Minimum Acceptable Information
All Places added to the map must contain the following entries:
- Place Name
- Proper Category
- Address (including address numbers)
- Placed in the correct location on the map
This is the minimum acceptable amount of information for inclusion on the map, unless the location intrinsically does not have an address.
Locking Standard
All Places that have complete information are to be locked at Level 2. This is to prevent loss of data due to automatic acceptance of Place Update submissions from Trusted Users, or Place Update Request approvals from other editors without careful examination.
| PLACE TYPE | LOCK LEVEL |
|---|---|
| Military Installation / Airport | 4 |
| Hospitals / Urgent Care / Police & Fire Dept | 4 |
| National & State Parks and Monuments | 4 |
| Gas Stations / Charging Stations | 3 |
| Schools / Universities / Colleges | 3 |
| Government Buildings / Consulates | 3 |
| Subway, Commuter, and Passenger Rail Stations | 3 |
| City and Local Parks | 2 |
If you do not have a high enough enough rank to lock the place as indicated, please lock it as high as you can, and notify a higher rank AM, SM, CM, or Champ to lock it higher.
Problem Categories
It is recognized that the available place categories within WME frequently do not provide a clear matching category for some types of venues. The following table provides some regional guidance for the more common questions. Whenever necessary, please confer with the community on additional problem venues.
| "Problem" Categories - Click to Expand ---->>>> | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| These types of places have been problems in the New England Region. Suggested categories and other notes are provided. | ||||||||||||||||||
|
Phone Numbers
If a phone number is entered in the Place information, the following format is preferred: (###) ###-#### Please correct the layout of any phone numbers you encounter while editing.
Area Editing
When creating an Area, map it to the "fence line" of the area.
For instance, if you are mapping a shopping center, this means that you map the area to cover the shopping center buildings, and the parking lots out to the outer ring road (if applicable). If there is no ring road, or for smaller shopping centers, map to the curb line.
If you are mapping a school, you would map out to the fence line (if visible) or to a reasonable distance from the school.
RHODE ISLAND: The only exception to this in Rhode Island are schools that only have one major building on the property (such as public primary/secondary education schools). In these cases, the area should be drawn to match the general shape of the building, as most of these schools have unique enough shapes to meet the requirements for single structure area places.
Contact an AM, SM, CM, or Champ if you need assistance.
Hospitals / Urgent Care
A special Category of Hospital / Medical Center is used for Hospitals, Medical Centers and Urgent Care facilities. ONLY Hospitals, Emergency Rooms, and places offering Urgent Medical Care should use this category. Clinics, and Medical offices which do not offer urgent medical care for Walk-Ins should use the Office, and any other appropriate category, instead.
Set the Stop Point over the Main Entrance to the facility. Additionally, map the Emergency Entrance with the same category name, but place it over the Emergency entrance location. ERs encompassed in a hospital Place Area should be Points, and named in the following fashion: E.R. - Hospital Name
Layered Areas
Places which are part of a larger encompassing place (i.e. place points for lot in a university area, Separate ER entrances in a hospital area, etc.) should be named with their unique name followed by a hyphen and the name of the larger area they belong to. For example "E.R. - Generic Medical Center"
Parking Lots
The New England Region follows USA guidance for Parking Lots. In general, Parking Lot Areas (PLAs) should be added for all lots, including businesses with small parking lots (fewer than 10 spaces). Any improvements are helpful, but editors are encouraged to start with popular lots with heavy usage, map problem or update request flags.
In addition to the guidance provided in the USA page for Parking Lots (above), the following description should help clarify the type of lot which should be used. In general, the cost of parking at a lot is independent from the type. Public, Restricted, and Private lots might be free, or may require a parking fee.
| Lot Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Public | This type is used in lots where anybody can legally park regardless of purpose or destination.
*** In addition, certain large lots at major destinations (e.g., shopping centers, ballpark/stadiums, colleges/universities, convention centers, etc.) which would ordinarily be Restricted (below) may be classified instead as "Public" if the ability to see these lots would be important to the Wazer. |
| Restricted | This lot type should generally be chosen at parking lots which are owned by, used for, or associated with specific nearby businesses or place points/areas. The parking lots of almost all small businesses will be "Restricted". These lots are not offered to the driver as a destination but are used for Waze data gathering. |
| Private | This lot type should be used for parking lots which require preauthorization for access. In general these are lots which require an access card, parking sticker, or owner approval prior to arriving at the lot. These lots are not offered to the driver as a destination but are used for Waze data gathering. |
Gas Stations
You should familiarize yourself with the Gas Stations wiki - specifically naming, branding, and stop points.
A single gas station area place can be used for both a gas station and its associated convenience store (add an additional category when applicable) if they have the same branding and same hours of accessibility. If the gas branding is different from the branding of the convenience store, or if they have different access hours, create a place area for the gas station and a separate place point for the convenience store.
Also understand that to provide the best navigation instructions for a Wazer, u-turns should be enabled at each end of the PLR drawn through the gas station.
EV charging stations, CNG (compressed natural gas), and other alternative fuel stations should not be mapped with "Gas Station" category.
EV charging stations should use the "EV Charging Station" category and follow the national guidance.
CNG stations should use the "Others" category and include CNG in the place name.
Rest Areas
Include "Rest Stop" as an alternative name.
Cemeteries
Inactive, unnamed cemeteries are generally not mapped. Named cemeteries, those with historical significance, or useful as a navigation aid can be mapped. Internal roads should be mapped using the Parking Lot Road type if roads are warranted.
| New England Region PNH Table - Click to Expand ---->>>> |
|---|
| Please note the listed spelling of the venue name, as well as the appropriate category. This is necessary for the proper display of any advertising associated with the site. |
| View this list full-screen in Google Sheets |
Place Name Harmonization
In an effort to standardize Place Names, the New England Region uses Place Name Harmonization/PNH (expandable table above), a reference table of common businesses and venue names and characteristics.
Helpful Scripts
If you are working on places, a couple scripts can make the editing process a lot more efficient. As always with scripts, be cautious and please reach out to a senior editor with any questions on how they work.
- WME Place Harmonizer (WMEPH) uses the PNH table (referenced above) to standardize names, format data, provide an easy interface for adding services, and automatically lock a place once the minimum information has been added. For chains, please submit new chain data for any that are not in the database. Note: WMEPH is now available for all editors, including R1.
- WME Closest Segment helps editors determine the closest segment to the navigation stop point of a place. The script shows a line from a selected point place (or its navigation stop point for area places) to the nearest road segment.