We are excited to announce the Project KoiFish Map Raid!
The KoiFish Map Raid is part of a worldwide project to improve the Waze map What is Project KoiFish?
You can read more about what project KoiFish is at this post here. In short, Waze now has a new layer with Map Suggestions from Google Maps that we as editors can approve and add to our map or reject and not add to our map
๐๐ก๐จ ๐๐๐ง ๐ฃ๐จ๐ข๐ง?
This map raid is only open to U.S. editors that are of Level 4+. The feature is currently available to Level 4+ editors in the US. ๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ข๐ง?
Map raids are an excellent opportunity to work with your fellow editors, improve the map, and grow your editing skills by working on a strategic common goal. Edits are also tallied up, and you have a chance to have your name forever listed in the Map Raid Hall of Fame.
๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ Project KoiFish๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง?
The Project KoiFish Map Raid will run between January 1st 2023 - January 31st 2023 ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ?
First step is to join the Waze USA Discord server. It is the central location where the Map Raid will be organized and coordinated. Once identified as a participant, you should be given a Koi Raider role, which allows you access to the raid channels. Hereโs the Waze USA server join link: https://discord.gg/Q3YPQC6
Second step, monitor the Project KoiFish Map Raid announcement channel for details.
Thirdly, you will be assigned to a Raid Group. Each group has a list of map segments within an area that need to be reviewed.
Finally, before beginning, you must read all the documentation about Project Koi. This is a new feature that impacts both Waze and Google Maps. Making sure you read and understand the documentation will help you determine how you make certain edits. It is also important you understand your local editing guidelines, as this will also play a factor in how you make edits.
Question: Will the KoiFish MapRaid push participants to resolve all suggestions one way or another, even in the absence of information? Is the primary goal to โclear the mapโ of the suggestions?
I ask because I have noticed that many of the KoiFish suggestions in my editing area are located on private land under heavy forest cover. For such locations we have no Street View and often no GPS Points, and the trees make the aerial imagery useless. Meanwhile, an exploratory drive may be impossible due to gates and/or angry locals. We simply canโt get information about these places.
In one such case we DID once have GPS Points; I remember aligning the Waze map to match them. However those GPS Points have long since rotated off the map. There are no longer any data to weigh in favor of the current Waze segments over the Google suggestion.
Iโm concerned a push to clear the map of the suggestions could have unpredictable results.
[EDIT: I am also aware of situations where a local resident used WME to correct little-used private roads in that personโs immediate area. Like the long-gone GPS Points, there would be no record that these modifications were done with Boots-On-The-Ground knowledge. The visiting editor will only see the WME version and the Google version as an evidence-free toss-up.]
Thanks. The specific case at the front of my mind is a private road in a thick redwood forest that is mapped with very different geometry by Waze and by GM, so GM proposed its geometry over the Waze geometry.
As a local editor I happen to know the Waze geometry is more accurate for part of the road. Thatโs because some years ago there were some GPS points for that part of it, and I adjusted that part. But I still donโt know for sure whatโs up there and I have been unwilling to violate the posted signs to find out.
A visiting editor will lack that local knowledge and will see the Waze vs. GM segments as a sort of he-said/she-said.
The question is, should the visiting editor go ahead and basically guess one over the other in order to clear the map? Or if there simply isnโt enough information, should the GM proposal be left in place?
(Obviously the answer in this specific case is that I had darn well better do something myself here, and soon, because I know more about this particular location than anybody else whoโs likely to come along. But I hope you see the greater question here.)
So if we signed up should we be seeing the Koifish Map Raid group and Role by now on the USA Discord server? If so who do we contact to see what happened if we have already filled out the sign-up form above?
Doing a search in the Waze USA server, the latest mention I see for KoiFish is to this thread here. Donโt find any mention of KoiFish in the Waze Global & MR server.