Texas

Below you will find information related to using Waze in the State of Texas. All editors in the state are required to have a non usa_username, have their private messaging turned on, and turn live users on in the layers menu. Please pay attention to the chat window in the lower right-hand part of the screen (and introduce yourself if you're a first-time editor). You can find useful info there and ask questions.

Cities and towns

There are 6386 Cities and Towns spread across 254 counties in the state. See Cities in Texas for proper naming information.

Roads in Texas

Road naming

Interstates = I-XX

US Highway = US-XX

State Highway = SH-XX

Farm/Ranch to Market = FM XX

County Road = CR-XX

Private Road = Private Rd XX

Road Naming Abbreviations & Suffixes

Interstates throughout the state

• I-2 Rio Grande Valley
• I-10 New Mexico to Louisiana
• I-20 Midland/Odessa to Louisiana
• I-27 Lubbock to Amarillo
• I-30 Fort Worth to Arkansas
• I-35 Mexico to Oklahoma
• I-35E Hillsboro to Denton through Dallas
• I-35W Hillsboro to Denton through Fort Worth
• I-37 Corpus Christi to San Antonio
• I-40 New Mexico to Oklahoma
• I-45 Galveston to Dallas
• I-69 Brownsville/Edinburg/Laredo to Texarkana (will follow US-59)
• I-369 Spur to west side of Texarkana
• I-410 Loop around San Antonio
• I-610 Loop around Houston
• I-635 Spur through DFW Metroplex
• I-820 Loop around Fort Worth 

Special roads

• When not to divide a two-way road
• Divided Roads
• Carpool, HOV, Transit lanes
• Roundabouts and Traffic Circles
• Cul-de-sac's
• Dirt Roads. In Texas ALL roads that are normally unpaved are considered dirt roads as this is how GPS Nav users (any brand) expect the "Avoid Dirt Roads" feature to behave. These roads should be deleted when going through farm land, ranch land, or mountainous areas throughout the state, as they are most likely base import roads and not real roads.
• Parking Lot Roads
• Toll Roads
• Frontage roads not classified as  Primary Street  by functional class are to be classified as  Street . They are also to be labeled "Frontage Rd" unless the corresponding highway has an alternate name. I-635 Frontage roads are labeled as "Lyndon B Johnson Freeway" as that is the local name for I-635.
• Alleys and driveways are NOT MAPPED

Non-drivable roads

Generally, if a road can't be driven on (e.g. Walking Trail, Pedestrian Boardwalk, Stairway, Ranch road in the middle of nowhere) then it should not be mapped in Waze. This is due to the way the routing engine works, as Waze WILL route users to drive on these "Non-Drivable" road types. Please note there are several Railroads mapped in Texas, these railroads are mapped in a VERY particular manner by Senior Area Managers and Country Managers.

Miscellaneous

All freeways are set to ground level. If two freeways cross each other, look at the actual intersection to discover the layers of the intersection.

U-turns are labeled as "Turnaround" and set to 'Street' type.

Road Type	Lock level
Freeway	5
Ramp	Highest road connected to
Major Highway	5
Minor Highway	4
Primary Street	3
Street	Automatic (1)
Private Road	Inquire with RC or SM

Functional Classification of Roads

See Road names/USA and Road types/USA.

Texas is participating in the new functional classification across the entire state when the new functional classification maps for the state come out. This will be a 100% changeover for the entire state. Some highways may be downgraded, others may be upgraded. US-281 will no longer be the dividing line for FM roads in the state, either as functional classification will overrule this.

As of January 7,  2015 (2015-01-07), TxDOT has informed us the new FC maps will be available in Summer 2015.

FC cross reference

• An Urban Interstate, Urban Principal Arterial Freeway & Expressway is a  Freeway 
• Any road that acts, looks, & feels like a freeway should be set to  Freeway  road type.
• An Urban Principal Arterial-Other is a  Major Highway 
• An Urban Minor Arterial is a  Minor Highway 
• An Urban Collector is a  Primary Street 
• All other roads are to be classified as  Street 

Refer to this chart to determine the road type of a given road based on the functional class. (TXDOT map is here - click on Functional Class on the left).

Fw	Freeway
Major	Major Highway
Minor	Minor Highway
PS	Primary Street
Street	Street

When a state highway "SPUR" route is used to connect a state highway with another state highway, a US highway, or an Interstate (i.e., when it is used as a connector/CONN route), use the first state highway column.

Areas (formerly known as landmarks)

In late 2012 a discussion was started in the Connecticut Section of the Waze Forum that determined the existing worldwide guideline of "don't map individual businesses" wasn't enough and we needed a more complete set of guidelines for landmarks in worldwide. As a result of that discussion a set of guidelines was created. If you wish to propose changes to these guidelines, please do so in the forum.

• Guidelines for Landmarks in Connecticut
• Approved Texas landmarks
• Current list of areas/places

Please do not forget that a recent update to WME has enabled the Address properties for Landmarks (House number, street name, city, state & country) and ensure this information is filled out & correct.

When to use Area or Point in Texas

Here is the Texas guidance on selecting Area or Point for Places in the Waze Map Editor. All areas are to be landmarked from fence line to fence line to include all parking lots, roads, and anything associated with the property. Parking lot roads (PLRs), parking lots, and gas stations all serve the same purpose. There is no need to mark a PLR through a gas station or a parking lot.

The Primary Category for a Place is used to determine whether to use a Point or Area.

Parent	Category	Type	Comments
Car Services	Car Wash	Point
Car Services	Charging Station	Point
Car Services	Garage / Automotive Shop	Point
Car Services	Gas Station	Area	Many gas stations also have convenience stores and ATMs. Remember to use "Gas Station" as the primary category and the add any others which are relevant.
Car Services	Parking Lot	Both	There are very few parking lots which should be mapped at all. Please see the Places/Parking lot article. Parking lots on universities are authorized.
Transportation	Airport	Area	Special-handling
Transportation	Bridge	NONE
Transportation	Bus Station	Both	Greyhound stations are area, city bus stops, point
Transportation	Ferry Pier	Point
Transportation	Junction / Interchange	NONE
Transportation	Seaport / Marina / Harbor	Area	Size-dependent.
Transportation	Subway Station	NONE
Transportation	Taxi Station	Point
Transportation	Train Station	Point
Transportation	Tunnel	NONE
Professional and public	Cemetery	NONE
Professional and public	City Hall	Area
Professional and public	College / University	Area
Professional and public	Conventions / Event Center	Area	Size-dependent
Professional and public	Courthouse	Area
Professional and public	Embassy / Consulate	Area
Professional and public	Factory / Industrial	NONE
Professional and public	Fire Department	Area
Professional and public	Government	Area
Professional and public	Hospital / Medical Care	Area	ONLY Hospitals, Emergency Rooms, and places offering Urgent Medical Care should use this category. ERs encompassed in a hospital Place Area should be points. Clinics and Medical offices which do not offer urgent medical care for Walk-ins should use the Office category (and any other appropriate category) instead.
Professional and public	Information Point	Point
Professional and public	Kindergarten	Point
Professional and public	Library	Point
Professional and public	Military	NONE	See below
Professional and public	Offices	Point
Professional and public	Organization or Association	Point
Professional and public	Police Station	Area
Professional and public	Prison / Correctional Facility	NONE
Professional and public	Post Office	Area
Professional and public	Religious Center	Area
Professional and public	School	Area
Shopping and services	Arts & Crafts	Point
Shopping and services	ATM	NONE
Shopping and services	Bank / Financial	Point
Shopping and services	Bookstore	Point
Shopping and services	Car Dealership	Point	Size-dependent
Shopping and services	Car Rental	Point
Shopping and services	Convenience Store	Point
Shopping and services	Currency Exchange	Point
Shopping and services	Department Store	Point
Shopping and services	Electronics	Point
Shopping and services	Fashion and Clothing	Point
Shopping and services	Flowers	Point
Shopping and services	Furniture / Home Store	Point
Shopping and services	Gifts	Point
Shopping and services	Gym / Fitness	Point
Shopping and services	Hardware Store	Point
Shopping and services	Jewelry	Point
Shopping and services	Laundry / Dry Cleaning	Point
Shopping and services	Market	Point
Shopping and services	Music Store	Point
Shopping and services	Personal Care	Point
Shopping and services	Pet Store / Veterinarian	Point
Shopping and services	Pharmacy	Point
Shopping and services	Photography	Point
Shopping and services	Shopping Center	Area
Shopping and services	Sporting Goods	Point
Shopping and services	Supermarket / Grocery	Point	Standalone could be an Area, but a Point if it is part of larger shopping mall/center.
Shopping and services	Swimming Pool	Point
Shopping and services	Toy Store	Point
Shopping and services	Travel Agency	Point
Food and drink	Bakery	Point
Food and drink	Bar	Point
Food and drink	Coffee shop	Point
Food and drink	Dessert	Point
Food and drink	Fast Food	Point
Food and drink	Food Court	Point
Food and drink	Ice Cream	Point
Food and drink	Restaurant	Point
Culture & entertainment	Art Gallery	Point
Culture & entertainment	Casino	Area	There's only one casino in Texas
Culture & entertainment	Club	Point
Culture & entertainment	Game Club	Point
Culture & entertainment	Movie Theater	Point
Culture & entertainment	Museum	Point
Culture & entertainment	Music Venue	Point
Culture & entertainment	Performing Arts Venue	Point
Culture & entertainment	Racing Track	Area
Culture & entertainment	Stadium / Arena	Area
Culture & entertainment	Theme Park	Area
Culture & entertainment	Theater	Point
Culture & entertainment	Tourist Attraction / Historic Site	Both	Size-dependent. If not sure, ask
Culture & entertainment	Zoo / Aquarium	Area	Size-dependent
Other	Construction Site	NONE
Other	Residence / Home	Point
Lodging	Bed & Breakfast	Point
Lodging	Camping / Trailer Park	Point
Lodging	Cottage / Cabin	Point
Lodging	Hostel	Point
Lodging	Hotel	Point
Outdoors	Beach	NONE
Outdoors	Golf Course	Area
Outdoors	Park	Area
Outdoors	Playground	Point
Outdoors	Plaza	Point
Outdoors	Promenade	Point	Unsure about mapping these at all
Outdoors	Scenic Lookout / Viewpoint	Point
Outdoors	Ski Area	NONE	Not in Texas
Outdoors	Sports Court	Point
Natural features	Farm	NONE
Natural features	Forest / Grove	Area	Only map official state/national forests, not every stand of trees.
Natural features	Island	NONE
Natural features	River / Stream	NONE
Natural features	Sea / Lake / Pond	NONE

Major construction projects

See TxDot for a list of LONG TERM road closures & changes to traffic flow that impact the Waze map.

If you are aware or made aware of any long term closures (construction, work closures and emergency closures), please fill out this form. Your submission will be reviewed by US Champs and submitted to the Waze team upon approval.

I-35 (Austin to DFW)

pjlasl PM is the lead editor for changes for I-35 between Austin and DFW. Please contact him prior to making any major changes (i.e. adding or removing ramps).

Cameras

Currently, the only way to add cameras to the editor are from the app. When placing a camera in the app, drop a general error with "RLC W" where W = the direction the camera is facing. This will allow other editors to know which way the camera is facing when they go to approve it in the editor.

Red light cameras

Red Light Cameras are LEGAL in the State of Texas.

Contrary to popular belief, these cameras do not sit on the top of lights at an intersection. If you've gotten to an intersection, you've already passed the red light camera.These cameras mounted on traffic signals are used as part of the signal control. These compare sequential images of the intersection approach to determine if there is a vehicle (car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, etc) waiting and will trigger the sequence. These devices CANNOT issue tickets.

There are traditional traffic monitoring cameras covering most of the major highways in the state. These send live feeds to the various traffic agencies around the state and are for monitoring traffic only.

• Know your Cameras

Speed Cameras

Speed cameras are currently ILLEGAL in the State of Texas. Any request for a speed camera, or any approved speed cameras need to be removed from the map.

Military Bases

Texas has a long standing tradition for support the US military. If you have questions concerning any military base in the state, please do not hesitate to ask. All military bases in the state are set to the current installation standard.

• All gates at the military bases are set to private road in/street out with some gates having restrictions on them for the various gate closures.
• If you know of any changes in the hours of a gate, please let a US Champ know and they will adjust it accordingly.
• All gates are locked at a level 5 or 6.

Landmarks approved for military bases are:

• Commissary
• PX/BX
• Gas stations
• Parks
• Museums

To do list

Want to help out with the map in Texas? Stop adding parking lot roads everywhere, solve URs, ask questions to anyone listed below, and seek out advice when/where needed. Please adhere to the rules for editing. Parking lot roads do not need to go through gas stations. The gas station area suppresses traffic so map problems (MP) do not show up in the editor.

Mapping utilities

• TxDot Maps
• Road Conditions throughout the state.
• List of State Routes in Texas

Editors in the State

Username	Area Managed	Comments	Forum PM
Rank 6 Editors
txemt	US South Central & US Territories Regional Coordinator	Based out of Miami, FL born/lived/travelled through most of Texas	PM
jasonh300	US South Central Regional Coordinator	Based out of New Orleans, LA	PM
pjlasl	North Texas	Based out of Weatherford	PM
Rank 5 Editors
LittlestLou	DFW Metroplex	Based in the DFW Metroplex	PM
ctpoole	Austin	State Manager	PM
karlrc9911	Longview	State Manager	PM
rivermedic	DFW & Central Texas	Area Manager - Based in Comanche	PM
Rank 4 Editors
coontex	Houston	Lived in central Louisiana most of my life and now in the Katy/Houston TX area.	PM
danofsatx	San Antonio	Live in San Antonio, love to drive the state!	PM
Jakflash	Lampasas		PM
jstrangfeld	DFW Metroplex		PM
randcon	Houston	Houston native (40+ years)	PM
shadoh	DFW Metroplex	El Paso native (25+ years) - live in DFW Metroplex (15+ years).	PM
tcalvert317	San Antonio		PM
Rank 3 Editors
itzrandi	Houston/East Texas	Metro Houston and Hwy 59/96 corridor	PM
jeigh17	El Paso		PM
MisterTodd	East DFW Metroplex		PM
PvilleT	Austin	Based of out Pflugerville, born in Corpus Christi	PM
Audi_Chris	Houston, San Marcos	Lived in Texas for majority of my life!	PM

If you are an editor in Texas, or a USA Country Manager that does a lot of work in Texas, please add yourself to this list or ask to be added.

Discipline

Waze has been designed to be an open community with various levels of editors. Rank 5 and 6 editors are senior editors. They are here to help you and are to be respected at all times. Instructions from senior editors are to be followed, unless it conflicts with this page. If you have any questions or issues, please feel free to PM one of the rank 6s or 5s in the list (if you're having a problem with one, please PM the regional coordinators). We will try to handle the issue as quickly and peacefully as possible.

It is not possible to list every occurrence of problems which can occur in the editor, but the following are some examples of what has happened in the past:

• Deleting and redrawing roads
• Creating mass amounts of parking lot roads
• Creating roads on top of already existing roads
• Disrespect to higher ranking editors
• Not cleaning up your own mess
• Not responding to private messages
• Willful damage to the map
• Editing just to clear geometry nodes will result in an instant blocking of your editing rights

Everyone is allowed one free pass, but disciplinary actions after the first occurrence for the above may include:

• Formal mentoring
• Temporary suspension of editing rights
• Permanent suspension of editing rights

User Reports (URs)

Recently, there have been a rash of editors giving long winded responses to URs. The average person is not going to read beyond the 3rd or 4th line. In this example:

"Many drivers think a report shows their destination and route information, it doesn't. It doesn't even tell us who filed the report. We volunteer map editors only see where you are when you start your report and short pieces of the recommended and driven routes. We need more information to fix your problem. Thank you for the report and all the WAZE you help. If you respond to my query and I do not acknowledge within 1 day, please e-mail me at xxxxxxxxx@waze.com with a repeat of the information. This report will be closed as 'not identified' if there is no response within 7 days."

and this example:

"Please provide more details so we can investigate the "General error" you reported. Volunteer map editors only fix map problem. We don't see what you see on your screen. We only see where you were located when you started your report and a short segment of the WAZE recommended route and a short segment of the route taken. To test the routing, we need to know the approximate start and end points of your route. Your routing options are important. Do you Avoid toll roads? Avoid major highways? Dirt roads allow/don't allow/avoid long ones? Have you selected 'fastest route' or 'shortest route'? Thank you for the report and all the WAZE you help. If no response within 7 days, this report will be closed as 'Not identified'."

the user will most likely either not get beyond the "We need more information to fix your problem" or they will skim through it and not pay attention to what is being asked of them. Please keep responses to URs at a minimum. Asking someone to explain more information about their issue does not require a novel, it should read like the box score to a game in the newspaper.

A shorter, more to the point response should suffice. An example:

"You reported a general error at ______________________ and ______________________ but left no info as to what's wrong. Can you please elaborate, so we may look into and resolve the issue? Thank you."

or

"You reported a missing road, but didn't tell us the name of the road. Could you please give us the name, so we may add it to the map? Thank you."

These are short, simple, to the point, and don't bother the driver with useless information about satellites, sun spots, the curvature of Earth's horizon in relation to Mars' gravitational pull, or other weird explanations from editors which have popped up on URs.