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European maps coming soon?

Post by zzyzxuk
I just saw the press release on Google about Waze's new partnerships which, if I am reading this correctly, will give us some new base maps in Europe!!!

What does this mean for us active road mappers? Should we take a break from road labelling cause a lot of the work is about to be done for us?

(And if I am supposed to take a break, after having made 15,000 road edits to the UK's map, what else am I supposed to do with my life? :lol: )
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Post by zzyzxuk
That looks fantastic guys.... Looks like most (all?) roads are showing up and not just a few!

Can we bribe you guys to get the UK done next? <G>
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Post by zzyzxuk
Thanks for the info...

So let me try to check I understand this correctly...

There -will- be road segment data (what you call a "grid") imported, but not necessarily at once, and not necessarily having all roads... but this will be very similar to having our little red unknown red road segments popping up from newly recorded roads. They'll still need to be named, labelled, etc.

But it might save us time from having to go out and drive roads, or use the aerial map to create new segments when none exist at all - we'll get segments - we'll just have to name then, turn restrict them, etc.?
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Post by zzyzxuk
I've emailed t/s asking if they could give us any clarification on what this means for us... I've heard that this might not exactly a 'base map', so I'd like to know what we're getting...

It has an immediate impact on those of us who are active mappers - I might not want to spend as much time over the next few weeks adding roads if some batch job is about to do it for me, so support - could you let us know what we can expect?
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Post by Vikingr
+1
robin1979 wrote: Yeah, previously I had to agree with you, but now I've seen the German maps, I have turned around. After the basemap update, there needs a lot of work to be done. Currently a lot of Dutch wazers are updating the maps, it would be a shame if we had to do this again. So, because of the already large established userbase, Netherlands, Italy and UK should have priority!
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Post by The Fej
@zzyzxuk Indeed as you are indicating, only they will not be red roads, rather white ones (but without the details we are not getting) and it will save time from creating new roads from the aerials. Still will require driving (for which people will get points - similar to the road muncher points) to open travel direction/turn restrictions (which is easier to do by driving).

@naesstrom time-frame we are starting with Germany and then France and regarding the rest, I do not have of as yet since I am not sure of the order of the countries we are going to get (and it is 1-2 per month or so). Regarding 3D, as we do not have that support in the database, it is not included. Additionally, you need much faster/stronger CPU and graphical device support for showing it on such level as they show below on the dedicated device.
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Post by The Fej
For starters, let's get the payware off the table. The idea is that the map data, being more updated and including the traffic information is the basis for monetization from businesses and not from the users.

Regarding the mapping activities, the good news is that all the work done in waze overrides the grid data received in a manner whereas the street names, travel directions, speed information and other characteristics (including the points and user ownership) are either inserted into the grid (in case of geometrical equivalence) or added over (in case of a difference). The grid is not complete – it is simply the geometrical information of the roads (done using aerial information from planes and other equipment so there are roads that are still missing from the map) that needs be validated and edited. It has no road names, no travel direction, no turn restrictions, etc., all of which can be done or overlaid by waze users.

We have developed integration mechanism and have done several iterations and based on the Canadian experience, we think it should be a positive improvement. As you can see in the forum, the Canadian users have responded quite positively:
wscotchmer wrote:99% of the roads in my area lined up with the Canada base maps and were incorporated into that. The other roads that didn't... I'm just deleting.
This is a process in any case (we do not receive all the maps at once and cannot upload all the maps at once) so I see no contradiction between continuing the mapping activities and the grid, as whatever is done will need be done anyway and is not lost in terms of data (and of course points).
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Post by taarmen
I think Italy should be next, followed by the Netherlands. These two groups are the biggest Wazers. So serve them in stead of the smaller groups. And with better maps more people will join..
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