Mapping guidelines View history

New India Wiki is being built, For now, please see the pages about Waze in India in the old Wiki.

Mapping guidelines in India

For the general basics on editing, there is a Quick-Start Guide provided.
This page contains a summary of the map editing guidelines in India.

We are all volunteers, working hard to make Waze the best free navigation system possible. If you have any question or suggestion, please contact the community in India.

General Information

Usability, Simplicity, & Retention

Waze is not a topographic map, but a navigation system. Waze relies on a map’s display suitable for a small smart-phone screen. Therefore, we follow the three basic principles "Usability, Simplicity, & Retention", below quoted from the global Wiki page on Best map editing practice. In short: Make it useful, keep it as simple as possible, and do not delete!

Usability
When it comes to the map, the first and foremost goal of editing is to provide the driver with a map that is easy to follow on a small display, and to produce sensible verbal instructions when (and only when) they are needed.

Simplicity
It is not a goal to model the physical roadway lane-by-lane. Doing so often leads to unnecessary complexity--which means a cluttered map, confusing verbal directions, and lots and lots (and lots!) of extra map maintenance.

Retention
Because Waze users drive over them, road segments retain certain information (e.g., average speed) that is used in route optimization. When a segment is deleted, the information in the segment is discarded. Given a choice between deleting a tangle of segments and creating new ones in their place, vs. untangling them and reusing them, it is better to "recycle".

Ranks & Roles

Not everybody can edit everything and everywhere. For instance, only very experienced editors will have the right to change a Freeway. That is to prevent undesirable consequences due to possible errors, having large consequence to the routing for many users. Therefore, Waze has editing ranks and roles defined, that indicates your rights and possibilities.

Communication

The editors joined in the community come together in several ways. There are forums, communication platforms, and there is a chat function in the Waze Map Editor (WME). The most important one is Slack. Try to get in contact with your community, it will provide you with the quickest way of learning how to best edit the map.

And furthermore it is important that other editors can reach you when they have questions about an edit of yours. So, supply a valid e-mail address and check your mail and the Slack channels regurlarly.

Wiki

In addition, there is this Wiki, providing all necessary information. If you look for information check to Content page or Index page, both available on all pages via a link at the bottom or use the search box on the left hand side of each Wiki screen. The Content page contains links grouped on subject. The Index page is an alphabetical list of terms. And there is the global Wiki Glossary page.

If you are opening pages outside the Indian pages, be aware that guidelines may differ. When editing in India, the guidelines of India always precede.
For questions or remarks regarding our Wiki please use the Wiki Slack channel.

How to start

First of all, read this page and the Quick-Start Guide. Then, start improving your home area. You know best how to drive in your area. Ask the community on how things can be handled if Waze acts differently than you expect. If you are satisfied with your home area, check the connecting roads from your town to the nearest towns and, subsequently, to Major Highways and Freeways. This is also the moment to consider applying for Area Management. You may as well apply for a mentor, who can guide you through the learning process, just ask your community.

Current issues

We are upgrading the road network to enable longer routes.
There are big problems with Smudged cities, causing saving errors.
Junction arrows spontaneously turn to red. This is only a visualisation bug. If you try to correct them and save, you will get a saving error. Undo until before the correction, save. Refresh the screen, and they are back to normal.
Due to the import of maps, many junctions need to be fixed for good instructions.
There is almost no street view available in India
There are almost no public sources allowed to use for editing. Ask the managing team for advise
References to military areas are not allowed