shirapashu wrote:Hi Champs,

We’ve got the first Waze Focus for 2016 and it’s a BIG one - all about….wait for it….SEARCH!

Yael shares answers to (almost all) of your questions, plans for the future and what’s needed to improve this vital part of Waze.

Look forward to your feedback : )

Happy mapping!

Q: Deactivate Google results in several countries
A: Google results are shown where Waze results don't exist, so we have better coverage and can serve more routing requests. Specific “bad” Google results can be blocked, if added to the blacklist form (autocomplete only). We’d be glad to get more examples and analyze them on an individual basis.

Q: When choosing a venue for navigation, Waze will often choose the Google position over the Waze position, even though the position in the Waze-DB is more accurate. How can we get around this?

A: If that’s the case, it’s probably a bug. Please share specific examples.
If we don’t find a “match” between the Waze venue and the Google one, both results are shown. We’re working on improving our match detection algorithm. Examples that you provide here can help us!

Q: When searching a destination in the auto-complete dialogue, Waze and Google-results look identical since 4.0. Why can't we get different symbols or colors like in 3.x to show the origin of the sample?

A: When debug mode in on, beta testers on iPhone can see the color coding of Waze vs. Google results in autocomplete. It was done for testing purposes, as a tool that helps us debugging a new feature and evaluate its quality.

Q: With regard to autocomplete results:
What results are selected for autocomplete results?
What determines the order of autocomplete results?

A: The results shown in autocomplete are a combination of several advanced auto-suggest algorithms, based on the place name or address prefix, geography, distance from current location, and other parameters.

Q: With regard to completed searches:
What determines the order of the search results presented (in particular how does source of the data affect the order of the search results)?

A: The algorithm determines a score based on the query vs. the place name/address, the geography, and the distance. In general, Waze “wins” whenever there are duplicate results from multiple sources.

Q: With regard to destination data:
How can an editor determine the source of the destination data for a particular search result?

A: For autocomplete - see the answer to #3 above. For search results there is currently no way to determine the source of the results.


Q: With regard to Waze address data from the house number layer, how do alternate names on the road segments affect the search results?

A: The search algorithm looks at all street names - primary and alternative. The house number is linked to all the streets that are linked to the segment - primary and alternates. All the streets (primary and alternates) are equally considered by search, and are judged by their match to the query.


Q: With regard to POI searches, how do alternate Waze Place names affect the search results?

The search algorithm look at all place names, primary and alternative. The primary place name and the alternative names are treated the same way. The search uses all the available names and tries to match them to the query.


Q: Where the source of incorrect destination data is a third party (Google included), how can editors cause the search results to be altered to present correct waze destination data?

A: For place searches, see the answer to #2 above. For address searches, editors can add the house number through the editor or a residential place through the client (in the correct location). If you find errors, don’t forget to report them in this form.

Q: What is missing for the enabling of searching house numbers that have been added on the WME?

A: House numbers are searchable.

Q: When will alphanumeric house numbers search be allowed?

A: This is an item on our roadmap. We are currently working on estimating the need and will prioritize it accordingly.

Q: When will search results show also POI category? Showing similar named results is very bad.. as we cannot determine, which result is what (sea, lake, city, hair dresser)...

A: We are considering adding a place category icon to the search results.

Q: What is the long term goal regarding the interaction of Google addresses with Waze addresses and Google POIs with Waze Places? Is the plan to work with Google Maps to fix issues with Google data or is the plan to have Waze data override Google data so that there is no need to work with Google Maps?

A: Where possible, we are trying to override Google results with matching Waze results. We are exploring several options for data mapping between the two databases.

Q: The main problem of search is when the search engine shows Google result and Waze result for the same place because it did not detect it was the same.The fact is that the autocompletion give the Google result as first. If I want the Waze result, I need to type the entire address and click on search.

A: In a place search, if there’s a match between the Waze venue and the Google one - only Waze will be shown. If there’s no match, we try to show relevant Waze Places first.