A turn instruction is the combination of text, images, and speech that Waze provides to the user in providing route guidance, ideally with minimal thought and without confusion.
This page covers the topic of turn instructions generally and includes guidance for modifying all editable aspects of a turn instruction inside the Turn Instruction interface. This does not include lane guidance, which has its own instructions.
Overview
Turn instructions tell and show a user where and when to turn, keep, exit, continue, or make a U-turn. Editors must take special care to ensure that turn instructions give Wazers clear and useful directions.
By default, a turn instruction will use the street name of the outbound segment for both display and spoken directions. If there is a 1) road shield associated with the primary street name on that outbound segment and 2) that street name is simple and contains the same number as the shield, then the turn instruction will display the shield in place of the street name.
Currently, this can look poor in the app as only the highway number is replaced by a shield, as in the image at right.
Reasonable people interpret this as "Autoroute Autoroute 15 Nord" since the shield implies "autoroute". As a result, using a customized turn instruction will look better right now.
You can customize turn instructions with road shields, destinations, exit numbers, and more. This enhances the Waze experience and we encourage its use.
General principles
Turn instructions should match signage as closely as possible within the limitations of the Waze interface, while remaining sensible.
Visually, the elements of the turn instruction should match the visual order of elements on the sign as closely as possible.
Custom turn instructions should be added any time signage for a particular turn includes more than just the primary street name (or associated shield) of the outbound segment. In particular, custom turn instructions should be added:
- for any numbered exit;
- anywhere a road shield is desired but won't be automatically displayed; and
- anywhere else that directional signage shows something other than the primary name (or road shield) of the outbound segment such as most exit ramps and onramps, wayfinders, intersections with specialized signage for a turn, and other occasions.
Here are examples of those use cases.
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An exit and wayfinder on Autoroute 40 Ouest in Montreal.
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Turn instructions on a major road in Montreal.
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Turn instructions and a wayfinder on a major road in Montreal. Adding a wayfinder in this case is not recommended, but the turns should be implemented with turn instructions that indicate the cardinal direction.
A good rule of thumb to use is that if there is a big green sign (BGS), then there should be a turn instruction. But that is not an absolute rule.
Here is an example where a turn instruction should not be used, since this is a named street and having Waze mention the highways would be confusing rather than clear.
How to do this
To access the Turn Instructions dialogue, hover your cursor over a turn arrow and click on "Add instructions".
Basic layout
As stated, the goal is to resemble the road signage as much as possible, but the functionality has limitations such as a lack of horizontal display space and a restriction to two lines of information (plus an exit sign).
The best practice is therefore to use the top "Visual instructions" line of the turn instructions for road shields (if there are any) and to put any text below that separated by forward slashes in a "Free text" box in the "Towards" field. The top of the interface displays what the turn instruction will look like in the app. You can see this in action here:
If there are no road shields for a turn instruction, place the first line of text in the "Visual instructions" line with a "Free text" box and put any subsequent text in a "Free text" box in the Towards field, as follows:
Canadian signs are fairly straightforward.
Exit signs
If the turn instruction is for an exit, choose the colour of exit polygon appropriate for the accompanying sign. Note that the colour of the polygon is not necessarily the same as the colour of the sign. In the examples from Quebec on this page, the sign is green but the exit polygon is yellow, and so these turn instructions in Quebec use a yellow polygon.
The exit polygon is always displayed in the top right corner of the turn instruction panel.
To use an exit polygon in a turn instruction, choose the correct colour and add the exit number in the box to your choice.
Do not use an exit polygon to indicate the voice prompt for a turn direction such as "keep right", "exit right", etc. The exit polygon is purely a visual effect.
Voice prompt
This is the same option that Waze editors can use in the dialogue box for turns in the WME. You may change it there or in the Turn instructions dialogue. It is an identical choice and will be duplicated from one to the other.
TTS
TTS stands for "text to speech".
If you make no changes here, Waze will speak the default turn instructions. There is rarely a reason to override the default instructions.
What to watch out for
"Towards" field
The "Towards" field is simply the name of the field in the Turn Instructions interface. It does not add any visual representation of the word "towards" and it does not pronounce the word "towards" in the app.
If you require the pronunciation of "towards" in your TTS, please use a guillemet, which is the French quotation mark: ». The symbol works for both French and English.
But there is usually no real reason to add that "towards". It increases the time to pronounce TTS when we should be trying to reduce that.
Road shields
Road shields not appearing in list
Often, you will need to use a road shield in a turn instruction but because that road shield is too far away in WME, the Turn Instruction interface will not present the shield you need as an option.
There are a few ways to solve this problem.
- Create a new road segment in WME near where you are adding your turn instruction. Give it a name and save. Once the road segment is saved, assign the road shield you require to that new segment. Hit the Apply button. You do not have to save the WME changes at this point. The road shield you have just created will now appear as an option in the list of road shields in the Turn Instructions interface. Once you have created the road shield, delete the new segment you created and save. The road shield will continue to be available nearby for future turn instructions even after the new road segment has been deleted.
- Put the road shield you need on a nearby existing street. Hit the Apply button and follow the rest of the instructions given in the previous method. Don't forget to delete this road shield when you are done.
- Zoom out in WME so that the road shield you require appears in your field of view. Reload the WME webpage. Zoom back in to you turn instruction and the road shield you need may now appear in the list. It also may continue to be absent.
Note, however, that editors in Canada cannot use road shields from other countries. We hope this changes in the future as many highways in Canada indicate American highways with American road shields.
Road shields and cities
Road shields are assigned to Waze cities, but the city you choose for your road shield in a turn instruction is completely irrelevant.
Road shields and cardinal directions
Once an editor selects a road shield, it will appear with the cardinal direction assigned to it when it was created. You may freely change or delete this cardinal direction. It is completely modifiable, which leads this discussion to...
Road shields and small caps font
Rigorous testing has led us to conclude that using small caps not only better emulates what drivers see on any BGS, but also that it just looks so darned sexy in the app (see at right). As a result, we have established the use of small caps as a standard in Canada for turn instructions. We may expand this in future to include the directions on all road shields. However, it is not trivial to get small caps to appear.
You can create smallcaps text at the Small Text Generator website and copy/paste them from there into WME.
Or you can copy/paste these samples of the four cardinal directions:
| ɴᴏʀᴛʜ | ᴇᴀsᴛ | sᴏᴜᴛʜ | ᴡᴇsᴛ |
| ɴᴏʀᴅ | ᴇsᴛ | sᴜᴅ | ᴏᴜᴇsᴛ |
Once you have access to these copyable/pastable samples, you can set up your computer to automatically provide them as a keyboard shortcut.
- On macOS, you can set up automatic text substitutions in the Text tab of the Keyboard pane in System Preferences.
- On Windows, you can use AutoHotkey.
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Note that the Waze editors in the US have chosen large-and-small-caps as their standard: Nᴏʀᴛʜ, Sᴏᴜᴛʜ, Eᴀꜱᴛ, Wᴇꜱᴛ. Shortcuts for that standard are built into the WME Road Shield Helper extension. You may use this extension in Canada but do not use this font or those shortcuts in this country. |
Punctuation
Space is the biggest limitation in the app's turn instructions. While there is a valid argument to be made that the visual turn instructions should exactly imitate the BGS and its punctuation (while the TTS follows the established rules in place), that will cost the turn instructions some valuable characters. As a result, we feel it is best to not use punctuation despite its presence on a BGS or other road sign.
Other guidance
| Guidance | Example |
|---|---|
| Generally, shield elements should be placed in the “visual instructions” field (i.e., on line 1). |  |
| Rarely, shield elements may be placed in the “toward” field (i.e., on line 2) only when the shield is near the bottom of a multi-line sign. |  |
| Add shields in the order they appear on the sign assembly. | |
| Any shield that is preceded by “ᴛᴏ” on the sign should be preceded by “ᴛᴏ” (using small caps) in free text in Waze as well. |  |
| If two or more adjacent shields have the same direction, omit the direction from all but the last such shield (they “share” this direction)—unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. |  |
| Do not include text separators between shields, shield directions, or auxiliary legends (“ᴛᴏ”, “ᴠɪᴀ”, “ᴊᴄᴛ”). |  |
Text elements (street names and destinations)
If there are no shields
| Guidance | Example |
|---|---|
| If the instruction contains only one text element (and no shields), include that text element as free text in the "visual instructions" field. |  |
| If the instruction contains two text elements, include the first text element as free text in the "visual instructions" field, and the second text element in the "toward" field. |  |
| If the instruction contains three text elements, include the first text element as free text in the "visual instructions" field, and the second and third text elements in the "toward" field with the appropriate separator. |  |
| If the instruction contains four or more text elements, use your judgment, and spread them between "visual instructions" and "toward" as appropriate with the proper separators. |
In conjunction with shields
| Guidance | Example |
|---|---|
| If the instruction (in addition to shields) contains only one text element, place the text element in the "toward" field (except in the rare instance that the shield and text are on the same line on the same sign, in which case the text element can be added as free text in the "visual instructions" field). |  |
| If the instruction (in addition to shields) contains two or more text elements, generally, place all text elements in the "toward" field with the appropriate separators.
Exception: if the first text element(s) in order, but not all of the text elements, are alternative names for the shielded road, add the first text element(s) as free text following the shield (with separators if there are more than one), and the subsequent text element(s) in the "toward" field. |
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Surface intersections
This subsection applies to instructions at intersections that do not involve freeways, exit ramps, or onramps, and that do not have a Big Green Sign.
The principal goal of mapping turn instructions is to match signage in a consistent way.
If the only signage visible when approaching the intersection matches the primary street name of the outbound segment, there is no need to change the turn instructions.
If signage visible when approaching the intersection contains either additional or different information,
- Shields and road names should generally be in the “Visual instructions” field, with shields before the road name.
- If both shields and a road name are present, omit the direction (even if signage includes the direction).
- If only road shields are present, include the direction when signage includes the direction.
- Include any destinations and control cities in the “Toward” field (with appropriate separators).
Where a shield is used (often with a “ᴛᴏ” auxiliary legend) to show that the immediate turn will take you toward another road or highway, you can include that shield in the “Toward” field (together with any auxiliary legend present). Such signage may often be found on frontage roads that provide freeway access.