Over zealous map editors?

Map Editors Community United Kingdom
1

Hello, in the region of the UK that I live in, there is one Map Editor in particular that posts hazards all over the map, based presumably on local reports and on Roadworks.org reports of upcoming constructions. The problem is, 90% of these hazards are false positives and there is absolutely nothing there day after day. It detracts from the experience of using Waze when you are anticipating some sort of hazard ahead. On my commute home today, a single roundabout had 5 hazard indicators on it! These can’t be removed, as they have been added via the Map Editor site rather in-app. I try to comments to these hazards in the app whenever I am able to to let other drivers know that they are false reports.

Does anyone else have a similar experience? Best way to handle this?

2

There could be one of several things going on here - we can’t be sure without more information.

  • For about a year now, TrafficMaster live incidents have been posted to the App as markers - mostly for various types of roadworks. There is a discussion about it here. Most of these reports are useless - either they aren’t there or they have little or no effect on drivers. We have repeatedly complained about this to Waze, without much effect.
  • For a couple of months, road closures from Roadworks.org have been posted to the editor map as Map Problems. Editors (mainly me, actually!) then come along, assess and implement these closures. Not all Local Authorities submit the data to roadworks.org (which is just the aggregator), but the information for all these closures does come from an “official” source.
  • A couple of dedicated London editors get a weekly bulletin from TFL and implement closures from that.
  • We’re also trialling a scheme to get closures of major roads from Highways England

If you can come back to us with some details of what you’re seeing - where these reports are; what’s the editor name; what type of report they are (map pin, red/white closed segment) - we will see what’s going on. :smiley:

BTW, I moved your post to the UK forum, since it’s likely a UK-specific issue.

3

I’m guessing most of the hazards you are seeing on the map have been posted by “Elgin”. This is the feed from Roadworks.org that is automatically imported by Waze. Some areas of the country seem to suffer from particularly bad rashes of hazards, depending on the local authority or utilities. We’re working with Waze to (slowly) improve then.

See: https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=146014

If you pass a bogus hazard while driving, you can often tap on a ‘not there’ button to make it go away. YMMV…

PS: welcome to the forum! :mrgreen:

4

Thanks both! It is the Elgin account. I live near to Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK. It’s really out of hand and damages users’ trust in Waze hazard alerts. It is not traffic incidents or road closures; it only seems to be hazards relating to planned works.

Timbones - I have tapped the “not there” button to make them go away, only to have them re-appear shortly thereafter on the same day (presumably if they’ve been added via the Map Editor and are auto-resurrected)

Thanks again for your reply and I’m glad it isn’t simply a rogue over-zealous user that is damaging my Waze experience locally; it is a UK-wide thing. Fiddlesticks!