Why is the effort duplicated when there is a Google map editor and a separate one for Waze? I understand there are probably some good reasons to have the road data separate, but Google already does a lot of work in verifying and providing good data on places through Google Maps.
Why should Waze also have duplicate places content? E.g. there are plenty of businesses around me that are listed in Google Maps, but they don’t appear in the Waze Map Editor. Is it a benefit for Waze editors to manually add (or import) that place data to Waze? What is the benefit?
In the words of one Will Smith, “Oh hell no.” There are many, many wrong place markers in Google. And it’s hard enough keeping up with users adding places and pictures. An import would produce thousands of duplicates. And I can’t imagine the number of User Report’s we would get asking to fix wrong places. We already get a lot because users are using place markers from Google instead of selecting the Waze marker.
It appears to be because the decision-makers consider the crowd-souring of information to be free. This seems to lead to very little emphasis on efficiency. This duplication of effort does not just appear between the Google/Waze editors but is seen within the waze editor itself (see the house number layer, the addresses data for places and the addresses data for residential places).
It is easier to effect how the data is used in the waze app through the waze map editor. Also, the waze app is designed to receive crowd-sourced data like the location of places, business data and photos of places. Many wazers consider it a benefit to be able to correct data from the app (as noted above many wazers don’t feel the Google data is completely reliable). Such data collected through the waze app is processed through the waze systems and is modified within the waze map editor.
So personally, I’ll duplicate the businesses that are listed in Google Maps if a) the data is causing problems in the waze map or b) I’m adding information from the waze app. I will also maintain any of the duplicate information that other wazers have added that appears in the waze map editor.
I think it would be amazing to allow you to import Google data in say, a 1 square mile area at a time. Each marker would have to be verified by the original import before it could be “placed.” Meaning, if you didn’t manually move it, it would delete as soon as it was saved. Then these could be assigned to a secondary team or group of people who “know the area.”
It really wouldn’t take that much work, and a lot less work than manually entering all the duplicate data. Don’t forget, Google is starting to work on a “waze type” program already.
Even though Google owns Waze, I doubt they would want to share or even sell Google POIs since that is one of the reasons they are the most popular map service. Additionally, many editors fear imports Rural map imports and the places that Waze have imported for ads have been a source of headache for editors (but maybe better than nothing??? Not sure I’ve decided on that one).
Rural map imports and the places that Waze have imported for ads have been a source of headache for editors (but maybe better than nothing??? Not sure I’ve decided on that one).