Now that we’ve had UR conversations available in the production editor for a while, we’ve all had the chance to get used to the system - and to encounter some of the problems that may arise.
The UK Country Administrators have been discussing the issue for a while and we’ve also been prompted by discussions like this one, so we have produced a set of guidelines for dealing with URs and conversations and added it to the UK Wiki:
The priority is providing an appropriate solution to the reporter
URs should not be closed by inexperienced editors just because they’re not sure how to deal with them
Conversations should be used in a polite and cooperative manner
URs should be closed after a reasonable period - even if they can’t be satisfactorily resolved
A message should always be provided when closing a UR
Although not covered by the guidelines, I’ll also mention “old” URs. I periodically sweep the entire country for URs over 30 days old and do my best to deal with them. Generally, these appear in remote areas, where there may be no nearby AMs or editors. So, hopefully, no reporter should go without an answer for too long. I am currently somewhat behind with this, :oops: as a large backlog of URs from around 2 months ago has recently appeared all at once. :roll:
Thanks Iain, good to have guidance written down. I think the sample texts are useful. Another couple I see regularly you might think are worth adding:
Thanks for reporting the road closure. Updates we make to the map usually take around a week to appear so if the closure is likely to short term the best way to report it is using “Report” -> “Closure” in the app and it will appear on the map immediately.
Thanks for reporting the new speed camera. The only way to add these to the map is to use “Report” -> “Camera” when you are at the camera’s location. We can then activate the camera once it appears on the map. Please can you confirm the speed limit. Thanks.
Also, not sure if it’s worth updating the “off and on” one to say “Waze are planning to implement a solution soon”.
Bearing in mind that many users are fairly new to Waze and might think they are being contacted by Waze professional staff, I always like to start a conversation with “Hi, volunteer map editor here responding to your Map Issue report.”
I’ve had that, too. When asked, the other editor apologised and said they didn’t notice the conversation and thought they were just tidying up old URs.
It may help if the conversation panel expanded by default if it has content
Thank you for your work on this iainhouse.
It would be nice to get some guidance on how best to close URs where we know the problem but are unable to resolve. For example the common ‘On and Off’ problem. Obviously we would send the information, but then do we close the UR as ‘Solved’ or ‘Not Identified’? Neither really apply but I do think that these URs should be closed rather than staying open for many weeks.
Here is another bit of text which I frequently use for “sofa reports” (after responding to the actual issue):
Problems show up on the editor’s map at the point where the problem is raised, so it’s best to raise them using your phone at the time you find them. If this is not possible, then rather than use your phone after you have got home, sign onto www.waze.com/livemap, find the problem place on the map, and click on it. This should bring up a pop-up box on which you can “report a problem”.
I thought I’d let some replies pile up before posting any answers.
To those who have suggested extra sample texts: thanks for your suggestions. However, the purpose of that section was just to provide a sample, rather than a more exhaustive list. If we put all the commonly used replies on the Wiki page, that section would be 3 times as long as before. If Waze ever sort the London Routing issue or the Off & On issue, I’ll have to remove those specific examples from the Wiki - and I might add some of the other suggestions then.
Something like this does appear in one of the samples, but I’ve added a sentence to the effect that you might want to do that. It seems a fairly popular idea.
It’s been a problem since UR conversations appeared. At least you get their name and, now, you have a Wiki page to point them to when you say “please don’t do it”. When URs stay on the map for a while after closure it will become much less of a problem.
That’s been a problem since before I joined Waze. The available choices simply don’t cover all possibilities. Generally speaking, “not identified” is where you couldn’t work out what the user’s problem was. Treat “Solved” as meaning the opposite of “not identified”: if you can identify the problem then it should be marked as solved. If you solved it by editing the map to remove the problem, then that’s obviously “solved”. If the problem can’t be solved by editing, then you can report this back to the reporter now and that does at least “solve” the User Report.
Remember, this only applies if you cannot clearly identify the problem. In an area with an active AM, the AM probably knows details of what is going on. This guideline is intended to give the AM -an experienced local editor - a chance to deal with the UR with the benefit of local knowledge, before an non-local editor (who may be inexperienced) starts posting general “can you supply more info?” questions.
Also, it only takes 4 days for the UR to go orange. Even my memory isn’t that bad. :lol:
A frequent message to the reporter about waiting a few days for the map to update may need to be modified to wait a few weeks at the current rate of updating
Can somebody tell me is there a limit on the number of UR’s or Map edits that can be done. Tried to close a few UR’s today in North East London and the system will not let me. :o
since the guidelines suggest that anyone who closes a UR should leave a message, perhaps we should ask Waze to force that?