Off road / Not maintained
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Iowa's interpretation has changed for Off road / Not Maintained which was formerly called Dirt Roads. So even veteran editors need to pay attention to this revised section! |
In the state of Subs5, Since Off road / Not maintained segments will not route in the Waze app, "Level B" roads should be marked as a Local Street with the Unpaved attribute checked. Knowing this will help you create the correct road levels. We will only use unpaved roads for segments that most vehicles can drive on; this is not for 4x4 vehicle required. Keep in mind that because of the way Waze handles roadsegments, we will not use the Off road / Not maintained road class in the city limits of any town. All in-town gravel roads will be streets. Please be aware of any of these unpaved road segments that are minimum maintenance roads as these roads should have restrictions in place for winter months.
Normally undrivable roads should not be mapped. If they provide required visual reference then map them as Off road / Not Maintained.
The reason the unpaved attribute is important is because a user can decide to not be sent on dirt roads or to only be sent on dirt roads for short distances in the settings of the Waze App.
Keep in mind that if the person does allow for dirt roads, Waze will treat the road as a Primary Street so do not try to make an exception to well maintained dirt roads as a street or you will cause the driver to be directed on undesirable roads. Yes, that's right, a dirt road can be seen as a higher priority than a street! This is very important in rural areas where the Street Category should only be used on very short road segments that are paved. In towns, the Dirt Road Category should be rarely used and an unpaved road should be considered a street or a private road.