Here an example of an area that encompasses a parking lot but nothing is currently selected as parking for customer or mapped for parking lots

Correct the place needs completion, but also current guidelines say not to add more parking lot areas. Hence my first question, using it as an example to spur guidance discussion.

I would like to propose a change to the current locking standards for PLA.
Current Standards from WOP

Due to this major shift in editing guidelines, it is recommended that once a Parking Lot Area (PLA) has been added, that it be locked to 3 to avoid newer editors, or those not familiar with the change, from editing or deleting the PLA.

I would like to change the locking standard to this

"Parking Lot Areas should be locked to the same level as the associated place. In the event of a free standing PLA with no associated place they should be locked to L3."

My thinking related to this:
-Many states have the minimal locking level for a place as L2, which then would result in a L2 PP and a L3 PLA
-We have become more accustom to the usage of PLA at this time and they are becoming a more normal part of our daily editing practice
-And mostly the most common occurrence I have seen with poor PLA is from new Rank 1 editors creating new PLA without names, or duplicate PLA since they had the layer off. The prevalence of MP suggesting the need of a PLA has created a sea of bad PLA from new editors that these locking standards do not protect against so I feel the locking level doesnt achieve the desired effect with minimum of L3 so we should treat them like the corresponding place (unless somehow we can convince staff to restrict PLA to R2+)

Did a bit of preliminary calculations to come up with an average of cars per 1000sq ft of parking lot area.

I measured various lots of different sizes and shapes, counted the spots and used toolbox measurement for the surface area.

I could be wrong and other states may have much larger or smaller spaces, but 3 cars per 1000sq.ft seems to work reasonably well.

This could be added as quick calculation in the wiki to make spot calculation for editors a bit easier.

In addition to the above, I would find it helpful for the Wazeopedia page to explain the ramifications of marking a lot restricted/private/public. For instance, perhaps a public lot shows on the app, but a restricted lot does not? Perhaps a private lot will never show in search results? Etc.

Also, as I do more of these, I feel that offices (i.e. non-retail establishments which won't have members of the general public) don't need the parking lots mapped at all. An example of this would be an office building where the only people who park there are the direct employees - the place point to navigate to the business should suffice in this circumstance. I can't see a need for Waze to recommend a parking lot here. Unless, of course, there is some future functionality tied to parking where every single place point must have an associated PLA or ....? This doesn't seem to serve any navigational purpose.

With regards to naming, I think it's important to name in such a way that it doesn't duplicate search results. For example if I search for Macy's, I don't want to be given two options in the search results for essentially the same location - i.e. "Macy's" and "Macy's Lot - Big Hill Shopping Center". Instead perhaps a better approach would be something else like the name="Redwood shopping Center, Northwest lot" and have the description="Near Macy's" (which I believe will not show up in a search for "Macy's").

-Bob C.

Regarding in the naming, I’ll have to disagree with use of P solely as that means nothing to a user who glances at the app. As for name being post would cause most confusion since said parking lot is next to business to begin with, and some businesses I.E. Lowe’s may need routing from multiple roads, but stop points for the business and PLA aren’t necessarily the same. In searching for a business, typical user isn’t going to spend time to determine which is closest to location they wish to go, but rather by seeing name that first matches what they wish for. If name cuts off 2nd word, I rather it be the business name so we’re not dealing in UR’s about business isn’t in the parking lot. Especially since Waze suggests closest parking for a business, there usually isn’t need for their name to be priority, rather that is closest parking for it. Multi-parking-lots have names that specifies them separately, and people do search per those names.

Hi all,
I have been reading the Parking wiki https://wazeopedia.waze.com/wiki/USA/Places/Parking_lot and had a discussion item, which sent me here. I would like to discuss expanding and clarifying on the "Scope" and "What does not qualify as a PLA?" sections.

I am seeing a lot of new Parking lot areas added by new editors and that makes me ponder each of their edits. Do I reject their edit? Do I keep it? Does it need to be edited/changed? Being in an mature urban waze area, there are not a lot of things for a L1 editor to do, except add PL roads, and PL areas, and Place Points, etc. and they do so... (yes I try to contact them, but most do not have messaging set up).

Here are my points for discussion:
- Strip mall parking lot. Does it even need a PL Area? If that is your destination, then parking is right there. (including big box stores, grocery store shopping centers, etc.)
- Restaurant Parking lots - again, if your destination is the restaurant, then most likely, the parking lot is right there.

I agree that it may be good to have parking lot areas for large shopping malls, universities, stadiums, fairgrounds, etc. I do not believe they are needed for commercial office parks, or private enterprises (unless there is a need to show "visitor parking").

And what about in the downtown areas? This is where the PL areas will be most beneficial (as opposed to suburban areas). There are Public parking lots/facilities/areas, which I think should be marked. What about the many private parking lots for the workers in buildings? Those should probably not be marked. Or if waze insists, marked private parking, and not displayed on the live map.

Anyway, I know there's a lot of points I made, I just want to get a discussion going. In summary, I think that PL areas should focus on public parking venues in downtown areas. Additionally, in suburban and rural areas, only at venues such as large shopping centers (regional malls), universities/colleges, stadiums, fairgrounds or other event places. PL areas should not be for offices, restaurants, medium and small shopping centers (like big box stores, grocery stores, strip malls,etc.).

Thanks for your insight PesachZ . I'm still not seeing the big picture. If I drive to my local Grocery Store/Big Box/whatever (in a strip mall with a large parking lot), why would I need a parking lot recommendation? In most cases (anything built in the suburban US in the last 40+ years or so), the parking lot is the 10 acres of blacktop right in front of the store. If I'm the shopping center owner, I don't want non-customers parking in the shopping center lot. Aren't PP and PLR's and the "WME Closest Segment" guiding one to the correct place?

When I think about urban US, and European cities, this PL area makes more sense. If I'm in (suburban) London, and have to pop over to my local Sainsbury which has the parking lot underneath it, then it makes sense. If I'm going to a shop on the High Street, knowing where to park would be good. Makes sense there.

Maybe suburban US is more of a special case than the other ~90% of the world.

When I think about it, it seems that the developers are planning that the driver's destination is now going to be the parking lot instead of the PP, which makes sense for the car (and Waze is a driving app for cars). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My biggest concern has already been stated by WayzrBill. The way the App is programmed right now, it displays the “nearest PUBLIC lot” to the search result you’re about to route to (or switch to the lot for the route, hints why it offers it). But since most are marked restricted since they are for customers only, it almost never gives the lot that is apart of the business. Instead gives the closest public which is miles away. The best resolution here would be to tie the PLA to the PP(s) and offer it regardless of type if your destination via search was the PP.

The other issue is large lots are always displayed (I forgot the size... 50k sq ft? I’m mobile can’t recall exactly) in the app. This is UGLY when you have several of them around an area. The only option would be to chop them up into smaller lots, which works for places like shopping malls or venues that have named / numbered lots. But it doesn’t work for large parking lots for high rise buildings and other corporate campuses.


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