Glossary

The following terms are defined on this page to clarify the meaning of each of them as they relate to Waze. The are provided alphabetically for your convenience.

ASR - Automatic Speech Recognition

The ability of a smartphone to translate a user's voice commands into actions on the device

BGS - Big Green Sign

A large green sign is the US standard road signage for exits and other information.

Carpool, carpool lane

A vehicle with 2 or more occupants. Also known as HOV Lanes and Transit Lanes, are lanes restricted for the use of cars carrying a specified number of occupants. For more information see Carpool lanes.

Central reservation

Strip of land or barrier separating a dual carriageway. Also known as a median.

Cookie munching, cookies

Cookies are the dots on unconfirmed roads (sometimes called pacman roads). Cookie munching (or road munching) is driving over such roads and earns points. It also confirms the road is drivable for the Waze server. See the FAQ on What are those dots... for more information.

Dead-end Node

This is a Junction found at the end of a road segment without another segment connected to its end.

Directionality

Whether a road is one-way, two-way or Unknown.

Divided highway

See dual carriageway

Dual carriageway

A road or highway in which the two directions of traffic are separated by a central barrier or strip of land, known as a central reservation or median

Editable Area

A defined distance around the drives you have taken with Waze running within which you have rights to edit unlocked objects. See editable area for more information.

Express lane

See HOV

Freeway

Motorway; the major road system in your country. See this article on freeways for more information.

Geometry

The layout or shape of a road segment. Each road is made up of straight line segments. These can be arbitrarily short, effectively allowing curves. For more information see Editing existing roads.

Geometry node

Segment: Landmark:

When editing a segment or landmark, large white circles (previously large black squares) appear where the segment changes direction changing its shape. Click and drag them individually to alter the geometry of the segment or or landmark. Click and drag the small white circles on a segment to add them to an object or press the d key while the mouse is hovered over them to delete the geometry node.

The second segment and landmark image above are "inter"-geometry nodes. These are smaller and found halfway between two geometry nodes on a segment or landmark, or a segment geometry node and the end of a segment. When you click and drag an inter-geometry node, it becomes a larger geometry node and two more inter-geometry nodes appear halfway between each side again.

For more information see Editing existing roads.

Grade

The level or elevation of a road with respect to surrounding roads. So a road would normally be at level grade. A road going underneath in a tunnel would be a -1 grade. A road going over would be a +1 grade. At complicated junctions such as freeway interchanges there can be many levels. So on a flat map we assign levels to show that while the roads cross, they do not connect because they are at different heights or elevations. For more information see At-grade connectors.

HOV, HOV Lane - High Occupancy Vehicle

A vehicle with 2 or more occupants. HOV Lanes, also known as Carpool Lanes and Transit Lanes, are lanes restricted for the use of cars carrying a specified number of occupants. For more information see Carpool lanes.

IGN

Editors paid by Waze to make updates to the map. See IGN for more information.

Intl or INTL - International

International abbreviation used to refer to the non-North America server infrastructure and location.

Junction or Junction Point

The point where two or more road segments connect or the end of a dead-end segment; often 'incorrectly' referred to as a 'node'.

Junctions look different depending on the situation:

• (needs updating to current map editor) Selected and editable segment junction
  
• Selected and uneditable segment junction (no permissions to change)
  
• Changed, unsaved junction

For more information see the Junction Style Guide.

Map issue

A button on the Waze client app to indicate there is a problem with the map. See Update Requests.

Map tile, tile

The Waze map is divided into a grid using 1km-square areas which are called tiles or map tiles. Changes to the map are processed on a per-tile basis. Changes to any part of a map tile causes Waze to mark the tile as changed and it will be rebuilt in the next map update cycle.

Median, median barrier

Strip of land or barrier separating a divided highway or motorway. Also known as a central reservation.

Motorway

Freeway; the major road system in your country

Munching

Driving over roads which have not previously been driven (pacman roads). See cookie munching.

NA - North America

Abbreviation used for the servers that cover the USA and Canada maps.

Node

See Geometry Node.

Origin

Starting point for a driving route, with the destination being the ending point.

Pacman roads

Unconfirmed roads marked with dots (cookies) that have not been driven upon since being created or significantly edited in the Waze Map Editor. Driving over these roads earns you points and turns your car icon into a Pacman-type character that "munches the dots." See cookie munching.

Pathfinder

The road segments linking roadways that are not necessarily their own named streets. They are often part of the rampways getting on or off freeways and highways or between freeways. After initially exiting a freeway they help further direct drivers through additional turn decisions before reaching the desired roadway or street. See the Junction Style Guide for more information.

Pothole

Also called a kettle or chuckhole, is a type of disruption in the surface of a roadway where a portion of the road material has broken away, leaving a hole.

Ramp

A freeway entrance or exit; sliproad. Ramps may be on-ramps or off-ramps. Ramps used to connect roads at a different grade from the connecting road or freeway. See the road type article and the Junction Style Guide for more details.

RevCon

See Reverse Connectivity.

Reverse Connectivity

A segment is defined in the Waze database as having a connection (turn allowed), via a junction, to another segment in a direction which goes against the directionality of at least one of the segments. This can cause routing irregularities.

Though it is hard to see this in the editor, two segments of a one-way road connected together could have an allowed "turn" in the opposite direction of the flow of traffic, or directionality, of the segments. This can be seen in the editor by turning both segments to 2-way and then seeing the location of the allowed turns. The Color Highlighting userscript can also assist in identifying where reverse connectivity exists.

Road munching

Earning points by driving over roads (distance traveled). See cookie munching.

Segment

Defines a section of roadway on which vehicles may travel or a pathway where only people may travel. Multiple segments are connected by junctions.

SelfCon

See Self Connectivity.

Self Connectivity

A segment is defined in the Waze database as having a connection, via a junction, back to itself. That can cause routing irregularities, but also may be the future of how to define a u-turn. As of today, self connectivity is not desirable. Tools such as the Color Highlighting userscript can help identify this situation.

Sliproad

A motorway entrance or exit; ramp. Sliproads are often at a different grade from the connecting road or motorway

Time-based, or time restricted

Related to turns (and special lanes). When a turn is restricted (or a lane is controlled) based on the time of day, it is often referred to as a time restricted turn or a time-based turn restriction.

Transit lane

Also known as Carpool Lanes and HOV Lanes, are lanes restricted for the use of cars carrying a specified number of occupants. For more information see Carpool lanes.

TTS

Text-to-speech - Navigation instructions spoken to the driver by the Waze application

Update Request (UR)

An Update Request is a Map Issue reported by a user from the Waze client app. It is also a layer in the Map Editor. See the article on update requests.

Wayfinder

See Pathfinder

Wazer

A user of the Waze application

WME

Abbreviation for Waze Map Editor

World

"Abbreviation" used to refer to the non-North America server infrastructure and location