Waze forum

Hi,
I'm new to the forums but have been using waze for two years. I'm getting to be more of a 'power user' I think since I feel I've moved beyond using the app for traffic info and I'm actively trying to report incidents and edit map errors.

One think I noticed after this past week's storms in lower NY, there was heavy rain, and this caused some roads to be flooded out. I was confused as to if I should report it as a road closure (seems more permanent), or if it is a hazard. Sometimes the water was only 3-5 inches deep and you could drive through it, so it wasn't like the road was closed, but it would be nice to notify people of the issue in case they want to avoid it. Also, if I'm reporting it as a hazard I wasn't seeing anything that was useful to mark it as besides "object in road" and clarifying that it was "water /flooding". Under weather its not exactly like reporting fog or rain is going to let people know that the road is closed.

So, I'd like to make a feature request for a future version. Have there be some way to report flooding. Adding descriptors like mild, severe, or road closed would also be very helpful.

A Flood Hazard would be nice as it would give the driver a choice if I am a small Bike a flood is a big problem, if I am a 4x4 the flood probably would not stop me from using the road.

Flood level would also be nice and could be treated like traffic jam level. Ie Road Part Covered, Road Covered, Large Flood 4x4 Only. Sever Flood impassible road closed event.

Agreed, had some major flash flooding in my town last night due to surprise rain, one section was under at least a foot of water, smaller cars should certainly be re-routed.

I get the flood hazard, which as pointed out is really a road closure to be routed around. This has value. But I want to be able to turn most other weather hazards off. They are ridiculous. When there is rain covering my entire state, people everywhere within 25 miles of me are reporting rain. Waze never shuts up. Very annoying. I think things that actually are hazards should be reported without all the noise from people simply trying to rack up points.

We get Fog, Rain, Hail, and Snow.

We have repeatedly asked for High Wind and other weather related issues, but Waze has rejected them claiming that unless it impacts 80% of Waze users, they won't do it.

All we can do is report "Object on Road" and in the notes indicate "Flooding"

FidgetyRat wrote:Agreed, had some major flash flooding in my town last night due to surprise rain, one section was under at least a foot of water, smaller cars should certainly be re-routed.

Well... Even if we had the ability to report flooding, it would not generate a reroute.
Waze doesn't currently even have the ability to differentiate between passenger cars, motorcycles, and trucks (this is one reason we don't have functional U-Turns).

A road closure from flooding should be reported as a road closure, not a road hazard. Smaller cars or larger cars, they should not be driving through, or routed through, a flooded section of road.

mrtdg wrote:I get the flood hazard, which as pointed out is really a road closure to be routed around. This has value. But I want to be able to turn most other weather hazards off. They are ridiculous. When there is rain covering my entire state, people everywhere within 25 miles of me are reporting rain. Waze never shuts up. Very annoying. I think things that actually are hazards should be reported without all the noise from people simply trying to rack up points.

Try Southern California.

The Wazers are worse than the weather people on the news.
The road is slightly damp and it's "Storm Watch 2014!"

I must have "not there" tagged 7 or 8 "rain" reports last weekend.

brenteck wrote:A Flood Hazard would be nice as it would give the driver a choice if I am a small Bike a flood is a big problem, if I am a 4x4 the flood probably would not stop me from using the road.

Flood level would also be nice and could be treated like traffic jam level. Ie Road Part Covered, Road Covered, Large Flood 4x4 Only. Sever Flood impassible road closed event.

And like traffic jams, it's all subjective.
The guy in the 4x4 is going to report "severe" flooding when he is concerned about going through, and report a "minor" flood when it could be something that would swamp a Smart or a motorcycle.

While a specific "flooding" alert would be great, we always have the option of reporting "Object on road" and adding "Flooding" under details.
If the road is closed, then flag it as a construction closure... those left from the app are temporary. If it turns into a long-term closure, an editor can submit a form to produce a scheduled closure that automatically lifts on the expected completion date.