Tolls in Colombia
Hi,
It was very common in Colombia to find URs stating "Missing Toll Booth" even though Landmarks for those were already present everywhere on the map. This kind of implementation was not effective because it didn't allow a proper visualization or warning to the driver when approaching the toll booth. Accumulated reports that just kept coming were an indicative that the landmark solution was not enough.
Because we didn't have in the WME a more effective tool for providing proper announcing of tool booths to users, we started to think in creative ways for achieving so. First tests involved using the City field for increased visibility.
Then, someone in our team came with the idea of also including Toll rate in the information in order to add value to the user: he could prepare the cash for payment. There are no unified rates for toll booths in Colombia creating a big uncertainty of how much you have to pay in next booth.
So we opened a new challenge. Now URs were also about missing or wrong prices but this was a good sign of people perceiving the new "feature" as useful.
The final step of implementation got rid of using the city field and instead relied on creatively using the TTS system. Through a very well discussed model for standardizing the toll booth mapping, we managed to make the lovely TTS voices announce that you were arriving to the booth and also how much you had to pay in it. When in long monotonous roads like we have here you have no instruction for more than a hundred kilometers, knowing the name, rate and distance to the next tool booth like no other GPS application or device can provide, gives you another reason to love Waze.
As it usually happens with this kind of initiatives, we as a community had not only ideas but different perspectives. A lot of passionate discussion and even a final seal-the-deal voting was required to settle for a final model. It was all about thinking creatively in how to help the final user and in the way we strengthened our team work as a community.
Regards,
Comunidad Waze Colombia
It was very common in Colombia to find URs stating "Missing Toll Booth" even though Landmarks for those were already present everywhere on the map. This kind of implementation was not effective because it didn't allow a proper visualization or warning to the driver when approaching the toll booth. Accumulated reports that just kept coming were an indicative that the landmark solution was not enough.
Because we didn't have in the WME a more effective tool for providing proper announcing of tool booths to users, we started to think in creative ways for achieving so. First tests involved using the City field for increased visibility.
Then, someone in our team came with the idea of also including Toll rate in the information in order to add value to the user: he could prepare the cash for payment. There are no unified rates for toll booths in Colombia creating a big uncertainty of how much you have to pay in next booth.
So we opened a new challenge. Now URs were also about missing or wrong prices but this was a good sign of people perceiving the new "feature" as useful.
The final step of implementation got rid of using the city field and instead relied on creatively using the TTS system. Through a very well discussed model for standardizing the toll booth mapping, we managed to make the lovely TTS voices announce that you were arriving to the booth and also how much you had to pay in it. When in long monotonous roads like we have here you have no instruction for more than a hundred kilometers, knowing the name, rate and distance to the next tool booth like no other GPS application or device can provide, gives you another reason to love Waze.
As it usually happens with this kind of initiatives, we as a community had not only ideas but different perspectives. A lot of passionate discussion and even a final seal-the-deal voting was required to settle for a final model. It was all about thinking creatively in how to help the final user and in the way we strengthened our team work as a community.
Regards,
Comunidad Waze Colombia
Re: Tolls in Colombia