Redirect to:
New India Wiki is being built, For now, please see the pages about Waze in India in the old Wiki.
Roads
Without roads, no navigation. Drawing the available roads in our map and connect them well is our first concern.
When to add roads
Cities in India have been growing rapidly, with lots of roads being made and connected to existing roads. If you notice any roads on the satellite layer that has not been added to the base map, please try first confirm that they exist before adding them. The
GPS layer can be helpfull: you can see if the road has been already driven on by Wazers.
Do not add any roads without either:
- Clear GPS tracks following the aerial when the GPS layer is turned on.
- Seeing the road in the Street View feature, where that's available.
- Seeing the road being used by cars on the satellite picture.
- Local knowledge, or confirmation by a local host.
If you doubt an existing road is drivable, please don't delete them without prior discussion with the local area manager or one of the champs.
How to add roads is described in the Quick start guide.
Extremely Narrow Streets
Many cities in India are densely populated. Perhaps this is because they used to be villages that have been absorbed into one large city. Villages often have the same layout and structure. Many of the streets in these areas are too narrow to drive through, and shouldn’t be allowed for routing. You can turn off the Roads layer to have a proper view on the Satellite Imagery.
 |
 |
As the pictures show, the primary streets are proper drivable roads. At both sides, the buildings are densely packed and the streets are too narrow to drive through with a car, perhaps some roads are fit for a motor cycle.
If you see streets drawn over these areas, please turn the Roads layer off and verify if the roads are drivable or not based on the Satellite View. For narrow streets where only motor cycles could pass check if the restriction is properly set. If the verifications confirm these streets are not drivable, check the last update. If you see an editor listed there, contact him or her: probably there was a reason to keep the road. If there is no reason, delete them. If you have any doubt, please discuss it with the Area Manager, or contact one of the local champs.
Road Naming
The naming of the roads in India is quite a challenge. Many roads don't have a name or are referred to as the "Road from A to B". And if there are specific names, they are often duplicates, even withing one city. On top of that, there are many different languages/dialects in use.
Several aspects are important:
- availability
- searchability
- visibility/readability in the app
- continuous routing
- distinguishing unique addresses
All primary names should be in English, as one of the official languages in India. It makes Waze usable for almost everyone.
The following convention should be followed where possible, although it is acknowledged that you may need to deviate from it in some circumstance. In case of doubt, please consult with your Community.
Naming rules
- Enter official streetnames in the Primary name field.
- Primary names should be in English.
- Put the most important street identification in the primairy street name. Importance from high to low: National Highway, State Highway, Major district road, named road (like Hosur rd or Bannerughatta rd), but AHXX goes in alt name, if NH-XX or SH-XX is available.
- Put the lowest numbered road in the primary street name if there are more than one candidates for the primary street name. If for example the SH-20 and the SH-38 follow the same route, use the SH-20 as primary and SH-38 as alternative name.
- Put all other known street names and numbers in the alternative street names. Their order doesn't matter.
- We use the numbers as they are used along the road;
- We only use new road numbers if it is requested via UR. We then put the old number as alternate name
- Only when a highway has a specific name in urban areas that is used in addresses, it can be in the primary name
- Abbreviate the word Road to Rd, Highway to Hy. For others see the page on Standard road abbreviations.
- If a street has two or more names, we choose the shortest as the Primary name, and the other one goes in alternate name.
- If no street name is known, check None.
- Try to be consequent and use the same name for all segments in a stretch.
- For bridges with well-known names the road segment crossing the bridge can have the name of the bridge as primary name, so the otherwise primary name goes to the alternative names. Another option is to add a well known bridge as point of interest.
Highways
Asian Highway Network
Seven Asian Highways are running across India.
AH1 Tokyo - India via Kolkata in West-Bengal - New Delhi - Attari in Punjab - Turkey; total length: 20,557 km
AH42 Lanzhou (China) - Barhi in Jharkhand. Length: 3,754 km
AH43 Agra in Uttar Pradesh - Matara (Sri Lanka). Length: 3,024 km
AH45 Kolkata - Bengaluru. Length: 2,030 km.
AH46 Hazirah in Gujarat - Howrah in West-Bengal. Length: 1,967 km. The Indian Great Eastern Highway.
AH47 Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh - Bengaluru in Karnataka. Length: 2,057 km.
AH48 Bhutan - West-Bengal. Length 90.58 km.
Street name notation: Use AH plus number (without a hyphen), like: AH1, AH42.
Road type: Freeway or Major Highway.
National Highways
In 2010 a new numbering system for the National Highway network was introduced. The new numbering system is based on the orientation (east-west and north-south) and the geographic location of the highway. Still for many highways the old highway number is used. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the national government agency that is responsible for the highways.
standard rule is keeping the old NH-number in the primary street name until user reports or pictures (road signs) give evidence that the new number is being used. The new number can be added as alternative street name. If the new highway name is really used the new NH-number should be used as primary street name and the old NH-number goes to the alternative name.
The government agency NHAI National Highway map.
Street name notation NH-# where # stands for the highway number, like NH-72.
Road type: Freeway or Major Highway.
State Highways
The individual states are responsible for their state highways.
Street name notation: SH-# where # stands for the state highway number, like SH-25.
Road type: Minor Highway
Major District Roads
Street name notation: MDR-# where # stands for the Major District Road number, like MDR-110.
Road type: Primary Street or Minor Highway.