Hi folks,
This is your hub to discuss and decide on the local convention of mapping roads, streets, naming, adding new places etc.
Feel free to ask questions and add your insights.
Thanks,
Ori
I have been following argus-cronos Road types in Thailand when I edit. https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=168&t=13994
From my experianse driving up country highways with +3000 maybe shouldn’t be Minor highway. Seen 3000 number roads thats isnt much better then a dirt road.
Hi guys, maybe we can start a wiki section for Thailand and create the mapping guidelines there so there is only one place where we can refer to.
i’m surprised to see you write this, after i’ve read this discussion. 
I totally agree with you there, and I’ve experienced in other countries as well, that people often take the words “highway” too literally. It’s a way of ranking the roads, from “class 1 to 5” instead of the actual translation.
A Thai Freeway is completely different from an Arabian freeway or a Dutch one.
And in the Netherlands we also have 30km/h Major Highways, based on road classification number, and for routing purposes.
And for longer routing, ofter you have to have freeways and highways. For routing purposes as well as for better visibility in the App.
So I don’t know the exact example you’re talking about, and off course, there are always exceptions on rules, but I can imagine this 3000 road can have a Minor Highway function.
Anyway, this shows the importance of a guideline, where we can combine the knowledge of routing experts, with the local knowledge of the roads, to find an optimum compromise! 
I believe we all have read the wiki about Thai motorway network.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_motorway_network
Since there’s no proper standard set for road classification in Thailand, its good we have some source of reference to begin with.
As we go along the way, we can update the reference. Off course with the help of the local editors.
With regards to road classification in Thailand, I think it would be appropriate/helpful to have a more descriptive section, and include pictures of generally accepted road appearances (physical).
-
I agree with Arnoniem that the classification setup related to the Thai road number should be adhered to, since they determine routing calculation. A freeway may not look like a freeway, but if its the best/biggest road available from A to B it should be classified as such, not downgraded because it does not meet the excpectations of editors from more westernized areas.
-
I would like to see some more descriptive terms for Main Streets vs. regular streets. IMO a main street is either a street in/through a larger town that is used as a main road in that town; OR a road used as primary connection between villages.
-
I think the current guidance for ramps (https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Thailand#Ramps) is too vague. 99 out of 100 roads connecting to minor highways are really just regular intersections, and I believe they should be constructed and classified as such. IMO a ramp should meet certain design criteria, eg. serve to have the traffic joining the traffic flow at the same speed as the rest of the traffic.
Those could be called ramps for freeways, and ‘at grade connectors’ for major and minor highways. -
for dirt roads/4x4 it should be clear that the road is NEVER suitable to use as a regular road. One example given in the wiki is not very good in my opinion, as a road affected by a river could be a temporary issue and should be dealt with with a closure.
-
for dividing roads (https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Thailand#Dividing_roads) I think the “…indicated by a line…” is too generic. “Double line”, “yellow highlighted area”, roads with designated U-turn areas should be considered as criteria.
Of course these are just my opinions, but I do think these topics deserve a good discussion to come to a mutually agreed approach for them.
Thanks for the feedback Ben/Jerry(?).
-
I agree on the ramp section. My preference would be to just point this back to the standard ramp best practices now that the map raid is over, for what constitutes a ramp/AGC and naming. As I don’t see any difference between the current rule in Thailand and the standard rule.
https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Best_map_editing_practice#Ramps -
For 4x4/Dirt, I’m going to disagree. There aren’t enough active editors and users to use a “temporary” closure for roads that cross rivers/streams. We don’t want to be routing people down roads that for much of the year are too muddy or difficult to cross in a normal car that results in someone getting stuck in the middle of the jungle. Data service is limited in many rural areas, app reported closures only last a short time, and during the rainy season the status of poorly maintained roads can change quickly.
-
For divided roads, I think we should add some examples to make it more clear what counts as an uncrossable median in Thailand. I should be able to do that today.
Understood on the dirt road part. But the problem is: unless you are on the ground or familiar with the area, how do you make this determination? Most editors can only go by the streetview/satellite image, and that is of course a snapshot of 1 moment in time.
Good idea to provide examples, I think the general concept of providing pictorial representations of road configurations is very beneficial to both new editors as well as out-of-town editors 
Edit: removed section about a different guideline (points vs. places)
Here are examples of physical medians:
Painted Median
And this third type, I’m not sure. Need to check with my wife when she gets back from Thailand.
That should in most cases be good enough. A quick view on street view should show if it crosses any water features without a bridge, or if the road is rutted or too narrow for a car (lots of scooter only places). I agree though we should be able try to add an example of dirt roads that should be street type.
In general I follow the addage if it isn’t something that can be navigated by your typical small sedan (Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, etc) most of the year, it probably shouldn’t be mapped unless it is the only road to/from a significant destination (village). And if it is the only road to get there, it doesn’t matter what you class it as, Waze will route onto it.
Le’ts start this as its own thread?
https://www.waze.com/forum/posting.php?mode=post&f=1406
JUST moved it
Is this map on the DOH GIS is acceptable as a reference for Waze? Kindly advise.
We will see if Waze will approve that.
Just for sake of completeness, here is the one that I had found that I assumed is what was already being checked on:
If it wasn’t, it is now. I’ve added that one and http://gis-analytic.drr.go.th/gisanalytic/index.aspx to the list.