See permalink below, there are two User Reported Errors (There were 3 more which I already marked as Unidentified).
It seems that the user is driving on the N12 East past Alberton, and then gets onto the N17 East towards Springs.
The user prefers to take the “new” N17 East offramp to get from the N12 to N17 East, but the Waze Provided route is to get onto the N3 South (from the N12) and then to connect to the N17 East just before the Toll gate on the N17.
Both routes gets you to the same place.
My question is why would Waze choose the route via the N3 South, instead of directly onto the N17 East?
Is there something that we can do on the map to make Waze choose the direct route?
Doe Waze perhaps choose the route via N3 South because there was more traffic on the other route?
Lastly, if this is just one of those things we have to accept because we cannot force Waze to choose the direct route, then how should we respond to the User error reports, should we mark the reports as unidentified or solved?
My theory is that it’s likely just Waze doing what it’s best at. There are 2 possible routes to get to the same destination. Route A that the user takes
and the Waze recommended Route B.
Route A is 4880m, Route B is 4688m, so is technically shorter. Add this to the transit time at the Toll Gate at the end point, and you’ll likely find that the Ramp time for the toll transit is faster than the transit through the Mainline toll gates due to larger traffic volumes there.
Until we can communicate with users popping URs, there is no way to let the user know to at least to try the alternative…
Here is a screen shot I took before marking them, in case anyone viewing this post would like to see what the UR’s looked like at the time of the original post:
Hopefully the user will contact us, but I doubt.
There are many factors involved unfortunately… time of day, traffic volumes, distance. It’s a pity that the Local time or GMT time of the UR is not displayed too. That way some URs might be easier to explain. 2-way comms would also be a big help.
MPs we can mark as fixed if it’s an anomaly that can be easily explained.
As for URs, unfortunately users expects things to change if we say we fixed it. In this case the ‘Not Identified’ is the only option, hoping they find their way here to discuss it.
Is this not a case of the client following a users so called “preferred” route? I’ve had an instance before where I was traveling with another user to the same destination in the same vehicle at the same time (forgive the pointlessness but I was trying to demonstrate Waze) where the different devices received different routes. On my device it was the route I always take, on the other it was a more logical route free of traffic.
It’s my understanding that Waze “learns” your preference in the same way it knows you’re going to work or home. Correct me if I’m wrong though.
Waze does not do the ‘preferred routes’ any more, it just does preferred destinations now. With the default setting of ‘Fastest’ it would simply route over what is fastest based on the current stats it’s got.
Timing on routes vs. route stats and how frequently the client and servers communicates might also be a factor for slight variations in routes between 2 clients at the same location. I’ve had Waze reroute me right before a Freeway split at 120Km/h when already in the furthest lane away from the split. Needless to say, that is just not possible in some traffic. A 3 second later difference in comms times would likely not have attempted that.
I’m not sure that stats are always 100% on our Freeways, as we seem to have a fair amount of bikers that ‘pollutes’ data with lane splitting. Waze insists that I take Grayston Drive offramp to Sandton every morning, and I refuse to do that as the queue to turn right is almost always backed up the full length of the ramp. I’m not even going to try to get it to learn otherwise, as it will be impossible with all the bikers that zip through there, and of course theres the Wazing community of kamikaze minibus drivers that bypasses the queue and insist on their ‘right of way’ at the intersection.
There are many factors that could influence it at any given time, and we can only guess at info for some URs. My assumption in the post above could be way off too. If URs included the date and local time that it was logged, one could possibly still try and take an educated guess about traffic conditions.
Some form of 2-way comms in the future would be handy, assuming the Wazers that just drive would bother to elaborate on the problem or even try our suggestions.
</waffle>
I took that same route this morning around 7:50, going from N12 at Alberton to the N17 East, and Waze also routed me around the N3, just as it did in this UR. I happened to be in the left hand lane coming down the N12, and it would have been difficult to cross 3 lanes to take the N3 as suggested by Waze, so I decided to go onto the N17, same way as the user who submitted the UR. I found the line of vehicles at the toll gate on the N17 route was a lot shorter than that on the N3 with only one car ahead of me at the toll gate on the N17, and lines of approximately 6 to 8 vehicles at every gate on the N3 side. However, the right hand lane coming down the N12 (going to N3 South) moved much faster than the 3 lanes to the left, which goes to N3 North. It seems to me that the N3 south route towards the N17 may be faster providing that one keep right on the N12. I assume that perhaps most Waze users who travel that route every day already now that they have to keep right to get into the fast moving lane via the N3, and with more Waze users going the N3 route vs the direct N17 route, perhaps Waze collected faster data for that route. I also would not be surprised if many users just go via the N3 south out of habit, because they are not aware of the relatively new route directly onto the N17. I have to admit, I only became aware of the direct N17 route after I saw this UR. Prior to that I must have driven past the new off ramp a 100 times without really noticing it
