Hello all,
Been using Waze for months now but finally got interested in editing the map itself. I live around Olympia, WA and hopefully won’t break too much during the learning phase. :lol:
Other than figuring out the rules and best practices I love how map editing is pretty simple. I’ll probably focus on the greater Olympia area but I travel all around the state so I might make edits elsewhere.
Are there best practices for responding to map error reports?
Hi Raganti,
Welcome!
I presume you have seen these:
https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Waze_Map_Editor/Welcome
https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Best_map_editing_practice
https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Beginner_edits#Incorrect_edits_are_a_natural_part_of_Waze
I personally found especially the last one very valuable 
As far as responding to UR’s: I would look at how others are responding to certain types of reports. Stay away from complicated road constructions and whenever interstates and ramps are involved, since you can’t do much there anyway (due to restrictions).
you won’t always get a response, so after a few days send a reminder, something like this:
"Just a reminder: We have not received a response on your report. If we don’t hear back from you soon, we will infer everything is okay and close the report. Thanks! "
If after more than a week there is still no response, you clsose the report as ‘not identified’. I add this comment:
"The problem was unclear and volunteers didn’t receive a response, so we are closing this report. As you travel, please feel welcome to report any map issues you encounter. Thanks! "
Other than that, just be sure to ask questions in the WMEchat or on the forum, there’s usually people around to help out.
Have fun!
Jochem
I feel like I’m “unlocking” the map, much like a video game. :lol:
Should have had Waze on during more drives.
Benandjerry, thanks for the information both on best practices and responding to map errors. I have already bookmarked the best practices page for reference during future edits.
Welcome to editing. Glad to see someone else on board.
I replied to a user report and in their response they mentioned that their report was a mistake. Do I mark it as solved in that case?
Also, I’m going through the list of update requests by city and the links don’t appear to work. Other than user reports what are some of the ways to find errors?
Edit: Could I get someone to unlock this road? The road existed but not the new development so routing wasn’t allowed onto James Pl. I went out and confirmed that the development is now complete so I finished up the roads and wanted to fix the networking from Rich Rd.
Not to double post but I had an idea. I was thinking of creating one thread for unlocking features rather than having all the separate threads which currently exist in our sub-forum. This would allow for all those requests to be organized into one location.
where are you going for unlock requests? there’s a main page to post them here
To sort on the ones for WA, go to the post called US Unlock/Update URL List (2nd one on the list).
In that post, find Washington State, and click on it. That will show all items valid for WA (and any posts referring to streets with ‘washington’ in it 
)
Oh, I didn’t realize there was a central location for unlock requests. Any other useful forums I should know about?
Seen this one?
Local state info including a list of our SM, AM’s.
Also, use these resources to determine proper street names and addresses for counties in your area:
Yep, seen that. I have since bookmarked it for future use.
Thanks for these, I believe they were on the Washington wiki page. I’ve been using the Thurston County GIS maps a lot to double check my road names and house numbers.
It’s important to only use GIS data (or at least open source info), read this
Thoughts on what I should do with this segment: Permalink
It’s a brand new road in a development but the development is so new that most roads back in there are still the gravel base before they put asphalt down and the road I drove doesn’t even have a name yet.
I would give it some more time before creating roads. Keep an eye on the GPS tracks, once you see more of those it’s time to consider adding the new roads. If its still under full construction there is no real need for people to drive there.
If you’ve got a road that’s open to the public for a new housing development map it. We can add names later. If it’s not open to the public yet, and it’s not on the GIS, and it’s not on the satellite view, then I’d hold off. If it’s near you, and you map it, drive it a few times to let Waze know the speed other drivers will encounter.
Alright, I will do that for future developments.
By the way, for anyone in Washington, my father just was in Moses Lake for something and he mentioned there’s a lot of missing roads there. He didn’t have enough time to stop and make notes though.
I don’t know if you’ve read this or not but it can’t be stressed enough that any info (street names, their geometry/placement, etc…) needs to come from either real life or from a public source like the county GIS. Do not get info straight off of Google or any other mapping service. You can use Google to find the public info, but do not copy directly off of Google Maps or any other mapping service. This is a copyright violation and has serious consequences. The satellite/street views on our maps is about the only exception to that rule.
You mentioned this earlier and I copy it loud and clear. As I do this kind of work professionally I fully understand the implications of using data which is not public domain. I’m not doubting you, but I’m curious about the Google Maps warning. Doesn’t Google own Waze? I see that we can use Google’s Street View and aerial imagery but why not the road data?
Also, my comment about Moses Lake was more informational than anything else for any Wazer who happens to be in that area now or in the future. Apparently our maps could use some updates there.
There is also a link in the WME Toolbox addon that allows you to autopost an unlock request for a segment you currently have selected. In general, you’re best first asking in chat and hoping that an appropriate level AM is around or a CM, but sometimes they are just not to be found and you have to use the forums (and wait a bit usually).