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Query: not using "next named street" in parking lots?

Post by AlanOfTheBerg
I'd like to see what the community thinks about requesting that Waze not announce the next named street when navigating through parking lots? I've noticed myself and have fielded many URs where drivers get the "turn left at <road name>", "turn right at <road name" when those turns are just within the parking lot.

I would suggest this criteria for "do not announce street name" if:
1) The current/previous segment is a parking lot segment
and 2) The next segment is a parking lot segment

#1 is to allow the situation where some parking lots into large malls are sometimes named and therefore, when entering the parking lot from a street, ramp, highway, etc, that name will be announced. But when exiting the parking lot, this name will not be announced because the current segment is likely a parking lot segment. (If the lot is properly designed with all parking lot road types.)

Whatcha think?
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Post by AlanOfTheBerg
CBenson wrote:A second thought is that I kind of like the instructions in the parking lot as they usually let me know what exit waze is heading to even though the instruction don't really make sense.
Your proposal is also something I've considered and could support as well. "turn right to" or "turn right towards" are both better language than the current "turn right at" instructions.

My proposal could also be amended, but would require good parking lot creation discipline, to deal with named lot roads, as I've seen those too. How about:

1) The current/previous segment is a parking lot segment
and 2) The next segment is a parking lot segment
and 3) The next segment is unnamed
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Post by AlanOfTheBerg
CBenson wrote:
AlanOfTheBerg wrote:1) The current/previous segment is a parking lot segment
and 2) The next segment is a parking lot segment
and 3) The next segment is unnamed
Ok, but if you have requirement 3), why do you need requirement 1)?
Ummm...
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Post by CBenson
My initial thought is that that there are some fairly extensive parking lots (particularly in the "towne center" type shopping malls around here) with internal streets that are named where the directions should use the name on the sign.

However, I guess the question here becomes whether named street in a large shopping development are really "parking lot" roads.

My first thought was the lot here which was entirely parking lot segments but has internal street names. However, I see that editors have already changed most of the named streets to "street type." So your proposal should now work fine here.

My second thought was the lot here which again has internal street names (and is admittedly over mapped). But again here the named streets primarily use the "private street" type. So again your proposal should work.

So I guess I'm wondering whether we shouldn't propose to waze the criteria "do not not announce the street name if the next segment is a parking lot segment." And then, if waze adopts the proposal, promulgate an editing guideline that if a street actually has a name it should not be a "parking lot" road, but rather should be a regular street or a private road, depending on whether it should be use for through routing or not.
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Post by CBenson
A second thought is that I kind of like the instructions in the parking lot as they usually let me know what exit waze is heading to even though the instruction don't really make sense. Thus, what I thought might be nice is that if the next segment is an unnamed parking lot segment and the name being used is from the next named segment on the route (not a name from a prior segment when the route ends in the parking lot) then the instruction might be "turn right towards Jennifer Rd." rather than "tun right at Jennifer Rd." A bunch of turn instructions "toward" the road that waze is taking you towards might not be too confusing and would give you some idea where the instructions are taking you. Of course if you are inside a named ring road, none of this helps.
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Post by CBenson
AlanOfTheBerg wrote:My proposal could also be amended, but would require good parking lot creation discipline, to deal with named lot roads, as I've seen those too. How about:

1) The current/previous segment is a parking lot segment
and 2) The next segment is a parking lot segment
and 3) The next segment is unnamed
Ok, but if you have requirement 3), why do you need requirement 1)?
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Post by CBenson
PhantomSoul wrote:In my (limited) experience with Waze, I've found that the only real asset to mapping parking lots is either when a parking lot's exit isn't obvious from all places in the parking lot, as seen in the parking lot here, or if there is a very large parking lot with multiple exits to multiple different roads, Waze can guide you to the most optimal exit based on your route from the parking lot, as seen in the mall parking lot here.
I would agree that these are the types of parking lots that we are addressing here. Although, the proposal does not adversely affect the single parking lot road for the convenience store or fast food parking lot.
PhantomSoul wrote:Beyond that, however, parking lot routes have very little use, as once you turn off the public road into a parking lot, you have to visually find your destination and just drive to it, since the entire parking lot, no matter how big, is typically defined as a single address, and the navigator will take you to the same spot no matter which store in that parking lot you might be looking for.
This is not true at all in my area. The stores have different addresses. And as WeeeZer said if you search for the store name, Bing will frequently return different locations for different stores using the same parking lot. However, the results seem fairly random, as sometime the Bing coordinates may be on the main road, sometimes in the middle of parking lot, sometimes on the actual building (and these results may be different for different stores in same shopping center).

I also find parking lot roads to be useful for getting a good route when exiting the lot. The advantage to starting your trip on a parking lot road, is that waze will then always route you in the fastest direction on the main road. If the parking lot road is not in waze and you start driving in the lot in the direction opposite to the direction waze would naturally route you and you are close enough to be snapped to the main road, then waze will start you on the main road in the direction you are traveling in the lot. This can sometimes result in a much longer route.
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Post by Daknife
Hmm and here I was thinking about making up names for every lane and maybe every parking stall for the local Mall. :lol:

Actually I like the Idea Alan, perhaps it might even reduce the inclination of some editors to pave every lane of a Mall because it didn't tell them to turn at the third lane in order to park closest to the food court.
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Post by mssusa
This is also important where many new streets are not named yet, not just for parking lots. I have many newer parts of the city where all roads have no names. Many other smaller streets have no names (because they have no postal addresses) and going through a series of unnamed roads hearing incorrect instructions is annoying. I believe using "towards" is much better as a first step in addressing this problem.

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Post by PhantomSoul
Parking lots are kind of difficult to navigate using GPS systems, since most of their collector roadways are unnamed. Further, because navigation is dependent on the location accuracy of a wide range of hardware devices with varying levels of accuracy that are beyond the programmer's control, IMHO any kind of turn instruction that based strictly on a distance of less than a tenth of a mile (about 500 ft) is irrelevant and more likely to confuse the driver than provide any kind of productive information. More often than not, the driver really has to navigate the parking lot visually based on what he/she sees across the parking lot, whether it is a specific store that is the destination, or finding these collector roadways within the parking to exit.

In my (limited) experience with Waze, I've found that the only real asset to mapping parking lots is either when a parking lot's exit isn't obvious from all places in the parking lot, as seen in the parking lot here, or if there is a very large parking lot with multiple exits to multiple different roads, Waze can guide you to the most optimal exit based on your route from the parking lot, as seen in the mall parking lot here.

Beyond that, however, parking lot routes have very little use, as once you turn off the public road into a parking lot, you have to visually find your destination and just drive to it, since the entire parking lot, no matter how big, is typically defined as a single address, and the navigator will take you to the same spot no matter which store in that parking lot you might be looking for.
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