I see a forum for the Waze app and a forum for the map editor; but, I don’t see one for the Live Map tool (https://www.waze.com/livemap). So, if this belongs elsewhere let me know…
Has any thought been given to allowing a user on the live map report a live condition? On the surface this might sound odd since you’re presumably not driving while looking at the live map. However, I happen to volunteer as an EMT and even when I’m off duty I can see active calls in the county. Thus, it would be easy for me to report an accident or other activity that may affect drivers based on 911 dispatched information. I suspect 911 call centers too could potentially put out that kind of information. For example, I know the sheriff’s office in the county where I live has a map where you can see active traffic issues. But, if they had a means to input this information into Waze directly I wonder if they might use that tool over maintaining their own capability.
I can appreciate that there would be concerns for people reporting things that are not accurate. However, you might be able to mitigate it by marking reports such that when a driver is alerted it qualifies the alert as saying a remote user has reported… You might also limit this ability to someone who is logged on to Waze and who’s points/level is above a certain threshold.
I agree. Why should we only be able to help people when we are driving. I get road reports and police/fire from the authorities on twitter and facebook. It would be nice to be able to post them to the live map.
Being allowed to report hazards whenever you want is something that will not be valid for most users and invites people to post invalid hazards. Of the millions who use Waze, probably fewer than 1% are getting reports from sources like those mentioned and want to add them through the Live Map. Waze generally won’t add something that only a small number will use and especially not if it can lead to people adding invalid information. You do provide some good options to limit invalid entries, but it still comes down to the numbers and I have a feeling, Waze won’t show much interest in something that would be used legitimately by so few people.
It’s been suggested that Waze look into options for providing emergency service personnel with additional controls. But that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon and would require some way to verify that each person really is an emergency service person.
Besides, any areas with heavy Waze usage should have the report shown on the map within a short time anyhow… possibly before it is made available on any other source. In areas with low usage, it may not even be necessary because another Wazer may not even come through before the report is no longer valid.
This doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. I just don’t think it’s likely to be implemented. At least, not very soon. I’d much rather see them fix the routing problems and get internal addressing working before worrying about something like that.
As far as the place to post something for the Live Map, the Waze App forum would be the right place. The Live Map is still the app. This isn’t anything to do with the editor. Not a big deal either way, but just letting you know since you weren’t sure.
Thanks to both of you, kzoobc and Riamus. Riamus, your comments are very valid. Might be one of those situations where given unlimited resources something worthwhile could be built, but clearly there are other priorities. I was just throwing it out there because it occurred to me that I might be able to add useful data in that way. Also, thanks for the tip on where to post. If you think it’s worth reposting in that forum I can do so, but sounds like there might be something in the backlog that they might eventually get to given enough time.
