"Places" guide in Mississippi
This will serve as a guide to submitting and editing Places in Mississippi.
Please refer to the Places page in the Wiki for general guidelines.
Especially follow the guidelines for when to use Area or Point for your Places.
Locking
All places that are approved will be locked to Level 4. Due to the nature of the new Places system, this will still allow any user to suggest changes to any Place, even if they are level 3 or lower, so nobody will be completely locked out of editing Places, unless they have been blocked for abuse or misuse of the system. These changes will be reviewed by a Level 4+ editor and approved or rejected.
Approvals and Rejections
For users who are submitting new Places, or Place Updates from the Waze app, be sure to take a clear picture of the building, and try to get the business's sign in the picture. The object is to aid Wazers in finding the place as they approach the location. If it's raining or foggy, you probably won't be able to get a good picture and the picture will be deleted. Night shots are ok if the venue is lighted and you can see the venue in the picture.
Be sure that you've selected the proper venue, or added a new one. If you attach new information to an existing Place, and it's not the correct place, it will have to be rejected, as there is no way to split this information away to a new venue. Likewise, if you create a new Place for an existing venue, we can't merge them and the submission will be rejected.
If you have time, enter additional information about the Place into the app. Select the street if it hasn't selected the correct street automatically. In the "House Number" field, enter only the address number (this is NOT the place for a phone number). Don't try to type in the name of the street.
If you add business hours, be absolutely sure that the different sets of hours don't overlap, otherwise, there will be an error in the editor and the only option is to remove the data completely.
In the "Location" section, you'll see a little map, and you'll be able to pan around to correct the location. This is especially helpful because Waze records your location when you start the process of entering the Place. If you're doing this with a Place that you're navigating to, you may get the popup to add the Place 1/2 mile away. If you select it there, that is where the pin on the map will be, and these Places will often get rejected simply because we can't figure out where the correct location is.
Drive-by submissions
If you're doing a drive-by (as a passenger), be sure that you can get a clear picture. Try to get a shot out of a window so that half the picture isn't of the interior of your car. Also, watch out for glare from your windows that will make the picture useless. If you're on a highway and trying to take pictures of places on adjacent roads, your submission will most likely be rejected. If you're driving, you probably won't be able to get a clear picture if the vehicle is in motion, and you're putting yourself and those around you in danger.
Residential Places/Private Homes
Waze has taken measures to protect the privacy of the location of your home. When you add a Private Home, no name is attached to the Place on the editor map. Be absolutely sure you've selected "This is a residential place" when adding a residence. The only other information that is attached to it is the House Number, the Street, and the picture. Tap on the map to adjust the location--it is often difficult to try to correct the location in the editor when every house in the neighborhood looks alike, or the house numbers on the houses/mailboxes aren't readable in streetview.
Private homes must have a House Number and Street, and a useful picture, or they will be rejected. The picture should be of the front of the house as visible from the street. Any other picture will be rejected.
Once a Private Home has been submitted, it can't be changed to any other type of place, so if you've selected this accidentally for a non-private venue, the only option is to reject the submission.
Likewise, don't select any other type of Place category for a Private Home. If you do, you'll reveal your username to anyone who navigates there or looks at the Place in the editor.
Additional Privacy concerns
Any pictures submitted with an identifiable person's face, or license plate will be rejected. Be especially careful at schools to only submit pictures that don't have any children present.
When approving Places in WME...
Any Place that is approved should be minimally checked for correct spelling and capitalization (Title Case) of the name, and location. The location should be nearest to the entrance of the building. Not in the middle of the parking lot. Not in the middle of the building. Bear in mind that wherever that point is, the Wazer will be navigated to the closest road to that point, so be sure that the closest road to the point is actually accessible to the venue. Add the name of the street the Place is located on if it wasn't done from the app. This helps to differentiate between different locations of a chain type business when searching for the business.
If you are Level 4 or higher, lock the venue to Level 4 once the steps above have ben taken. If you are lower than Level 4, leave it unlocked and a higher level editor will lock it when scanning for new Places.
Adding Places from WME.
Be sure that you've read the entire Wiki thoroughly before using the editor. Use the guide for Area vs. Point linked above. Don't add Parking Lot areas in Louisiana.
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I'm going to cut this off here, but this thread will be open for comments or questions, and if any problems or suggestions crop up, I'll post about it here.
Please refer to the Places page in the Wiki for general guidelines.
Especially follow the guidelines for when to use Area or Point for your Places.
Locking
All places that are approved will be locked to Level 4. Due to the nature of the new Places system, this will still allow any user to suggest changes to any Place, even if they are level 3 or lower, so nobody will be completely locked out of editing Places, unless they have been blocked for abuse or misuse of the system. These changes will be reviewed by a Level 4+ editor and approved or rejected.
Approvals and Rejections
For users who are submitting new Places, or Place Updates from the Waze app, be sure to take a clear picture of the building, and try to get the business's sign in the picture. The object is to aid Wazers in finding the place as they approach the location. If it's raining or foggy, you probably won't be able to get a good picture and the picture will be deleted. Night shots are ok if the venue is lighted and you can see the venue in the picture.
Be sure that you've selected the proper venue, or added a new one. If you attach new information to an existing Place, and it's not the correct place, it will have to be rejected, as there is no way to split this information away to a new venue. Likewise, if you create a new Place for an existing venue, we can't merge them and the submission will be rejected.
If you have time, enter additional information about the Place into the app. Select the street if it hasn't selected the correct street automatically. In the "House Number" field, enter only the address number (this is NOT the place for a phone number). Don't try to type in the name of the street.
If you add business hours, be absolutely sure that the different sets of hours don't overlap, otherwise, there will be an error in the editor and the only option is to remove the data completely.
In the "Location" section, you'll see a little map, and you'll be able to pan around to correct the location. This is especially helpful because Waze records your location when you start the process of entering the Place. If you're doing this with a Place that you're navigating to, you may get the popup to add the Place 1/2 mile away. If you select it there, that is where the pin on the map will be, and these Places will often get rejected simply because we can't figure out where the correct location is.
Drive-by submissions
If you're doing a drive-by (as a passenger), be sure that you can get a clear picture. Try to get a shot out of a window so that half the picture isn't of the interior of your car. Also, watch out for glare from your windows that will make the picture useless. If you're on a highway and trying to take pictures of places on adjacent roads, your submission will most likely be rejected. If you're driving, you probably won't be able to get a clear picture if the vehicle is in motion, and you're putting yourself and those around you in danger.
Residential Places/Private Homes
Waze has taken measures to protect the privacy of the location of your home. When you add a Private Home, no name is attached to the Place on the editor map. Be absolutely sure you've selected "This is a residential place" when adding a residence. The only other information that is attached to it is the House Number, the Street, and the picture. Tap on the map to adjust the location--it is often difficult to try to correct the location in the editor when every house in the neighborhood looks alike, or the house numbers on the houses/mailboxes aren't readable in streetview.
Private homes must have a House Number and Street, and a useful picture, or they will be rejected. The picture should be of the front of the house as visible from the street. Any other picture will be rejected.
Once a Private Home has been submitted, it can't be changed to any other type of place, so if you've selected this accidentally for a non-private venue, the only option is to reject the submission.
Likewise, don't select any other type of Place category for a Private Home. If you do, you'll reveal your username to anyone who navigates there or looks at the Place in the editor.
Additional Privacy concerns
Any pictures submitted with an identifiable person's face, or license plate will be rejected. Be especially careful at schools to only submit pictures that don't have any children present.
When approving Places in WME...
Any Place that is approved should be minimally checked for correct spelling and capitalization (Title Case) of the name, and location. The location should be nearest to the entrance of the building. Not in the middle of the parking lot. Not in the middle of the building. Bear in mind that wherever that point is, the Wazer will be navigated to the closest road to that point, so be sure that the closest road to the point is actually accessible to the venue. Add the name of the street the Place is located on if it wasn't done from the app. This helps to differentiate between different locations of a chain type business when searching for the business.
If you are Level 4 or higher, lock the venue to Level 4 once the steps above have ben taken. If you are lower than Level 4, leave it unlocked and a higher level editor will lock it when scanning for new Places.
Adding Places from WME.
Be sure that you've read the entire Wiki thoroughly before using the editor. Use the guide for Area vs. Point linked above. Don't add Parking Lot areas in Louisiana.
----------------
I'm going to cut this off here, but this thread will be open for comments or questions, and if any problems or suggestions crop up, I'll post about it here.
Re: "Places" guide in Mississippi