Ha ha ha ha ha… I mean, congratulations! :mrgreen:
Thanks Tim I’ll be looking lots of advice from fellow editors 
Level 5 Area Manager - North of Ireland
Tapatalk on iPhone
Congratulations!
I’m a dad of 3 children. Maybe I can give you some advice too :mrgreen: but you need to join the Panda Club first :mrgreen: (to prepare to have no good sleep with black eyes) :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Going by the when? poll September just edges it at the moment - I’d like to get there this year but need to negotiate with the wife!
Ian.
Have a congratulations from me too - a fairly significant chunk of my edit count (not to mention quite a few lines of script code) is the result of number two child being somewhat reluctant to fall asleep in the evening when she was still a babe in arms, leaving daddy to pull nightshift so Mrs Twister could get some much needed sleep ready to deal with the next dayshift whilst daddy escaped back to the office for a rest :lol:
If I am available I will attend but my weekends in the 3 months are filling up. 
Looks like we’re going to aim for July 18th, and Waze’s have confirmed that they can attend that weekend too. I believe that it’s the weekend schools break up, which might make it extra (in)convenient for some.
We’ll probably do it on a Saturday like we did last year, unless anyone has a convincing reason to move it to Sunday.
Please add or change your vote in the poll.
I’ll pass around a registration form at some point…
I know you haven’t asked yet, but here’s my fist suggested topic:
Unplanned/Emergency closures
https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=135610&p=1073197#p1073197
Something I thought would be a good idea. Bring the comments which app users add to closures, into WME or at least Livemap. There’s often a good stream of updates left by drivers who add comments (and thumbs up, which are also useful ) to the closure pins rather than adding a new UR.
I would change my Vote the when has sort of been confirmed but the where has not?
Will change my vote when I know when and where. 
Right, time to get the ball rolling on this one. I need suggestions for where would be good to have it.
I’m thinking it’ll have to be London again, but somewhere with good connections with the rest of the country. So, perhaps towards the North West of the capital, easy to get to from M25 as well as the main train lines and airports. At the same time, needs to be somewhere with good facilities and accommodation, and with access to tourist spots for our Israeli guests. Is that even possible?
Go :!:
Tricky. Whilst there will undoubtedly be some venues in that part of London ideally suited to hosting such an event, it’s finding any that meet the other criteria - particularly the easy to get to one…
Driving around NW London (especially the outermost reaches) isn’t too unpleasant, but trying to get around by public transport can be a pain in the arse - the tube and national rail lines are arranged to predominantly take people into and out of central London and are of little use if, say, you’ve arrived at Heathrow and are trying to head to any locations to the north - you’d end up having to travel most/all of the way into zone 1 to then head back out on a different line. You could always hop on a bus heading northwards, but chances are it won’t take you all the way, and hopping from one bus to another to continue making progress in the right direction isn’t always much fun even for those of us who quite enjoy using public transport.
Not so bad if you’re arriving at any of the other airports, as you’ll probably be heading into central London to start your outward journey into the suburbs, so could then take advantage of the radial nature of the tube/rail lines to get closer to the destination, though with the added time penalty incurred by this outward journey compared with getting to a destination in the centre.
If the majority of attendees are expected to be driving to the event, then looking for a venue out of the centre makes sense. However if the majority are getting into the London area by other means of transport, staying central might be a better option. As someone who lives in NW London, I personally have no preference either way, so I’d vote for whichever location makes it easier for the majority of other attendees.
Is there somewhere on or near the Circle Line, that would also be accessible by road?
(I’m not great with London geography. If only there was some kind of digital map I could look at…)
There are several groups of attendees we need to consider:
Waze Staff
They’re going to be flying in and they’re probably going to want to do some sight-seeing as well. So they will want somewhere that’s relatively easy to get to from the airport by public transport - and also to get to the sights from, either because it’s there already (like last year) or because the public transport links to the sights are good.
Drivers
Practically speaking, nobody could drive to last year’s meetup, given the extreme cost of parking in Central London. I was only 7 miles from the venue and I had to take the train! I would happily drive a fair distance to get to a Meetup if I knew I could park conveniently at the destination.
Did it strike anyone else as ironic that we all work on a driving app and none of us could drive there? :lol:
Non-drivers
Not that any of us don’t drive, but after a week’s work, I’m sure many of us don’t fancy driving a couple of hundred miles ending in city traffic. I’m sure many editors would choose to come by train or other public transport. So again, public transport links are important.
So where? Well London is pretty obvious - and I’m not just saying that because it’s best for me! However, it’s the only major city I have first-hand knowledge of. I think Tim’s suggestion of NW London comes from me. I made it for several reasons:
- Close to Heathrow, for those flying in
- The drivers who come the furthest, from the N & W of the country, won’t also have to negotiate the M25 or Central London at the end of their journey
- By staying out of the centre, there’s a better chance of free & adequate parking for drivers
- Although traffic will be heavy on a Friday evening (when the first of us arrive), it will mostly be outgoing traffic.
- The Tube provides a good set of links
Having a quick look at the maps, I can see that the Piccadilly Tube line goes from Heathrow into Central London. It goes directly to Kings Cross Station and can be reached with one change from St.Pancras, Waterloo, Euston and Paddington Stations.
I’ve then looked along the Piccadilly line and found Boston Manor Tube Station; close to the M4 and outside the North Circular. Just up the road is the Boston Manor Hotel with conference facilities, a licensed bar and a Nepalese Restaurant. Whether it’s suitable or not, I couldn’t say - my hotel expertise extends to a working knowledge of Travelodges halfway between London and the Highlands! :lol: There are other tube stations with conference hotels near them (Hounslow Central/Ramada Hounslow, for example) - that’s just the first one I found.
So that’s a suggestion and my explanation of how I arrived at it. But if it makes it easier for other editors to attend the conference, I’d willingly drive a good deal further to someone else’s suggested location. I’ll also mention that, whilst it will be nice to give Waze staff the chance to do some sightseeing, I think that has to be lower on out priority list than making sure we can all attend easily. 
One thing to consider when choosing locations based on proximity to tube lines - there’s a lot of weekend engineering work taking place on the network which can affect travel plans. TfL handily provide a 6-month planned closures list here (PDF), which currently shows the weekend of July 18th/19th down for Circle and District line works.
Looking at the map and that, Hounslow or maybe Brentford meet the list of requirements very well. Should be significantly cheaper than the Strand Palace too.
Second choice could be Birmingham NEC, or somewhere near by. It’s fairly central to all of UK, and easily accessible via plain, train and automobile. Not sure about the sightseeing opportunities, however.
How about Oxford and specifically Oxford University?
More NW of London rather than NW London :lol:
July is a good time as outside of term time. There are loads of venue options throughout the university and it’s colleges, plenty of pubs/restaurants etc for Fri meet - and they have a dedicated conferences team that will organise things for you.
http://conference-oxford.com/
http://conference-oxford.com/conferences-events/getting-to-oxford
Waze Staff
Plenty of tourist and sightseeing opportunities and direct link to Heathrow.
“Oxford Bus’s Airline service links Heathrow with Oxford. Frequent regular services run day and night, seven days a week from the central bus station and Terminal 5. Free wi-fi is available”
Drivers
Easy links via M40/A34. City centre parking can be difficult but plenty of park and ride.
Non-drivers
Two trains an hour to Oxford from London Paddington (one hour), hourly service from Manchester (three hours) and Birmingham (one hour).
Hi,
Oxford could be interesting. Very car unfriendly.
Near Heathrow. Look towards London along the A4 as there are a number of hotels that have 1) conference facilities and 2) parking facilities.
Des. . .
Oxford would be great for Waze staff, and others, to sight-see.
On the other hand if one of the objectives was to get people to go by car - if we have to use Oxford public car parks (or park & ride), I’ll go by train.
Ian
Was in Oxford working at one of the Hospital and the traffic was bad getting into the city. So park and ride is best.
As for London anywhere inside the M25 is good for me but better if near an Underground station better still.