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Gas Station Naming

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I would like to recommend adding a note to the Gas Station guidance that the name of the gas station should be something that clearly identifies the station - most typically the brand. In rare cases where the brand of gas is not obvious, it should be the name displayed on the huge price sign at the street (e.g. Manny's Gas & Go). I come across a lot of gas stations all over the country where there are 3 or 4 stations in a very close area, but they're all named either with their street address, or the name of the LLC/Corp that owns the station - which makes it very difficult to tell which gas station you're reporting prices for (or which gas station Waze is trying to get you to once you are there).

Lo and behold, there is a perfect example on the main Gas Stations wiki page: This picture lists "Coast Gasoline" as a search result. However, there is nothing at this station to indicate that you are, in fact, at Coast Gasoline. In Waze, this station has been updated to "Menlo Gas", but that still doesn't work. Since both the gas station report and the gas station search feature don't display the brand, you are left wondering if you are reporting for the correct station. The name of this station should be '76', or at the very least, start with '76'.

A much, much, much better solution would be to have the app updated to display the brand - but even if that was something coming "soon", well... you know where that's going ;)

Edit: I forgot to mention that this is especially important for store gas (Costco, Stop & Shop, etc). I have seen a lot of incorrect place updates where drivers are trying to classify the gas station as a grocery store because the station was named "STOP & SHOP #235"

Edit 2: We should also include some guidance for rest areas. In these cases, the name of the station should clearly indicate which station you are at. Something like "I-95 N Service Area" or "Montvale Service Area". This will make sure, when you're on a divided highway and there are two service areas opposite each other, you are reporting for the correct station. It will also help to handle drivers who are in the vicinity of, but not actually at a service area.

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Post by crazycaveman
I would like to see this as well. I have gotten a couple of URs requesting this lately, and have started adding the brand if it's not there already. Hopefully, this other thread and page will get set up soon and this can be incorporated in there.
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Post by crazycaveman
pumrum wrote:I haven't reviewed the changelog (har har har) - but do you know if the app showed brand in the past and no longer does, or did the app never show brand and we're just starting to make noise about it?

My reason for asking - I'd hate to go and rename all of the gas stations in CT so that the Brand is first in the name, and then find out that in a few weeks 4.0 will be out and will have the brand displayed as well as the name. I don't mind doing work, but man I hate doing rework :D
That's a good point. I just did some testing with 3.7.9.911 and the brand and address are the only things shown. I do remember guidance that if the station didn't have a brand, we should leave the brand blank so the station name (e.g. Mom & Pop Shop) would show in the results.

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Post by crazycaveman
nzahn1 wrote:
pumrum wrote:
nzahn1 wrote:Must be an Android/iOS difference. This screengrab from 2012, shows "Name" as the result (even for Ads)
Could be. Android gets all the cool stuff.

I do have a sponsored station in my list showing as "BP" but the station is named "14TH ST BP". very weird.
I realized that crazycaveman must have been looking to report updated prices, whereas both photos I posted were results for gas stations from the navigation menu. Maybe we are looking at different lists...
Yes, I was looking at the price update window. Unfortunately, I upgraded to 3.9 and lost the ability to submit price updates. I haven't had a chance yet to see if I can fix that. Will post again once I do
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Post by crazycaveman
Just wanted to post this thread on gas stations as well, so that the guidance there can be included in this discussion. Seems like the other one died before getting completed though.
sketch wrote:If there's already a phone number there on an unedited station, it's probably an imported station, and will probably get third-party price updates.
Is this still happening? To me, it seems like the third-party price updates have not occurred on any gas stations nearby. I've seen several that have gone weeks or a month+ without an update that I know had third-party updates before. Is there any official word on this?
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Post by crazycaveman
Wiki wrote:The name of Gas Station should reflect its brand affiliation, so that drivers can select their preferred brand from the gas station search results in the app.
Alternative names may include the name as provided by the third-party provider, or the name of the associated convenience store.
Should we settle on a naming convention like '<Brand> - <Name if different>'?
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Post by DwarfLord
Just had a moment to look at this and huge kudos to nzahn1 :ugeek: for this contribution!!! :D

One minor comment: the discussion of locking gas station Places at levels up to 5 should probably have an {{As of|2014|11}} tag. The locking is only to prevent accidental Place corruption that Waze's new functionality has made easier than tying shoelaces (editorial comment redacted). Should Waze address the accidental corruption issue in the future then we'll no longer need such extreme guidance. The {{As of}} template helps Wiki maintainers find dated guidance.
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Post by nzahn1
I just want to point out that that the current "Gas Station" guidance is a sub-page of the Waze 3.5 page, and the Add a Gas Station guidance is actually a link from the Australia page.

I'm going to start building a generic WME-centric gas station page under my user name, and propose it here in the future.
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Post by nzahn1
pumrum wrote:did the app never show brand and we're just starting to make noise about it?
I remember right after the merge, there was a big push (at least in my general vicinity) to rename all gas stations based on the brand, especially if the station had the import name (WOODLAWN SHELL #315, etc...)
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Post by nzahn1
Here's my very rough start on a places/Gas_Stations page:
https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/User:Nzahn1/Gas_Stations

feel free to criticize.
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Post by nzahn1
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1414520519.345934.jpg
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This shows "Name" as the result in 3.9.1 on iOS.

I believe it's always been this way.
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