Template of topic 380525, post 1
As a self-managed country, Australia has customised permissions on features which may differ from other countries and servers. This page is intended to publicly document them in a shared and easily accessible location.
Quick Reference
| Function/Feature | Segment Lock Level |
Function/Feature | Segment Lock Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cameras/ASZ | 3 | Road shields | 4 |
| Closures | 3 | Road width | 2 |
| Creating cities | 4 | School zones | 3 |
| Junction boxes | 3 | Sharp curves | 4 |
| Lane guidance | 2 | Speedbumps | 2 |
| Paths | 4 | Turn guidance | 2 |
| Railway crossings | 3 |
Cities
Creating New Cities
New cities can only be created/seeded by level 4 editors and higher. You can easily request a city seed by posting on the Australia Unlock / Update / Closure Requests forum, or #city-state-issues on the Australian Discord Server. Only official cities and suburbs should be added. The official source in Australia is the PSMA data which is approved for use under External Data/Third-Party Sources Policy and how to use third-party data sources. Please also be aware of the list of Australian Duplicate Cities.
In November 2019 the permission level was increased from level 3 to 4 after a vast number of erroneous cities were found in an audit and needed to be cleaned up.
Renaming cities
Remains at the Waze default lock, which may require country manager permissions and is not country-specific. This point requires clarification.
Closures
Roads
Real time road closures can be managed by level 3 editors and higher, with the exception of the list of editors with Real Time Closure (RTC) permissions on the Comunity Leaders page. These editors can manage closures on any segment within their polygon regardless of the lock level.
In October 2022 the permission was dropped from level 4 to 3 to both align with the global standard and allow more editors to help with closures around the country.
Turns
The Real time closure capability was extended in 2024 to also apply to turns. The turn direction at an intersection node can now be closed independently of a closure applied to a segment. The permission to effect turn closures is the same as road closures.
Permanent Hazards
Cameras
General cameras
The addition of cameras in Australia is permitted at level 3 and higher. Editors need to remember to take care to change the camera permissions from auto to level 3.
In December 2020 the permission was changed from level 1 to level 3 due to a huge spike in unreliable camera additions, undermining the integrity of the alerts. It also aligns “creation of cameras” with the already documented “minimum lock level for cameras”.
Average speed zones/cameras
Several human errors resulted in incorrectly applied zones to the map, sparking user complaints. Considering the low frequency of these zones needing to be added or changed, coupled with the difficulty in spotting these errors, from October 2022 the minimum lock level in Australia increased to level 3 to align with the lock level of other cameras.
Sharp Curves & Speedbumps
A new feature set released in February 2024 allows the mapping of new types of hazards that are ongoing in nature. Waze has released this feature with the default lock level of level 4 editors and higher.
In June 2025, the Local Champs made the decision of relaxing the lock level for for speed bumps to level 2 editors. Repeated inaccurate mapping may reverse this decision.
School Zone
Made available for mapping in February 2025, School Zones can be added by level 3 editors and above.
Traffic Lights
Launching Q1 2026, the default international lock level is 4, but it was reduced to level 3 and above, in Australia.
Railway Crossing
A new feature introduced April 2020 to provide an audible and displayed alert when approaching a railway crossing. Australia has produced guidelines for their mapping for level 3 editors and above.
In June 2020 the level was decreased from level 4 to 3 so more editors could assist with the implementation.
Headlights Reminder
Australia does not use this feature and therefore, there are no locks.
Junction Boxes
Junction boxes are locked to a higher level in Australia, requiring an editor to be level 3 higher.
In June 2020 this was decreased from level 5 to 4. In October 2021 this was decreased further to level 3 as a part of a trial. Junction boxes are having a greater role in our new mapping standards, and have become less restrictive through enhancement by the Waze developers. Australian editors now benefit by having one of the lowest lock levels for junction boxes globally.
Lane Guidance
On Segments
The lane guidance feature was released from beta in Q2 2020. Initially restricted to level 6 only permissions were reduced slowly down to level 4 and higher. In September 2020 this was further lowered to level 2 editors and above. This feature allows editors to manage lane guidance on segments in WME.
On Junction Boxes (Far Lanes)
A new feature released from Waze beta in 2022, Far Lanes tells drivers what lane they need to be in while at intersection A to correctly approach intersection B. This may apply to large and complex intersections or simply provide preferred lane guidance for a series of intersections or ramps. It requires a junction box to be used over both (or the whole) intersection/s and for lane guidance and far lanes to be configured on the path within the junction box.
Due to the perceived complexity and limited documentation this feature was locked to level 4 and decreased to level 3 and above in July 2024,
On Paths (Far Lanes Version 2)
Far Lanes v2 (FLv2) is an extension of the far lanes feature that removes the need for a junction box to define “paths” through an intersection and instead lets an editor do it. The editor selects two segments and creates a single “path” between them, whereby lanes, far lanes, and turn guidance can be applied.
In October 2022 Waze released this to production at lock level 5, but it was dropped to level 4 and above in Australia. We will continue to consult with the global community, assess the the risk, complexity, and availability documentation before considering further changes.
Original documentation provided upon launch Far Lanes Phase 2 - How to
Road Width
Announced in 2021, road width is an attribute that allows editors to tell Waze how wide a road is at important intersections. Road width goes on to help improve the app’s understanding of where the driver is on the road, and reduces the time to recalculation should the driver exit early or miss an exit. When lanes are adjusted, road width should also be considered.
In October 2022 the lock level dropped from level 4, the release level, to level 2 editors and above.
Streets
A street is a collection of one or more segments that share common attributes, such as a street names and shields.
Roadshield
This feature was released to beta in April 2021. It contains some intricacies that need to be considered when applying shields to roads, and thus the default lock was increased from level 2 to level 4 in Australia. All editors can view the settings.
Turn Guidance
This feature was released in 2021. It gives complete control to the editor over exit shields and numerous overrides, including the ability to enter free text for TTS announcement on turns (of segments and paths). The ability to view turn guidance settings is available to all.
In February 2022 the lock level was reduced from level 4 to level 3. All editors can view the settings. Instructions to correctly configure turn guidance is contained with the Turn Instructions page. In July 2024 the lock level was further reduced from level 3 to level 2 editors and above.