majormajor42 wrote:...I don't think I will have Waze open on my Droid when I'm out hiking in the middle of the woods. I certainly won't be "paving new roads" when I'm walking on hiking trails. that is unless the community here says that they want hiking trails on the Waze maps. Personally, I don't think hiking trails contribute to Waze's effectiveness as a automobile driving tool.

I have been planning to do exactly that, to map the large network of trails crossing the uninhabited interior of our island, as seen here: http://www.waze.com/cartouche/?zoom=1&l ... FFFFFFTTTT

These trails are popular among nature- and history-oriented visitors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtown,_Massachusetts. While paper maps are available, I hope to drag them into the 21st Century by putting them on Waze. Since they are classified as walking trails (i.e., not drivable), they don't mess up driving directions, but are still be helpful for people who come here to hike some wilderness but prefer not to get lost--Waze to the rescue!

I can see your point though: if many walking trails run parallel to existing roads, Waze could mistake a pedestrian for a very slow-moving car (and maybe contrary to one-way restriction) and damage the integrity of the map and routing information.

I've put a lot of unmapped trails (hiking, biking) on the OSM maps. I have my gps with me so I record the tracks and then upload the gpx files when done.

Now that I have a new android, I would like a good APP for doing the same.

My feeling about Waze, however, is to keep it for car assessable roads. there are a lot of hiking trails in my area (fortunately) and I don't think I would want them to clutter up the on screen road maps of Waze.

Just my humble opinion as a one week waze user.

robin, was that a response for me?

As I was saying, I don't think I will have Waze open on my Droid when I'm out hiking in the middle of the woods. I certainly won't be "paving new roads" when I'm walking on hiking trails. that is unless the community here says that they want hiking trails on the Waze maps. Personally, I don't think hiking trails contribute to Waze's effectiveness as a automobile driving tool.

now, If I'm using Waze as a way to collect GPX traces of my trail walks, for the purpose of mapping trails on OSM, I wonder if it will still effect Waze in a negative way. I recently hiking the Long Path which runs parallel to the Palisades Interstate Parkway in NY and NJ, USA. Won't my 3 miles per hour hiking throw things off a little since I'm hiking right next to a road? Will Waze think I'm a car stuck in traffic and erroneously warn others to stay away?

It also seems like Waze almost always "locks on to a road" if one is nearby. If I am hiking on a trail that is close and parallel to a road, and the onscreen graphic puts me on the road instead, will the GPX coordinates of my path be thrown off as well?

My handheld Garmin hiking GPS has a feature to "Lock on Road" or not. when using it to navigate while driving, it is locked. when collecting GPX data, it is not. I don't think Waze has a way to unlock. For example, when "building a new road" in Waze, and the little steamroller comes out, it will pop onto an existing road nearby. This, I realize I can at least correct later in Cartouche.

here is an example of some of the trails I added near the PIP on OSM:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=40.99 ... 61&zoom=15

You can download the GPX files from Cartouche

There's an app for that.

I wouldn't be surprised if Waze provides support for runners, cyclists, etc in the future. In the meantime I use Runkeeper (free version) for iPhone.

And I try to jog down unmapped roads, so I turn on Waze to map them as I go. The average speed will be wrong, but at least the road gets on to the map.