The Plains region includes:
Iowa / Kansas / Minnesota / Missouri / Nebraska / North Dakota / South Dakota
Each of these pages may have slightly different map guidance recommendations from the others in this region and other regions, so be sure to review the specific editing guidelines from that page before editing in Plains.
The current primary Regional Coordinator is listed as bretmcvey (PM [Help]) 
for this region. This region also has the following Assistant Regional Coordinators listed; ehepner1977 (PM [Help]) , SunnyRaynbows (PM [Help]) .
If you have questions about this region or page, go to the forum for this region.
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Update this page
This page serves as the primary resource for editors of the Plains region. Review all the sections to better understand how the guidelines for this region might deviate from the overall USA or worldwide guidelines. If you have any comments or questions about this page or region refer to the community links below.
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Introduction
The Plains region includes the states and/or territories of:
Iowa / Kansas / Minnesota / Missouri / Nebraska / North Dakota / South Dakota.
Mapping resources
Before editing the maps in the Plains region, be sure to fully review and understand the editing manual.
The Waze user community follows the Waze etiquette guidelines discussed in the Wiki. Be sure to familiarize yourself with these guiding principals while editing the maps and this Wiki, as well as when communicating with other Waze users.
Mapping resources by State:
Community
The Waze forum is a great place to find answers to previously asked questions and also a place to ask new ones. Below are links to the forums specific to the Plains region.
Area Managers for Plains can be found in the table below.
New editors should consider checking into the formal mentoring program available at no charge.
Discord
The majority of editor communication is on the Plains Discord
Cities and towns
One of the most common errors when editing the maps is when an editor creates a road and does not confirm the road by setting the city and road name (or stating it has none).
Duplicate cities can be caused by incorrectly named segments and should be corrected following the guidelines in the duplicate cities article.
Some states and territories manage a separate page on cities and towns to identify the specific city names that should be entered, and no others. For states that do not have a separate page to track the names, see this Wikipedia link and find the state or territory in question.
Major roads
The Plains region follows the general road naming and road type guidelines of the USA.
- Utilize the State Functional Classification Maps to determine State road types in your area.
- Utilize the Functional Classifications Quick Reference Chart to determine how each type of road is then classified in Waze.
Please see your local state page for more information:
Speed Limits
Plains follows the general Speed Limits guidelines for the USA.
Special roads
Drivable roads
The Plains region follows the standard USA guidelines for all of the following special road types.
- Divided highways and roadways
- Carpool, HOV, Transit lanes
- Roundabouts and traffic circles
- Dead ends and culs-de-sac
- Toll roads
- Partial and scheduled restrictions
- Private installations and military bases
Non-drivable roads
Review the Wiki guidelines for non-drivable roads to ensure compliance with the general guidelines.
Guidelines that vary by state or territory
The following special roads are managed slightly uniquely in some states and territories. This region uses the following standard guidelines found in the Wiki.
Closures
When managing a section of roadway under construction or being closed for a major event, follow the Wiki guidelines on construction zones and Real time closures.
Update Requests
An Update Request (UR) is a Map Issue reported by a user from the Waze client app. It is also a layer in the Map Editor. See update requests for more information.
Day 1
Day 1 is considered the first day an Editor requests a response from the Reporter for more information.
Before requesting more information you should see if you can determine a fix for the UR. Possible solutions could be found by checking the area roads for any restrictions, incorrect elevation, incorrect street names, bad geometry, etc. You can also utilize the user’s route (green line) and the Waze provided route (purple line) to help find potential routing issues.
If you are able to determine a fix for the user’s report, mark it as Solved.
Example: “Volunteer editor here… thanks for your report! I made a few edits here to improve future routing. It should be available in the app within about a week. Feel free to report any other issue you find along your travels. Thanks!”
If you don’t have enough information to solve the issue, ask the reporter for more information.
Example: “Volunteer editor here - unfortunately Waze did not give us much information about your issue. Could you tell us more about what went wrong? What was your final destination? Thanks!”
Day 4
If the reporter has not responded 4 days after the initial comment, post a reminder like the one below. Sometimes a reporter simply misses the initial comment, and a reminder might come at just the right time to trigger a response with more detail.
Example Just checking in - if there’s still an issue we should look into, please reply using the app (Waze can’t handle email responses). Otherwise, we’ll assume all is well and close this out in a few days. Thanks!
Day 7
If there is not enough information to solve the issue, and the reporter has not responded within 7 days of initial editor comment (or 3 days after a reminder message), a message should be sent telling the reported that we were unable to fix the problem. The Update Request then needs to be closed as Not Identified.
Example "Volunteers received no response and can’t find anything wrong with the current map. Please feel free to submit a new report if you encounter any issues in the future. Thanks!
Stale URs & Multiple Editors
Our standards of etiquette call for allowing the first responding editor to take ownership of problem resolution, including sending reminders, and follow-up questions to resolve the issue.
If the original editor has not replied within 7 days since the last comment, you should make an effort to contact the original editor to determine what help is needed to resolve the UR. If another 7 days goes by with no action, you are free to solve/close the UR as appropriate.
Places
The Plains region follows the USA standard for Places. Do not deviate from the guidelines without first obtaining consensus to do so via the region forum linked on this page.
Hospitals / Urgent Care
Only Hospitals, Emergency Rooms, and Urgent Care Facilities should use the Hospital / Urgent Care category. This category is to be used for places offering urgent / emergency care. Other medical facilities such as clinics and medical offices which do not offer urgent medical care for walk-ins should be categorized as “Doctor/Clinic” . Hospitals should be mapped as an Area Place encompassing the entire medical facility. Additionally, hospital Emergency Room entrances should be mapped as a Point Place at the ER entrance to aid in navigating to the proper entrance. Map non-24/7 urgent care as a place point even if a standalone building. For full details consult Places/Hospitals_and_urgent_care
Parking Lots
Guidelines for parking lots are covered in Places/Parking_lot
Gas Stations
In the Plains region, stations are named as Station Name (Brand). If the station brand is unknown, then Station Name. If the station name and brand are the same, then Brand. For example:
| MinitMart (Shell) | [Store Name (Brand)] |
| Joe's Gas & Tackle | [Store Name with no Brand] |
| QuikTrip | [Store Name & Brand are the same] |
Places Minimum Acceptable Information
All Places added to the map must contain the following entries:
- Proper Category
- Place Name
- Address (including address numbers)
- Placed in the correct location on the map
This is the minimum acceptable amount of information for inclusion on the map.
Places Locking Standard
Missouri Place Lock Level Standards| Place Type | Lock Level |
|---|---|
| Military Installation / Airport | 4 |
| Hospitals / Urgent Care / Police & Fire Dept | 4 |
| National & State Parks and Monuments | 4 |
| Gas Stations / Charging Stations | 3 |
| Schools / Universities / Colleges | 3 |
| Government Buildings / Consulates | 3 |
| City and Local Parks | 3 |
| All other places with complete information | 3 |
Complete information includes at a minimum:
- Proper Category
- Place Name
- Address/City (including address numbers)
- Placed in the correct location on the map
- Hours of operation (if available)
- Phone number
These locks are in place to prevent loss of data due to automatic acceptance of Place Update submissions from Trusted Users, or Place Update Request approvals from other editors without careful examination.
If you do not have a high enough enough rank to lock the place as indicated, please lock it as high as you can, and notify a higher rank AM, SM, CM, or Champ to lock it higher.
Place Name Harmonization
These name spellings are standardized so that Wazers will receive consistent results when searching in the client. Please use them when you edit one of these chain or franchise businesses.
If you don’t find the business you’re looking for, please use this form to submit the missing information.
View this list full-screen in Google Sheets"
Cameras
Not every camera-looking device at an intersection is a speed or red light camera. Generally speaking:
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a speed camera takes a photograph of a vehicle when it passes by the camera at too high a speed.
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a red light camera takes a photograph of a vehicle that enters an intersection after the light is red. In some areas, it takes the photograph when a vehicle is not clear of the intersection some period after the light turns red.
Be sure to know your cameras before accepting new camera reports.
When adding a camera, be sure to review the camera placement recommendations.
Laws regarding speed and red light cameras vary between the states and territories, so be sure to understand the details of camera legality in the Plains region.
Based on information researched at the time this page was created, Waze editors have not determined the legality of red light or speed cameras in the Plains region.
No other camera types should be mapped in Waze.
To do list
Many states and territories keep an active list of pending or closed actions that need to be done in the state by the editors. All editors are welcome to contribute to the list of activities.
2025/02/04 - Started work on Plains Wiki. End goal to provide a single place for editors in Plains to easily find region-specific information on editing. -brikowski
To-Do
- Align on UR Standards (Day 1/4/7/Stale) Reworded some of it and included more of the national standards.
- Update Cameras for Region/State specifics
- Update Area Managers
- Verify Places for Region/State specifics
- Verify Speed Limits for Region/State specifics
- Add Locking Standards. Identify Region/State specifics.
- Add Recommended Add-ons (keep it as basic as possible)
- Align on road naming standards.
Area Managers
The table below identifies the editors also designated as Area Managers or higher who are editing in the Plains region. If you have any questions, please consider contacting them directly as needed. If you are an Area Manager that covers the Plains region, or a USA Country Manager that does a lot of work in the Plains region, please add yourself to this list (alphabetical by username) in the correct rank section.
The editor who also serves as the Regional Coordinator for the Plains region is automatically listed at the top of the table. That editor may not be highly active in this region and therefore may not be listed separately in the table.
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This Area Manager table is a placeholder and has not yet been entered for the Plains region. Check the Waze Plains forum if you would like to help get it started. Once that is done this link will create the initial table automatically. |
| Plains — Area, State, Country Managers, and Regional Coordinators | ||
| Regional Coordinator(s): [RC] bretmcvey (PM [Help]) [ARC1] ehepner1977 (PM [Help]) [ARC2] SunnyRaynbows (PM [Help]) |
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| Username | Area Managed | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Country Managers (Plains region) (Click here to create initial Country and State sections of table) |
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| Rank6Example(6) |
Statewide |   Resident of state |
| Rank6Too(6) |
Statewide | Longtime resident of state |
| Region Managers (Plains region) | ||
Rank5Example(5)  |
Statewide |   Resident of state |
| Rank5Too(5) |
Statewide | Working in state now |
| Area Managers (Add to or edit this section) |
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OtherWazer1(4)  |
Named County |  I also cover CityName |
| WazerHolic(4) |
Another County | I don't got to show no stinking badges! |
AnotherWazer(3)  |
San Francisco | Also Eureka |
| NewWazer(3) |
San Jose | Some travel to Hawaii |
UserName  |
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Other states and territories
The other states and territories of the USA can be found in the navigation box below. Press the “show” button to open the box.
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About this page
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