Template:ReturnToEditingManual
This page covers the mapping techniques to use for private installations and gated residential communities with one or more controlled access points or gates. As of December 2014[update] , this is the best known approach to get Waze to give good routes in and out without telling wazers to take short cuts through private installations.
Introduction
Definitions
- Private Installation
- A restricted-access set of drivable roads connected at one or more points to a public road network. This could be a gated residential community, an industrial site, a pharmaceutical research campus, a secure government installation, a military base, or any other type of installation with at least one access control point (see gate) or more than one private road. The simplest example is a single private community street protected by a gate. Larger installations might include several types of roads. The largest USA installation is White Sands Missile Range at 3,200 square miles, larger than the USA’s smallest state, and includes dirt roads, primary streets and highways. Large installations might even have smaller private installations inside of them which are closed to most of those who are inside the larger installation.
- Gate
- Any of the points at which the installation connects to the public road network. These might have guarded or card-operated gates, "door buzzers", security cameras, or severe tire damage strips, or simply a sign stating that the road ahead is private or for members, authorized vehicles, etc. Regardless of the physical form, we will refer to these access control points as gates
- Member
- Anyone who can use any of the entrance or exit gates at the installation, including the the more restricted "members only", "residents only", "employees only, "base personnel only", "military ID only" , "authorized personnel only", etc gates (if any) used at the installation.
- Visitor
- Anyone limited to certain entrance and/or exit gates. This could be the pizza delivery driver, the cousin from Peoria, the tourist visiting the air force base to see the military museum, etc.
Requirements
Routing must be reasonable
If both the start and end points are outside the installation (points A and B in figure 1), Waze must not choose a route through the installations route around the private installation from A to B even though a shorter or faster route might exist through the two access points of the installation. Waze must also be able to route from A a to C (where C is inside) or C to A, making the optimum choice of entrance or exit gate.
Figure 2 shows a more complex private installation with another nested inside it -- and another nested inside that. A route inside the installation, as from A to B, does not pass through any of the nested installations. A route from the deepest level to or from the public roads, as between C and D, takes advantage of the optimum gate. And the route between different levels, as between E and F, does not involve any layers it doesn't need to visit.
Waze should be able to take advantage of the characteristics of different road types and avoid dirt roads if the wazer requests it.
Must not cause map errors
Waze must not throw map errors when members drive through member-only entrances and exits. This means these entrances must not be disconnected or prohibited by red arrows.
As simple and straightforward as possible
The access points should be easy for editors to spot and modify as necessary without breaking other things. Time based restrictions (prohibiting all vehicles at all times) should not be used.
Approach
Waze does not know who is a visitor and who is member, so we can't get Waze to give different directions for each. Instead, we will get Waze to give the best possible routes for visitors, and prevent Waze from telling anyone to take short cuts through gated communities and military bases. Wazers can get good routes within the installation, and routes out through the best choice of the visitor gates. Wazers who want to go in or out the member gates can "add a stop" to their navigation at the gate they prefer. This is the best Waze map editors can do with the tools currently available.
To make this work, editors must focus on the access points or gates, and control access by using the correct "recipe" for each type of gate. Inside the installation, every type of road can be used where appropriate. Do not make all the roads private inside the installation.
The six types of gates can be divided into two classes -- simple and everything else. For the simplest type of installation, where there is only one exit, a simple gate will works. For any installation that has more than one exit, the simple gate will cause strange routing out of the installation -- we don't know why -- and the other types of gates must be used. Never mix the simple gate with the other types of gates in the same installation.
Why this works
The current approach to constructing gates takes advantage of the Waze routing penalty system to control driving directions. For every route that includes private segments, Waze imposes a penalty each time the route goes from from' a Private segment to any other road type. This causes Waze to avoid driving through a private segment to get to the street on the other side, even if it has to find a longer and more time-consuming route to get there. Because of this, Waze editors can use private segments at private installation gates to prevent Waze from giving routes that short-cut through private installations.
How to
Gate recipes
All the segments used in gate recipes must be at least Segment length/Minimum long. Check the house numbers. If they are supposed to be inside the installation, make sure they are not on any of the gate segments.
- Simple Gate -- one 2-way private road segment. If a place is used to mark the gate, put the stop point in the middle of the segment. Do not mix simple gates with any other type of gate in the same installation.
- Visitor Entrance -- one one-way private road segment heading into the installation. If a place is used, put the stop point next to the middle of the private segment.
- Visitor Exit -- (nothing) no private segment is needed. Use the same road type as the rest of the road the gate is on. If a place is used to mark the gate, put the stop point as close as possible to the physical location of the gate.
- Member Entrance -- Three one-way segments, headed into the installation, in this order: private, street, private. If a place is used to mark the gate, put the stop point next to the middle of the middle street segment.
- Member Exit -- one one-way private segment. If a point place is used to mark the gate, put the stop point next to the middle of the private segment.
- Member 2-way gate -- Three 2-way segments, in this order: private, street, private. If a place is used to mark the gate, put the stop point next to the middle of the middle (street) segment.
Remember to follow all best editing practices, including the rule against two segments sharing the same two junction nodes.
Simple Installations
If there is only a single entrance/exit, use a simple gate. If there is more than one exit or entrance, do not use any simple gates. If you use a Simple gate in a private installation with more than one exit, Waze will not find the best possible route out of the installation.
All other Installations
If there is more than one entrance or exit, do not use any simple gates. Instead, select from the other types of gates.Usually, gates come in matched entrance/exit pairs, but sometimes a single member-only exit is located at some distance from any entrances in a gated community. Remember that if visitors and guests can use a gate at the same location, even if they have separate lanes, it is not normally necessary to create separate gates on the map. Simply use a visitor entrance or exit: Wazers can generally follow the signs to enter or exit via the correct lane.
Nested Private Installations
When one private installation is located inside another, simply follow the same rules to construct all the gates for the smaller installation within the larger.
Checking your work
Check your work. If you run into any routing problems, check the discussions on the forums and ask questions in chat.
- Use the Waze Live Map to test routing between several pairs of test points inside and outside the installation.
- choose both "from" and "to" destinations from the mobile app to see the routes.
- Expect to see routes involving visitor gates.
- Watch for User Reports in the area. If users complain Waze will not route them through member-only gates, point them to how to add a stop along the way to go through their preferred gate. Waze can only route through the visitors gates
- if you have acces to the installation, try driving around outside, inside, from, and to the installation. Go off-route. Check that Waze re-routing makes sense -- routes in or out are always to the most sensible gate to reach your destination, not necessarily the nearest gate.
Optional ingredients
Gate Closures and Restrictions
If some gates are closed at certain times of day or days of the week, or on certain dates, use Scheduled Restrictions on the affected gate. Apply the restriction to just one gate segment. For a member entrance, apply it to the last-traversed (innermost) segment. Check to make sure entrance/exit pairs have the same closing hours.You can find the hours of gates or entry points through the private installation website or by calling the appropriate private installation authority.
Places or City Names
Small private installations are usually marked by a Area Place over their entire area. This does not make sense for larger private installations that might have other Places within them or that are actually cities. For these larger installations, use the city field of all street names to name the private installation.
If it meets any of these criteria, treat it as a city:
- Does the state DOT consider it a city?
- Does the US Post Office consider it a city with it's own zip code?
- Is it large enough that an overall Area Place on the Private Installation would obscure finer detail Area Places below?
Finally, if the local community considers it a city like entity, then maybe it should have a City Name if it is large, or an Area Place if it is small.
For places within the installation, follow the guidelines for point and area places. Also consider marking the following as Places because they are critical navigation and destination points:
- Entry/Exit gates (Place Area)
- Visitor Centers (Place Area)
- Museums and other similar visitor destinations
- Memorials
- Parade Fields
- Items locally useful for navigation
Alerting other Editors
When a fence or other barrier blocks a road, disconnect the road at that point. To alert other editors that this is not a mistake, create a note. Use the Live Mao to report a map problem. Begin the description with [NOTE] and explain your edit. Finish with your username so another editor can contact you. If there is a problem with inexperienced editors changing the gates, it may be necessary to lock the gate segments.
Places with special rules
Military Bases and Government Installations
Do not mark specific locations with a Place unless the it his is already public information found on road maps or the installation's public website, in maps or directories. Secure installations often do not provide information about hangar numbers, building numbers, organizational names.
Landmarks (Places) approved for military bases
- Commissary
- PX/BX
- Gas stations
- Parks
- Museums
- Visitor Gates
Parking Lots
Paid parking lots and other parking facilities are to be mapped with parking lot roads, and not according to the Private Installation rules defined in this article. See Best map editing practice#Parking Lots.
Theme Parks
Publicly accessible roads in a theme park, even after a pay-station/gate, are to be mapped with parking lot roads, similarly to other paid parking lots. Furthermore, be careful with mapping the "backstage" private roads which are only to be used by employees. It may be wise to not map these roads, similarly to "air-side" airport roads as described below (but to a lesser extent), so that routes are given to the public entrance of the theme park facility.
Airports
Only map airport roads which are accessible to the public (terminal pick-up/drop-off roads, parking lot access roads, etc.). Do not map "air-side" restricted road networks that allow traffic for baggage carts, service vehicles, airplane fuel tankers, etc. Here's why:
- Wazers use a variety of terms to search for airports. This means that, often, they wind up with a search result that came from a non-Waze service, and these are often closer to the air-side roads than to the public airport roads. Editors have carefully adjusted the map around most large airports to take this into account. Adding these private roads can cause Waze to route wazers to the "wrong side" of the airport through roads they will not be able to enter, and may cause them to miss their flights.
- The private air-side roads often run close to public roads. GPS error can cause Waze to think wazers on a public road are actually on the private road.
- Very few people use the private road network of an airport. A lot of people use an airport's public access roads.
- For those who want to navigate to employee or service entrances, create point places.
We apologize to airport employees and service providers.
When public airports are within military bases, use care and creativity in deciding which airport roads and which base roads should and should not be mapped. Check routing after making any changes.