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add text nodes to display different info (like trafficsigns)

Post by Ayindi
Hi,

I use Waze for a few month now and have realized that navigation on Freeways is sometimes a little "difficult" when 2 big freeways are crossing. There are so many Ramps and the turn right / keep right instructions are sometimes a bit abstract and in some cases its hard to find your way in the real labyrinth of lanes. Several paid GPS tools will display the direction that is shown on the real traffic signs. (Google Navigation does this as well) This makes everything a little easier. Currently, Waze does not have such a feature and I started to put the direction information in the streetname of the ramp (which works quite well). However, it gets a bit long so I think a separate way to mimic real traffic sign information whould be a great addition and give some huge benefit for the drivers.
This is how I think it could work:
Similar to the housenumbers you click on the segment and place a "text node" (or however you would call this) there. In this node you can put some simple text. Like the direction the one, certain freeway ramps will take you to. Once Waze calculates a route which goes over this node it will display the information provided there some meters (or kilometers) before you actually drive over the node. This way you could mimic real traffic signs and provided a lot of information to the driver that should make navigation much easier. This could also be useful on "normal" streets and not only for freeways.

There are several ways how this feature could be expanded:
You could add a direction when placing the text node so it will only display if you drive in a valid direction (in case of two-way roads, of course) You could also have some checkboxes to have certain types of information the community can provided in the nodes. Like:

1.
Traffic signs - I think this is obvious. In this node you could place certain text that you can see on the traffic signs in reality (i.e directions). This could also be expanded to have a little signs editor (there you could place arrows for example like in reality) The display style could be similar to the signs in the appropriate country (Like blue signs with white text for freeways in Germany and yellow signs with black text for normal highways)

2.
Warning information - In this node you could provide warning messages that will be displayed to the fellow drivers. I'm not talking about temporary warnings, but information about potential dangers on the street. I will give you an example: Near to my home there is a descending freeway where you usually drive fast. Problem is that the access ramp there does not have a very long acceleration lane and additionally there is no emergency lane you could use for additional acceleration when driving to the freeway. So people have to drive from the ramp to the freeway or have to stop at the end of the lane.
As you can probably imagine this is a very dangerous area. I could imagine to place two "warning nodes" there. One for the people on the freeway and one for the people that are going to use the access ramp. In this case the same text would fit. Like "Warning, next ramp has very short acceleration lane" or just "Very short acceleration lane ahead" . (Maybe the number of characters should be limited) All drivers will get this message and be alerted of the potential danger.

3.
General Notes - Whatever the community may see fit here... Maybe a good restaurant or another insider hint. Whatever.

In the client you could filter which node types should be displayed. Some may want to get all information, but many might also just want to see the "important" warning and traffic sign nodes.

While the "traffic sign nodes" would really improve Waze navigation functionality and decrease the gap to current paid GPS systems, the "warning nodes" and "general nodes" whould really additionally improve the community aspect of Waze.
I would also think that this feature could be implemented quite easily. At least a basic version of this for the beginning. Just have the "text nodes" with the three (or more?) different types. The user can define a driving direction when the display should be triggered and once Waze calculates a route over this node in the correct direction, it will trigger the display of the text some time (based on speed?) before you actually drive over it.

I placed this here in the forums for some discussion. If people like it, I will put it on the suggestions Page for Waze features.

So what would you think about such a feature? :)
Ayindi
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POSTER_ID:347680

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