In pike county there is Milford township. As there are at least 3 other Milford townships in the state, Bucks, Somerset, and Juianta, how are we to proceed with naming the townships that currently have no name in the city field this way we can remove Milford (2)(pike county Milford) from the map. to add to this the county seat of Pike county is Milford Borough (a CDP) which is surrounded by Milford township on 3 sides.
some GHO discussions led to the decision to name Milford Township to Milford, Pike and Milford Borough to Milford Boro as it is the only one in the state. these discussions seem to have lead to some confusion on how to proceed.
so this is where this thread comes in, how are we to proceed with these Milfords and perhaps other duplicated in the state and lets get the decision to the wiki.
Name them all Milford?
Name them Milford township?
Name them Milford, (county Name)?
Lastly the Pike county seat should have it’s own name as it is a CDP and all the road names change at its borders, should this be Milford Boro?
Here’s an excerpt from the most recent discussion – 12/31/2015
per a conversation i just had with jondrush who is unable to come to the forum at the moment the guidelines we have come up with are as follows. if you have any comments or ideas please feel free to reply.
for the duplicate towns we currently have that have their roads with No city checked, name them (town), (county) with no twp at end. if a better solution comes up in the future now that these segments have a township name associated with them we can more easily submit them to waze to have the mass edit of the township name done and converted to whatever new standard is chosen.
If a borough and a surrounding township share the same name, add “Boro”
I’d like to sum up what we know so far. If I have any of this wrong, please let me know, and I’ll correct this summary:
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Waze team has made a change to the database that will allow the exact same city name to be reused within the same state for different cities. These cities actually have different city iDs in the database, but we can’t see the city ID in WME
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When two cities of the same name are close together, it is necessary to use something to distinguish them from one another
A) If a township and borough have the same name, then the township gets the “naked” name, and the borough gets the name with the abbreviation “Boro”
B) If a municipality name is used in more than one county, distinguish them by appending the county name e.g. Thornbury, Chester". Exception: in Delaware County leave off the County name because it is easily confused with the nearby state name.
C) If a city name is repeated nearby just across a state line, append the county name -
Jon / jondrush has been working on a list of all duplicate cities in PA, and when he is done with the list he will submit a list of changes to the waze team. Since he is a champ, they will pay attention to his request. For each of the names like “Milford (2)”, waze will make a one-line change in the database and, like magic, the new name will replace the old name on every segment.
** We don’t know how long this will take, or if it will be the kind of thing that can be divided up among the community of PA editors. -
In the mean time, we can save ourselves, Jon, and the Waze team some effort if we
A) NEVER try to change the name of a city one segment at a time – work together to get the name change submitted (Milford (2), Greater Bedford Area)
B) Fill in names where the name is missing completely
C) Fix city smudges along the boundary between, for example, Milford Boro and Milford(2)
Very nice summation. I clarified some wording and my additions are in red.
Just catching up on some old reading…any update here?
My wish is that Waze would add a County field (City, County, State, Country) into the editor and that would solve this problem. The county info wouldn’t be visible in the app or search results, but would eliminate the need to add the county name or “Boro” or “Twp” to the name that is visible in the app.
I know wishes are for fools and this would be too simple of a fix. :lol: :roll:
For the Milfords in Pike county which had no name in the city field the above guidance was followed. This Milford was previously Milford (2). All segments within the township became Milford, Pike. The county seat was appropriately named Milford Boro. As well we had the Milford 2 name removed from the map. At least now if a new standard is determined we can just give waze the name on the segments and they can do a mass change if needed.
I think the main thing here is to talk with Jon before just starting one of these projects to confirm the proper steps are being taken.
I wish Waze would add County also. Then it could show up in search.
Mercer, Mercer county vs Mercer, Butler county, so anyone can choose the correct one.
This would still not solve the problem of a Milford borough and a Milford township right next to each other in the same county. We need standard guidance and some special-case flexibility.
Trying to follow these rules to edit my areas correctly. I appreciate any guidance you can provide.
I’m dealing 1st with Perry Co. Liverpool Boro/Liverpool Twp Liverpool is not a CDP, so following what is above, I am to label anything in the Boro as “Liverpool Boro”, and the Township gets labeled “Liverpool”, without the TWP added? What’s entered so far doesn’t seem to follow this at all.
Also, I’m dealing with Penn Twp in 3 different counties I edit. So would that be for example “Penn, Cumberland” or is it “Penn Twp, Cumberland”?
More closely are Greenwood Twp, which border each other in Perry/Juniata Counties.
I think I have a good idea of what to do based on what I’ve read here, I just want to make sure due to the inconsistency I see on the map now.
Appreciate any and all help! I look forward to working with you all to make Waze a better place. (No pun)
You’ll find all kinds of inconsistency on the map.
Thank you for fixing it.
You may run into difficulty creating the new cities. If you do, please get hold of a more-senior editor to get a new city name “planted” in the right spot for you.
Welcome to waze editing, and please join us in the PA google hangout. PM me (or any other PA editor) to find out how.
waze.com/wiki/Welcome
Yeah, I didn’t want to create something that isn’t necessary. I already ran into that “It doesn’t exist, are you sure you want to create it” message. I didn’t want to move forward without clarification.
I’m in Hangouts, did you forget me already? 
We have the similar problems in Wayne County, PA. There are duplicate street names throughout the county with the same Post Office designation yet the streets are unrelated. I have found putting in the correct Twp name under City is one solution. Because there are so many private communities, the street name duplication is very complicated. Is this an acceptable practice? Some people don’t know the Twp to select if they are from out of town so they select the wrong one. I have also considered adding the particular private community at the end of the street name. This does help visitors who know the community name distinguish from the multiple choices they have to choose from when typing in a street name and city. Thoughts?
Welcome to waze editing!
We are working through the problems and potential solutions in the GoogleHangout for PA editors. Please join us – please look for a PM from me.
Thanks for your help with the map!
Are there any address conflicts between the two Milfords? If not, for our purposes, we can treat them as a single “city.”
i dont know for sure but they are 2 separate places and CDP’s
I do understand, but for our purposes, if the Venn Diagram is anything but two completely separate circles, we don’t care. Most people looking for an address or looking for labeling on the map won’t know or care. The only time it becomes important is if there is a conflict and we need to differentiate between two of “the same.” So, if there’s no conflict, why bother complicating things by differentiating them, especially since simple editing is otherwise likely to lead to inconsistencies if they are within range of each other?
Sorry if I’m not explaining this well.
No you are clear as can be.
The question is, Chris – will this approach work in this case?
The data model Waze has given us is not ideal, so we wind up making decisions like this on a case-by-case basis. And sometimes changing our minds.
Our goal is the best user experience for all concerned (and that includes the editing experience as well as the driving experience) given the limitations of the platform. The problem is generally defining “best”
Dovid’s suggestion is simpler than what we’ve tried in Milford up to now. Implementing it means intentionally leaving some “truth” off the map, which can sometimes be upsetting for some of us.
Assuming addresses do not repeat across the township line, it could work well for wazers, including editors.
I’m still hoping that, one day, Waze team will move city names off segments and allow editors to draw polygons for municipalities, zip code “areas”, and CDPs (and even specify which is which) But I am certainly not holding my breath.
i believe so but as you said it can cause confusion for the user. also i like to map as accurately as we can based upon the guidelines set fourth and the guidelines set forth for these circumstances seem to allow for them to be mapped separately even if there is no conflict. as well being that they are already listed as 2 separate places on the waze map from my work a few months back is it worth the time to change them again (even via form)?
if it is decided that a change needs to be made then i accept that and understand the reasoning but it just doesnt seem necessary in this case.
if someone were to be splitting a current city to achieve similar results then i would be of the mindset that it should be left but this was not the case here.
I agree. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
If Milford and Milford do get themselves into a mess again, it is worth considering making the change.
may e our guidelines can provide the flexibility to cover this kind of case-by-case decision making.
I feel your pain re: accuracy. There will be cases where the Waze map can’t handle the truth.