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Post by pumrum
orbitc wrote:Waze is usually get to it even on the weekends but not always.
understood - just want to set expectations
orbitc wrote:Events that impact many such as NYC Marathon, please use the even closure form
absolutely. major events such as the marathon are usually better about publishing closures far in advance. minor events such as summer parades not so much - they're on the weekend traffic advisory and update some time between tuesday and friday, depending on when they get around to it. they still have a large impact on traffic, but we don't get enough advance warning to go through the standard major event process.

thanks!
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Post by pumrum
Joyriding wrote:Hi, what is the preferred method for requesting a previously submitted road closure to be removed, such is in the case of a road reopening sooner than the originally published date?
If you specified the correct end date in the original request, then no further action is required - the closure will expire automatically.

If you need to adjust any aspect of the closure such as the end date/time being moved up (construction ahead of schedule?? HA!), submit the closure as you did initially with the updated information, and note in the comments that you are modifying a previous entry. The manager reviewing the closure will see that, find the original entry, and modify as needed.
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Post by pumrum
A quick but very important note on closures: we need to be careful with closures, especially bridge replacements, not to overly restrict local access. There are many instances of closures on very busy, densely populated streets where the closure may only affect a small portion of the segment in the middle. If the entire segment is closed, it can do bad things to drivers trying to route to destinations on the non-closed portion of the segment.

My suggestion, posted here for peer review, is that if a closure only affects a small part of a larger segment, that segment should be broken so that the closure is limited only to the area actually closed. See this segment as an example. The bridge closure is actually very small, and does not restrict local traffic on either side of the closure (the only effect is that vehicles are not permitted to pass over the bridge). In this example, if the entire original segment was closed, a driver trying to navigate to a point on that road would be given directions to one of the dead-end side streets, very much out of the way of their intended destination.

I also recommend locking that segment to avoid having the "duplicate junction" being removed or anyone doing anything inadvertently that alters the segment ID. If it is a long term closure, you can optionally mark it (CLOSED) in the street name. I also like to drop a UR next to the closure once I have inputted it into the sheet. There is a column on the WazeHQ upload sheet (currently column S) that includes pre-defined UR text you can paste in.

Thoughts?
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Post by pumrum
This is a good example of what I was referring to:
5a8e5asu.jpg
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This isn't a perfect example, but it's representative of what could happen if you don't isolate the closure to the actual impassible section.

Permalink to the area above
livemap route showing the bad directions which will undoubtedly annoy drivers

the other compelling argument for isolating the closure to just that which is actually impassible is: if you are routing to a destination close to the closure, it is important to know which way to enter the restricted segment. if you enter from the wrong direction, you could end on a very long detour at best, or lost at worst.

This is a good example of how that could manifest itself:
thelongway.png
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In this case, there's a closure of that single segment, let's assume for the sake of example the bridge is smack in the middle of that segment. Your destination is a hot new piano bar at the south side of that segment and your date is meeting you there at 8pm. You're not terribly familiar with the area, but you're really interested in this person so you agree to make the trek.

Now - because the entire segment is closed, Waze will try to get you close, but it doesn't know if it should send you to the north entry to the segment or south. You're trying to get to the south end of the segment, but under normal circumstances, the north entry is still faster (according to the routing engine). So... like 99.9% of wazers, you just click "GO!" and you're off. DANGER WILL ROBINSON!! You find yourself on the wrong side of a bridge that doesn't exist, no idea where you are, and you have to make the 20 minute (measured with google maps) drive back alllll the way around to the other side of the closure -- assuming you figure out how to get to the other side. Better show up with some kind of a gift. :oops:

Yes, of course people with "local knowledge" will just go the right way. But what about people going to the airport? A job interview? A client site? A date? One really, REALLY good way to get someone to stop using Waze is to make them late to a date.


And of course, as with everything on waze, this would not be absolute guidance. Each closure should be evaluated to determine exactly where drivers can and cannot go, and what might be the consequences of closing an entire segment. I try to look at the closure I'm inputting and say "if I am trying to get to somewhere in this area, how will this closure affect me?"
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Post by pumrum
I noticed that the closure guidelines were updated to advise us to close crossing segments (where appropriate). The guidelines depict closing the input segments, but I was wondering if it would make more sense to close the output segments instead?

In the example provided, it is likely that local traffic would be allowed to access the highlighted (closed) cross-street segments (the inbound portions of 10th, 11th, and 12th streets). Wouldn't it make more sense to close the opposite (outbound) segments instead, since local traffic would not be able to access these segments?

I had posted some notes about this issue here after working with WazeHQ on a major event in Manhattan and dealing with blocking cross streets.

An example of blocking outbound streets rather than inbound streets here. This includes an allowed crossing at 79th st and a disallowed 2-way crossing at 86th st
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Post by pumrum
PleaseDriveFast wrote:I think I initially had the closure ending 2014-08-31. Should this expire on its own or should there be an update to remove the closure?
If the closure is no longer active, it should be removed once it is confirmed, assuming it opened back up earlier than the expiration date. If it is set to close as scheduled, no further action is required, it will expire per the schedule.

If the RC/CM/SM that inputted the closure also opened up a [ROADWORKS] or [CLOSURE] UR at that location, you can post a note to that indicating that you have requested it be reopened ahead of schedule. The RC/CM/SM should close the UR out as solved once the closure has been removed.

Check in with the person who opened the UR before closing it. I normally don't have a problem with expired URs being removed, but it might be good to check in first just in case they were leaving it as a place holder to check back in to make sure the closure actually opened back up at the time indicated. I have a few spots in CT where the end dates are approximate, and the UR pins are there as reminders to check back every now and then

As best I can tell, the URs do not get opened automatically (yet). I have to open them manually, but WazeHQ gave us a nifty text generator that pre-populates all the info so we just drop it in.
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Post by pumrum
As we move into the new year and a new set of sheet tabs, could we consider organizing the champ/SM sheet so that all of the data entry cells are in consecutive columns, rather than having formulas and locked columns interspersed? This would help to avoid missing important information, and make copy/paste from other sources much easier (and prevent copying over formula cells). Currently a copy paste has to be done in many parts because of all the uneditable columns in the middle

Obviously this is assuming that there isn't some back end interface that requires the columns to be in a specific order.

thanks!
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Post by pumrum
PesachZ wrote:We tried sorting them before and Waze switched it back
Any indication as to why? seems like a no-brainer. again, assuming they don't have some back-end system it feeds. but even if there is, seems likes something that could be easily fixed with reference columns.
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Post by qwaletee
You can PM your RC (or an SM if your state has one).
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Post by qwaletee
PesachZ and I had a similar case recently. Even though we're not local (passing familiarity with the area), we were able to figure out where the actual closure was, and which connetcing segments of road were/weren't affected, and craft a closure that made sense for the area.

I think Ben's approach is sound, where you know the area r can find out more. Yes, it is more work. So is all map editing.

Where you don't/can't, do your best, and maybe post in the unlock forums, as a rank 1 (even if it isn't rank 1).
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