gOyDp wrote:Are all of the place areas really necessary?

My opinion:

• Golf course: Here in FL, there are too many golf courses to count. Most of the golf courses are within communities. Rather, the communities are built around them. There is no real reason for those to show up on the map.
  We don't have near as many in Texas probably and since they are large I feel it is a good thing to be an area.
  Bridge: Why? You're already driving on it or near it. If you're near the water, you definitely see that in the app and you definitely see the segment in the app too. Does it really need to be shown as a polygon?
  I don't generally map bridges and if/when I do, I would lean toward point myself. (except historic or prominent ones)
  Fire department: I'm on the fence about this one. I don't see this as something beneficial as a polygon.
  To me this is more a public service so that drivers can know where their FD are at.
  I like them as area.
  Urgent Care: Most times this is just a doctor's office. A polygon seems a bit much for this one.
  Per the places wiki, Urgent Care is not just a doctor's office. The guidelines to map an urgent care would put them closer to an ER than a doctor's office
  Island: Really? An island should be mapped? Please give me a good example of why this would even be needed in the Waze app.
  I would not generally map these either. To the best of my understanding, they are mainly used to hide bad water features meaning they have to be an area

Islands are mostly used to cover up bad Water layer data such as the example below: As far as the other places, this is probably more of a local/regional "issue", Florida does have a lot of golf courses but i've never seen anyone complain. But my 2 cents is these are used as landmarks for people navigating. If a user sees a turn coming up after the edge of a golf course, it will be a lot easier for them to to know when the turn is/how far away it is in their perception.

Bridges can also be classified as landmarks and/or historical places. We shouldn't mp every bridge but historical landmarks can be an exception.

For FD, I think its a good idea for people to know where the nearest FD is.

Again I would bring this up within your state/regional forum as getting a national consensus on this would be much tougher. Hope that helps!

gOyDp wrote:

• Golf course: Here in FL, there are too many golf courses to count. Most of the golf courses are within communities. Rather, the communities are built around them. There is no real reason for those to show up on the map.
  Bridge: Why? You're already driving on it or near it. If you're near the water, you definitely see that in the app and you definitely see the segment in the app too. Does it really need to be shown as a polygon?
  Fire department: I'm on the fence about this one. I don't see this as something beneficial as a polygon.
  Urgent Care: Most times this is just a doctor's office. A polygon seems a bit much for this one.
  Island: Really? An island should be mapped? Please give me a good example of why this would even be needed in the Waze app.

This is in global forum, so here comes my opinion from another continent and culture.

First and foremost, remember that Live Map is part of Waze offering and it is advertised as a reference where everyone, not just Wazers, should be able to check if their area of interest is properly mapped. Only area places are visible on that map. Also, plain street map is boring, so area place can be useful as an eye candy.

Golf course: Finland doesn't have too many of these and they cover considerable area on the map, so they should be mapped as area places.

Bridge: Partially agree with this one. Not every bridge needs to be on the map, but not every bridge should be deleted either. If a bridge has name and/or it is a known landmark, it should be mapped accordingly.

Fire department: We have couple of larger-than-average fire departments, like size of a small city block, so they should be mapped as area places. But smaller units, like those with just a couple of fire engines, are OK as point places.

Urgent Care: Most of these are part of larger hospital complex with multiple buildings. An area place for sure.

Island: Finland has over 180k lakes (over 10 % of total land area) and another 180k islands. Some percentage of them are inhabited, have roads, or are valuable recreational areas. Everything can't be mapped but basically, it's impossible to have too many islands on the map of Finland.

In my humble opinion:

gOyDp wrote: Golf course: Here in FL, there are too many golf courses to count. Most of the golf courses are within communities. Rather, the communities are built around them. There is no real reason for those to show up on the map.

One, two or maybe three in the city are important POI and would be good map them. But a lot of similar places is just garbage.

gOyDp wrote:Bridge: Why? You're already driving on it or near it. If you're near the water, you definitely see that in the app and you definitely see the segment in the app too. Does it really need to be shown as a polygon?

Definitely not, but sometimes road and bridge has a different name and some wazers like to see them mapped. Historical ones, need to be.

gOyDp wrote:Fire department: I'm on the fence about this one. I don't see this as something beneficial as a polygon.

Sometimes FD are good POI for reference.

gOyDp wrote:Urgent Care: Most times this is just a doctor's office. A polygon seems a bit much for this one.

In my country have "consultorios", small public medical care centers and rural medical facilities for emergencies and basic diseases, so we need them.

gOyDp wrote:Island: Really? An island should be mapped? Please give me a good example of why this would even be needed in the Waze app.

Southern area of Chile is plenty of inhabited islands and we have Easter Island of course. Uninhabited islands near shore are good for visual helping.

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Too many polygons not only mess the map with irrelevant information but also produces crashes on cheap devices so should be drawn only the most importants per city.