Now that Lanes has been officially released to Production WME are there any specific UK guidelines on when and when not to map lanes?
Two specific cases I have questions about:
1- Slip roads or Bus lane for left turn. Are these needed to be mapped? Sliproad Bus Lane
2- Complex junctions. Some junctions are overly mapped, mainly to give directional segment names and to show Turn Overrides in a pre-lane guidance era. Now we can show lanes should these junction be simplified? un-neccessarily complex
The Lanes feature currently, and will only, support + , H and # junctions, anything more complex will require a Junction Box (when development released)
We are working on guidance, the release today of Lane Guidance was a little bit of a surprise. Please be patient. The biggest take was that Waze do not expect every junction to be mapped.
As this feature is not yet available in the Production App I would advise against remapping complex junctions at this time. This feature still needs testing. The reason for the release to WME is to allow greater mapping / testing while we have reduced traffic volumes.
Regarding the 2- Complex junctions example.
You need to be careful when simplifying the junction, to make sure the last voice instruction is not announced too late.
In this particular junction, the left-turn lane splits 141 feet before the junction.
It is a bit dependant on the road type as well, but my experience is that you need an extra segment if the split is more than 100 feet.
Otherwise, the last voice instruction is announced when you are already in the lane.
But that’s just the point, once Lanes goes live to all app users these ‘hacks’ are no longer necessary. The user will be told what lane to be in 500m before the junction.
It seems that, when fully rolled out, the only way to, correctly, represent lanes in a junction more complex than a # junction is to use a Junction Box. Do we really want to start adding Junction Boxes everywhere when a simplified layout is an option?
Voice is still superior over the screen insruction.
Well, I would like the last voice prompt just before the manoeuvre.
If you hear the voice when you are already in the lane and it is too late to change, it seems useless then. We will see how it works
To give some feedback on the examples you have linked;
Slip road - in this case no. Lane guidance isn’t needed here as it is a simple slip road that begins shortly before the junction. There are no current TIOs here to suggest users have been confused in the past.
Bus lane - again no. Due to the short length of suspended bus lane to allow the left turn any left turn manoeuvre means traffic will only cross the left hand lane rather than travel along it for an extended period making the need to be in the left lane unimportant.
Complex junction - maybe. We need to be careful how we map lane guidance on a simplified version of this junction. For the heuristic lane guidance to work correctly it would need to be simplified to a true # layout, removing the left turn dedicated segments. If the left turn lanes were kept, and therefore the left turns at the main junction prohibited, this would conflict with the ability to select the correct lane options. Having lanes mapped at the main junction and slightly before, as it currently is mapped, would likely cause issues displaying the correct heuristic information through the junction and/or in a timely fashion.
The problem with bus lanes is that Waze is also intended for taxis, they are sometimes allowed to use bus lanes.
Bus lane functionality is already present in driving restrictions. Hopefully, this will be added to lane guidance at some point.
Yeah, I have added them a bit too much for testing, if that’s what you mean.
I agree they are not needed where there is a single lane.
After there is a guidance, these will be removed.
I would hold off adding any lanes until we’ve had some further clarification from the UK Champs/CMs. Probably best to revert any you may have already done and remove the lane info for the time being.
You should be aware that there has been very limited testing of this feature in the UK and one of the reasons it is being released is to get more feedback due to the reduced editing and traffic volumes during the worldwide lockdown.
May I stress this is not a green light to start mass adding Lane Guidance but we should treat this as an extended testing phase so we can all understand the best uses and better develop our understanding and policies. Lane Guidance should be rolling out to all Beta client (app) users, at this time we should not be changing the map to benefit Lane Guidance, instead it should be used as a extra layer to improve current mapping.
I’m sure there will be plenty of questions and queries about specific junctions, we will try to answer them, and look at adding best use examples in the wiki. Once again this new feature has no identifier in the WME to show a segment has Lane Guidance, so it may be useful to add a Map Comment to help other editors diagnose any nearby URs.
A section needs to be added - what to do with bus lanes.
I could not find anything in the general guidance.
My preference is to count a bus lane in, but I agree it is not ideal at the moment.
It is still a lane even if you are not allowed to use it.
And as Waze is intended for a Taxi vehicle type - they are allowed to use it.
Ideally, if we could grey out the arrow based on vehicle type.
The functionality already exists in driving restrictions.
But is it planned to be used with lanes?
Can you please clarify this? It is not a limitation. Lane guidance can be added to segments with one exit direction. Is this meant as guidance what we should not do?
As lane guidance doesn’t support restricted lanes, at this time, we should not map lane guidance at these junctions to prevent confusion by including, or excluding, the restricted lane. If this is supported in future we will review this, I am not aware of HQs plans on this. I will add a note in the wiki.
This should read multiple lane directions can’t be added to to a single exit, I’ll try improving the wiki wording. See example image;
As for your test setup, I don’t see anything wrong, but then it is a little difficult to see when you can only look at 1 segment at a time :!: It is possible that lanes is still limited to a small group of the Beta app program. In the official announcement it was stated that lanes would be rolled out to the wider Beta app community in a few days… so soon.
Can i suggest you add a Caution box to explain that the feature is not fully rolled out yet?
Only basic junctions can currently be mapped. There are further junction types in developement including Junction Boxes and showning lane guidance for Continue Straight (plus others nor mentioned publicly yet)
Will heuristics work for the # junction pictures shown? I though all the junction nodes had tyo be 90 degrees?
The script WME-LaneTools will highlight junctions with lane guidance for all editor levels.
edit:
I think because Waze are wanting more feedback from Beta app users we should start mapping junctions that can be fully mapped with the current WME to give them something to report on? Perhaps just on Motorways splits, or Major/Minor Highways with basic T or + junction?
Finding a nice example of a # junction was tough in the limited time I had to write the page. If someone would like to provide a better example I am happy to revise the images. The KB has this junction as supported yet it is not perfect either.
I have been trying this script but have not found it reliable in showing LG. I’ve had to select segments before it highlights them and you still can’t see the LG without going into the actual data.
As this is now in production WME, editors are welcome to add LG where they deem it helpful, the statement above it to remind editors that it is still under development and has been released early. Due to this we should be controlled in adding LG rather than blindly adding it to every junction node.
Can you also please make it clear what arrows to use for lane guidance?
For example, Waze might default to “slight left” depending on the angle of the turn.
But if there are painted arrows on the road that show “left”, I would prefer to match those arrows to show “left” in Waze.
As WME chooses the LG arrows based on different criteria than it does the turn instructions, yes, LG arrows should generally match the road markings or signage, unless there is a clear conflict.
I’ve been following this, using the Override Turn Suggestion to show the arrows as they are on the road (avoiding changing the junction angles as that would affect current instructions)
At junctions giving a Keep Left/Right, or a Turn Override Instruction to force a Keep Left/Right, I feel that the ‘Slight Left’, ‘Slight Right’ arrows are more in sync with the instruction given at the junction.
If a junction has a Turn Instruction Override, in this case Keep Left, Lane Guidance is shown for ‘Contiune Straight’
(unavailable attachment: LG & TIO.jpg)
(I know that option to show Contiune Straight is coming…)
NB: only 7th in the world for editing lanes and no UK editor in the top 20 :o
