The wiki page was recently updated by 'sketch' before consulting with Waze. That "standard" was only put in place within the last 30 days which is why you'll find 99% of ramps now don't follow the new guidelines.

I refuse to use "Business" fully spelled out as sketch suggests for business routes. That takes up way too much screen space.

I'm still waiting for Dror to weigh in on the changes before I start using them.

Rebecca, it's been a while! I'm glad you are keeping busy with real-life before playing on Waze. Colons were, literally, added by sketch to the standard in the last few weeks. You can check the version history of the wiki page. I am still dubious of the changes and their affect on Waze routing/TTS. Which is why I'm still waiting.

unwallflower wrote:Pop back into this topic once you hear from Dror, will you? I don't want to change my ways unless we all agree that this is the new standard.

Here's what I know for sure right now, which isn't everything I wish I knew:

I am waiting for Dror to come back with a confirmation that:

• The colon in the exit name is the new standard
• The space after the hyphen can be removed going forward (sketch already reverted that change to the wiki, but Dror said he'd check on it anyway.)

Dror has already confirmed that "Bus" should be used instead of spelling out "Business" for business loops and that client R&D is aware they need to make sure this is pronounced correctly. He also says that he has passed on the request that the forward slash in ramp names is used as a pause in TTS.

sketch wrote:As for "Business" vs. "Bus", I understand not wanting to clutter the screen with letters, but how much have you actually heard from the team about any proposed changes to the way Text-to-Speech handles things?

Dror stated specifically to me in an email that the client team would make sure the Bus is pronounced "Business." Hopefully, they will also only do this when it is the last thing in a road name, so that "E Bus Rd" is pronounced properly.

So, the final word I have from Dror is that the changes sketch implemented originally in the "How to label and name roads" wiki page are correct except for using "business" fully spelled out. Therefore, according to him, the following are now acceptable and the new standard:

1. No space is required after the hyphen for interstates and short-hand for state route. That is "I-15" (with no spaces) is the proper naming convention. And, "SR-211" is the correct shortcut naming convention for state routes.
2. Numbered exits (ramps) should be named starting with with "Exit #: <...>", and non-numbered exits remain "Exit to <...>"
3. Business loops, routes, bypasses, etc., should all be named with the parent highway/interstate designation with "Bus" added to the end. That is, "I-94 Bus"

To support the changes, the shield generation will happen whether the space is after the hyphen or not. That means you don't have to go willy-nilly making changes now, but you can if you wish. In fact, due to the shield generation not being automatic, if you change it, it might lose the shield for some time, or until you request it be generated. This could be problematic as the same rule is in place requiring a geometry change to effect the tile rebuilding. They really need to fix/streamline that process for us and for them.

"State Hwy ##" and "State Rte ##" are still the correct shield-generating full naming convention. The shortcut naming for is useful in ramp names.

Further supporting changes include TTS will be enabled to pronounce "business" in place of "Bus" and TTS will also be updated to pause for the forward slash character in multi-named ramps.

Did I forget anything?

Sketch, you can re-revert your changes except for the business part. And, despite the way this all came about, I appreciate it happening now so that we can all be on the same page.

unwallflower wrote:

AlanOfTheBerg wrote: And, "SR-211" is the correct naming convention.

Did I miss another thing? According to the wiki, "State Rte ##" is the correct naming convention for state routes.

Both. I added clarification about their usage: the shortcut "SR-##" is useful and preferred even, as part of ramp names, to help make them shorter. The full "State Rte" and "State Hwy" is used for the road itself.

WeeeZer14 wrote:The TTS turns SR-xx into "State Route xx", right?

I am pretty sure, yes. I believe there was a thread where someone wrote this is the case.

WeeeZer14 wrote:We have "State Rte" and "State Hwy" to adjust to local preferences so we'd lose that for signs/ramps if we use SR-xx instead.

Yes, shortcut for ramp usage only. I do not advocate renaming your highways and routes!

CBenson wrote:Yes, but if we are naming our highways "State Hwy ##," is there a shorthand notation like "SH-##" for the ramp that will be spoken "State Highway?"

Nope! Or, not that I am aware of. The delay with map updates is too long right now for me to want to spend time testing it. I don't go through any ramps on my commute anyway.

mapcat wrote:"State Rte ##" doesn't generate shields. Never has.

Thought you could request it?

gettingthere wrote:Regarding TTS and the SR- ## abbreviation - currently the TTS only pronounces 'State Route ##' if there is a space between SR- and the route number. So Waze will have to fix the TTS if we are to use SR-## with no space.

In states where people use "route" nomenclature, is it more common to hear someone say "route ##" or "state route ##" or "sr ##" in conversation. From my experience, thinking of Washington, just to my north, people use the "SR" letters when talking.