Here are some reference materials that might help anyone else working on maps in the area:

St. John's map (from City Hall): http://map.stjohns.ca/StJohnsMapcentre/ ... iewer.aspx

Mount Pearl's map (from City Hall): http://gis.mountpearl.ca/

MapsNL - Provincial government, useful for identifying municipal borders: http://www.mapsnl.org/mapguide/NLRoads/

Hey,

Not sure if anyone else is reading this (especially the other recently-assigned area manager), but I would like to discuss road types and naming conventions.

Waze FAQ reference: http://www.waze.com/wiki/index.php/How_ ... name_roads

It looks like the initial maps in Waze were a bit over-generous on what is called a "major highway" (ie. New Gower Street in Downtown St. John's is called a "Major Highway"). Some of these streets I think we could call "Primary Streets", others perhaps "Minor Highways"... I think that "Major Highways" might be the provincial highways that pass through some communities.

I'm also tempted to call the TCH and Pitts a "Major Highway" instead of a "Freeway" (I don't think we have true freeways in NL"). From the route-planning aspect, I'm happy with leaving the TCH as a "Freeway". I wouldn't mind discussing if Pitts should be a freeway or a Major Highway... I really just don't think that a downtown street, where the average speed at times is 20 kph, should be considered a Major Highway.

It becomes more of a question when we discuss Torbay Road. It's a wide street, but it's not really one with true "ramps"...

Any thoughts? Or am I talking to myself here?

Thanks!

Boonebytes

Thanks Fvwazing,

I know what you mean, when it comes to unable to contact others. I noticed last week that the Waze team added another Area Manager. I noticed that they are using a good naming convention (such as Kenmount Rd instead of Kenmount Road), but I noticed that they were also reversing some of the work that I already did (such as changing a road back to a major highway, even though it's not really a highway). I also wouldn't mind ensuring that they keep some of our streets with a median set as "locked" once they're done, to prevent Waze from marking one of the sides as two-way because of a few bad GPS passes... I just fixed a report yesterday from a wazer on one of the stretches of road that this new area manager updated.

I don't think this new area manager is doing it intentionally, but I would like to at least be able to chat and make sure we're both on the same page, and that we're not undoing each other's work. Also, it looks like instead of asking to become an area manager for a reasonable area (such as a 100-200 km radius), it looks like they asked to become an area manager of the entire island (half the province). Here's a link to the Google Map, since Waze won't zoom out near fear enough to see it: http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&ll=49.21 ... 26&t=h&z=7

I'm assuming they live in my area, as they have been updating it. Still, it would be nice to be able to talk with them. Even if I can't, I wouldn't mind talking with other wazers in my area, to see if there's anything I can do to help make their Waze experience more enjoyable.

With respect to making editing more fun, I think once the Cartouche response time becomes more acceptable, and some of the "unique responses" of the web application become easier to cope with, I think more people would see it as "fun". Still... Who wants to sit down and label / connect all the streets in their community, even the small ones that they don't drive on themselves?

For me, I want to edit because if I get stuck driving in heavy snow or a blizzard (happens fairly often here, but even a little snow could cause some major accidents), I want Waze to tell me that someone reported an accident up ahead, and I want it to be able to re-plot a new course, without having to take out my Garmin. Also, I'm considering upgrading my car stereo to include a navigation system, and I would entertain one that could support Waze (via some possible hacks that I haven't fully planned out yet) if Waze could do a half-decent job of routing and reporting road issues

Hmmm.. I was thinking about doing that, but didn't want to bother the other Waze users who might be using the map to navigate. Still an idea, though

Thanks for the tips on how to get the map going quickly. I already have a fair number of the main streets done, although there are some neighbourhoods that are currently lacking. Also, I haven't mapped much of the Conception Bay South area... I have family out there, but it's not in my everyday routes... It might be smart if I mapped the main roads out there for a bit, though... The police closed off a major interchange a few months ago due to an accident, which diverted a number of St. John's / Mount Pearl drivers into CBS, myself included, and I wasn't familiar with the exact turn off that I took...

It is a sad thing, but in my estimation less than 1% of wazers ever turn into editors. Of those, only some become active AMs and even those do not always read forum or even the wiki. Also, we do not have a way to contact each other apart from ping in the client. Keep on wazing, and when editing ever turns fun for some more ppl in your area you will eventually find each other...

As a last resort you could put up a big, ugly landmark that you name "AM xyz: please contact me, AM xxx at xxx@yyy.com" - not the gentleman's way, but might do the trick....

My personal strategy is NOT to name and connect every street, but only major roads connecting towns and cities, naming those and maybe a handful of streets in every hamlet. In the end, by only defining a small percentage of all roads, you are never more then a few turns away from the wazed network, covering your complete ride except the first and last km. I leave it to the locals to make the map complete. Just like that, I brought my own town to near-completeness, and it sure looks good.

As a last resort you could put up a big, ugly landmark that you name "AM xyz: please contact me, AM xxx at xxx@yyy.com" - not the gentleman's way, but might do the trick....

My personal strategy is NOT to name and connect every street, but only major roads connecting towns and cities, naming those and maybe a handful of streets in every hamlet. In the end, by only defining a small percentage of all roads, you are never more then a few turns away from the wazed network, covering your complete ride except the first and last km. I leave it to the locals to make the map complete. Just like that, I brought my own town to near-completeness, and it sure looks good.