Waze forum

(crossposted/editied from the Hawaii forum)

I thought it might be useful to share some guidance on correcting the external search engines Waze uses in point-of-interest searches. According to the Wiki, when you're searching for a specific street address, Waze gets that from Google. But a POI search, in which the Wazer types in the actual business or other location as a destination, Waze results could come from Google, Yelp, YP or Foursquare. Corrections need to be submitted to those services.

First step for all of them is to sign up for an account at each site (or, in the case of Yelp, to get the free app) in order to submit corrections.

Here's my understanding of how to approach each database. Feel free to add in any of your experience. Maybe this will be the start of a new addition to the Wiki.

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Google Maps (maps.google.com)

After a search for the address or the point of interest, the result displays on the left, with a row of links to further options below it. Click the "more" link and choose the "Move marker" option. You will then get a page where the bouncing marker can be moved to the correct location on the map. The "submit" button is above the map.

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Yellow Pages (YP.com)

Searching for the POI will bring up a result or a list; click on the selection. This will take you to the location page. On the left will be the "business details"; below these you'll see the option to "improve business info." Make any text corrections there, then click on the "Location" tab near the top. There, you can zoom in on the map and move the marker to the correct location.

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Foursquare (foursquare.com)

This database is correctable either with the app or at the website (foursquare.com). At the site, search for the location and select it from the list. (Or, if it's missing from the list, you can click the "Add a new place to foursquare" link.) Below the location heading, click the "Suggest an edit" link.
All the changes can be made on that page, including moving the marker on the map at right.

On the app, the "Suggest an edit" link appears at the very bottom of the location listing.
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Yelp (yelp.com)

You can verify whether or not Yelp has the location correct on its website, but I've found no way there to submit an edit.

However, if you download the app and sign in, you can search there for it. Click the location in the list, and on the location page, tap the little share/send logo (the box with the arrow coming out of it) on the right side of the red bar across the top. Select the "Edit Business" option from that list. Tap the address under the "Address and Map Location" option in the middle of the list. You can edit the text, and then tap the Map Location tab at the top. Then move the map until the locator pin lines up with the right spot.

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I also think it's worth adding/correcting the street number (the "house number") on the WME map.

I agree these should be added somewhere, whether a separate page, directly in House Numbers, or a template file we can include on multiple pages.

kentsmith9 wrote:My personal experience with Google map changes is moving an address, not a POI. For an address I have to select the link at the bottom right called "report a problem." From there you can directly edit the marker to move it.

Does a POI search have this different interface, or is there also a report a problem link? I was thinking if there is one common method we can use it for all Google Map updates.

The common method for Google Maps is as described in the OP: select Move Marker and move it. That's it. Am I missing something? You just select More->Move Marker regardless of whether it is a POI or address marker.

slandrum wrote:What post are you responding to Alan?

Sorry, I neglected to quote the post I was thinking about which generated some of the conversation. I have edited my post, and will paste it here, too.

kentsmith9 wrote:My personal experience with Google map changes is moving an address, not a POI. For an address I have to select the link at the bottom right called "report a problem." From there you can directly edit the marker to move it.

Does a POI search have this different interface, or is there also a report a problem link? I was thinking if there is one common method we can use it for all Google Map updates.

The common method for Google Maps is as described in the OP: select Move Marker and move it. That's it. Am I missing something? You just select More->Move Marker regardless of whether it is a POI or address marker.

shawndoc wrote:Do we really need to duplicate what Google has already provided?
Here's where the FAQ currently links to: https://support.google.com/maps/answer/162873?hl=en

No, I don't think we do. A link to their FAQ is a great idea.

We need to revisit this subject and page. The current location is not in a good place. I'm not sure if this page still warrants its own page and should be moved as a whole, or should be edited first, or whether it should be parted out to other pages.

I'm going to re-read it today and would appreciate others taking a look and come back to discuss how to treat it.

We might want to also add that once the other providers info is updated, the user needs to delete the previous bad location from their app, whether it's in their favorites, or recent destinations.

Just had a UR saying "you fixed this a month ago and is still routing wrong". I asked if they did a new search for their location or were they going from their favorites? When I told him to delete the old one and reenter it, that solved it.

I'd note that both waze and Google seem to think of POI searches and address searches as different problems with different solutions. Thus, if you search for "6671 S Virginia St" waze should treat this as an address search and that treatment is different than if you search for "Total Wine & More." Thus, if the search is parsed as a POI search, the Google street addresses seems not to be considered at all. So I completely distinguish a POI search from an address search.

The major issue I have is solving "waze took me to the wrong destination" URs is ascertaining exactly what the user searched for and precisely what result the user selected. As a recent example the user was not directed correctly to the business "Salon Centric." Turns out the business lists its name as "SalonCentric." If you search for "SalonCentric" waze provides the default results on the Google tab. However, if you search for "Salon Centric" waze provides the default results on the Yellow Pages tab presumably because the Yellow Pages has an exact match for the incorrect name. The question then becomes whether to consider this simply user error for entering the incorrect name, or whether the error should be corrected with the Yellow Pages.

There is another issue that I have in that if the POI search from Google corresponds to an object with a boundary (i.e. the building outline has been mapped in Google) then there is no option to move the pin location. This is a problem if waze is routing to a street at the back of the building. I don't yet know how to address this circumstance.

I wanted to add that most of my changes in Google are taking effect immediately. In fact, I received a email from a requester asking how to change an address location. I provided instructions how to change the address in Mapmaker. They responded that they had changed the location in Mapmaker. I saw the email within half and hour, looked in Google maps saw the pin had moved, tried routing in waze and the route was corrected. Not sure when Google requires approval and when it doesn't, but some of the corrections can take effect very quickly.

I don't find the guidance as relevant with the current places feature. I'm still not sure how the search really uses the places yet, but I typically adjust the places rather going to Google at this point to correct destination errors.

I'm still less inclined to spend my time correcting the location multiple times when you can get the correct location under the waze tab.