Page 1 of 2

Winter Road Condition

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:48 pm
by kheops74-gmail
We can report danger as Snow, Rain, etc. It's more a weather feature than a road condition feature.

I think a group of danger is missing and can be VERY useful. This group is "Road Condition". It describe the pavement state and the visibility. Two things very important during Winter.

Here an example from the Québec Government road condition website (http://carte.quebec511.gouv.qc.ca/en/Default.aspx).


Road Conditions
Pavement
  • Bare
    Partly Covered
    Covered
    Closed
Visibility
  • Good
    Fair
    Poor

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 6:35 pm
by AndyPoms
Well, Waze has added a Report->Closure so the sytem, so that's covered.

"Ice" is available as a hazard, but only as a voice command.

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 8:02 pm
by AndyPoms
I was only talking about the closure part being covered & the slippery conditions part. And the fact that they've made progress on things.

You can also leave descriptions in your reports to help others.

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:14 pm
by KB9TFZ
Great idea!

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:41 pm
by kheops74-gmail
svx-biker, you're so right. Yesterday it happens to me. I'm sure the road was great in Summer but it was close for Winter. I reported it as an error but it was not an error just a fact for a Northern Country.

BTW, You can add Québec to your list.

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:47 pm
by kheops74-gmail
I hope Waze developers will do something quickly before i stopped using it. For the moment, maps for turn by turn direction are not great in my region (apple maps are a lot better :-)). A lot of people stop using it because of the lack of user and the quality of the maps. I hope better road condition feature will bring back user. These users will correct the maps and we will have a better tool.

Any idea to how this post can be see by développer who understand Winter driving in low populated region?

Thanks.

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:23 am
by kheops74-gmail
Road Condition would be great!

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 3:01 pm
by kheops74-gmail
I stopped using Waze last year. I'm ready to give it another try. I still don't understand why road condition are not in the app. It's the most important things during winter.
Here an example from the Québec Government road condition website (http://carte.quebec511.gouv.qc.ca/en/Default.aspx).

Road Conditions

Pavement
  • Bare
    Partly Covered
    Covered
    Closed
Visibility
  • Good
    Fair
    Poor

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 7:32 pm
by kheops74-gmail
I don't think it's covered at all. What about the visibility part? What you really want to know when meteo is bad is : "where you see nothing?".

The site http://carte.quebec511.gouv.qc.ca/en/Default.aspx is much more useful than Waze. The only problem is that it give the information for a big section of the road so you don't know where the visibility is ok and where it's really bad. It's where Waze can be a great help if people can told the system easily how the pavement and the visibility are.

Ask some people who live where Winter is hard and they will told you that Blowing Snow is much more dangerous than ice. When you don't see where you go, ice is the last of your problem.

Re: Winter Road Condition

Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 2:55 pm
by kheops74-gmail
I think i understand your point but i continue to believe Waze is missing a great opportunity. I think it's why Waze is used a lot in San-Francisco and in big town and not so much in small northern town. I went to big town and i understood quickly that everybody based their decision listening to traffic report. It's ok because it's the most important information to decide if you go somewhere and which way you will choose to go there.

In northern town, i think it's not the case. People listen to Weather report to base their decision. Be able to report quickly and easily weather condition and road condition (visibility/pavement state) is what people need. Waze is not great at this time for this.

If more people use Waze, more great information will be available. I really think more people will find Waze useful if it do more on the weather side. It's already great for road hazard.