I disagree they should be parking lot roads. Simply from a "name matches the use" standpoint, they are private roads. Whether for the garbage truck, for parking the RV in the backyard with no access from the front, or for the suburban "garage is in the back" style of neighborhood, they literally (in most cases) are not a parking lot road.

With the penalty for routing off a parking lot road and private road either being the same or very similar, there is no longer a need to use parking lot road to dissuade Waze from routing on them.

WeeeZer14 wrote:The only difference is traffic reporting -- I think PLot will suppress jams while Private Rd will not. At least I think that was how it was at some point

Since Waze will only route onto the alley if the destination is there, having a "traffic jam" on an alley is a non-issue and not valid in consideration as to what type of road to use. (I would like to see an example of a jam on a private road as I've never personally seen one.)

LittlestLou wrote:

gettingthere wrote:We have extensive experience with mapping alleys as Parking Lot Road type here in San Diego. Waze won't route you on one unless your destination is there, Waze will route you off of the Alley if you are driving on one, and no traffic jams in the client. All as stated above and excellent advice.

No one else a fan of mass deletion?

It's a coin flip most of the time. A lot of urban areas use alleys for access to customer parking and services (trash/shipping/receiving), and in residential to a home's garage and guest parking as there's no parking on the main street. The various POI databases are littered with GPS locations which would route to these segments if they exist, else we're stuck with nearest segment which may well be a Freeway or Ramp, or another road on the other side of a 20' drop.

jasonh300 wrote:That was a point I wanted to make in my post and forgot, and then WeeeZer simulposted. Just like a parking lot, alleys are likely to have people standing with Waze running and causing false jams if they're not set to PLot.

EDIT: Actually, WeeeZer did not simulpost...it just took me almost 6 hours from the time I loaded the post till I was able to submit the reply, and it gave me the message that he had posted in between those times.

Suppression is why I reserve Private for gated communities/campuses where there's internal streets that have normal road speeds but you need to prevent routing through. All those alleys, apartment/condo complexes with only one entrance/exit or are basically a mass of parking spots and speed bumps, etc are all Parking Lot.

If you do add them or have them, set them as Parking lot roads so people don't get routed onto them as a short cut.

dlarrym wrote:I'm looking for recommendations for best editing practice for mapping alleys. In the Dallas, TX area, it is quite common to have alleys that run behind houses for access to rear garages.

My theory on this (as it applies to the Dallas metro area) - someone using Waze to route to a residential address would generally park on the public street in front of their destination, not in the alley. A homeowner would know how to go around the block to reach the alley to park their own cars in their garage. having many streets close together is confusing to someone that is not familiar with an area, if they see an alley on the map, they could very easily mistake it for the next street and end up in an alley. Therefor I dont think alleys should be included on the maps, I am in favor of deleting them, at least in residential areas.

If the alley was an access to a parking lot for a business, then yes, I would say mark it as a private road/parking lot road.

kentsmith9 wrote:

Biggiejohn wrote:...Having many streets close together is confusing to someone that is not familiar with an area, if they see an alley on the map, they could very easily mistake it for the next street and end up in an alley.

By that description, people will see the alley on the road and expect the map to show it is there. So with it missing they will get confused and also report a missing road.

I realize there is no right answer on this. Here is one example I've been looking at lately -
https://www.waze.com/editor/?lon=-96.83 ... TTTTTTTTFT

ugh, what a mess, even if they were all parking lot roads, its still a lot of "roads"

There are a number of alleys in my town that are unmarked on the map. When I drive down them, the Waze map incorrectly shows me on one of the roads near the alleys because the map doesn't know they exist. I believe they should be marked on the maps as parking lot roads so there is never an issue of being routed down these roads or the traffic issue, but I think the map should be as accurate and full of information as is possible. It would be nice if they showed up on the map as a thinner line, or at greater zoom, but until they are on the map, the map isn't complete. My 2 cents.

Wiki:

http://www.waze.com/wiki/index.php/Map_ ... g_Lot_Road

Parking Lot Road

Parking lots, along with other publicly accessible roads such as alleys that should not be used for traffic routing unless directly at the start or end point of a route.
Do not map the rows within parking lots because it clutters the map. See this additional page for more details on how to map parking lots.
Parking Lot roads have a transition penalty when exiting the Parking Lot road segment. This should prevent Waze from routing you through a Parking Lot as a shortcut.
Use Parking Lot road type for all necessary segments in the Parking Lot.
The proper use of parking lot roads can also help to avoid automated traffic jam reports as well as Map Problems related to Wazers driving in unmapped parking lots. Draw in the drivable portions of the parking lot that are near streets and other roadways. This will prevent the Waze routing server from assuming you must be on the main road when in fact you are stopped in the parking lot stopped.

Just as a note I prefer service rd to parking lot rd for Alleys. I'd thought about deleting them too but then I ran across some UR's complaining about where one wasn't mapped or was mapped incorrectly. So I don't usually go out of my way to add them in, but I will clean them up if they are there.