you and should not mind being PM’d.
The recently adopted hybrid of the functional classification system did not include dirt roads. Since the Southeast Region (AL, FL, GA) have near identical road systems, and it is difficult to transverse extreme rural areas of the mostly agricultural south without a dirt road for at least the last few miles, this table is offered as a continuation of the FC cross-reference chart. Use, or not, as you see fit.
Hey, I’m here to be that Baltimore City AM to answer a question about the country:
Here’s the question you need to ask:
If I (city guy) is visiting my in-laws (country girl) in a city car (rental, prius, sports car, etc), am I going to be upset if I’m routed onto these roads?
No since you’ll soon realize that in certain parts of the country, you have no alternative for miles. So, if you really want to visit your in-laws, you’re going to suck it up and drive on the road . There is no way that we are going to reach national consensus on this question while we cannot simultaneously classify a segment according to both function and surface. Even then, you can have extremely well-maintained dirt roads and poorly maintained paved roads, and you would not necessarily prefer to drive on the latter.
Does “Avoid Dirt Roads” work the same as “Avoid Tolls”, in that the routing engine adds a “high” penalty for using roads that should be “avoided”.
If so, I would hope the routing engine would not go many miles out of the way. Once again, city guy here, only sparing practical experience with dirt roads.
Not if your in-laws live on a dirt road, or in an area that is only accessible by dirt roads.
Northwestern Carroll County has gravel roads and dirt roads, but it’s not so rural that you can’t find easy paved alternatives to those roads that don’t add too many miles. In rural areas of Montana, Alaska, Colorado, et cetera, I don’t think that’s the case, and I think dirt roads may be the best option. That’s why I think this should be left up to local AMs.
This was probably my first forum question when I joined Waze, and it’s been suddenly resurrected. I noticed some gravel and dirt roads were marked as paved. I wondered why the heck that was the case, and why there was no “gravel road” option. In my mind, given the choice between a gravel and a dirt road, I’d opt for the gravel road, but I’d like to know in advance that it’s gravel and not asphalt or concrete – in case I’ve got a (not so) Smart Car or something similar.
. There is no way that we are going to reach national consensus on this question while we cannot simultaneously classify a segment according to both function and surface. Even then, you can have extremely well-maintained dirt roads and poorly maintained paved roads, and you would not necessarily prefer to drive on the latter.