This will be a clickable interactive guide to determining what instruction, if any, will be given at the junction between any 2 segments. There will eventually be encyclopedia style illustrations for the various configurations to visually describe the setup. This will formatted as a sequence flow through, to cover (hopefully) all variations.
Introduction
Understanding how and which instructions are provided requires first understanding a few concepts.
- This page is discussing the instruction which will be provided by the Waze server (or not provided) when travelling from one segment, through a junction, and onto a second segment.
- How Best Continuations work. Any time the destination segment is the Best Continuation there will not be an instruction provided.
Definitions
- The segment you are on before going through the junction, in other words the segment you are coming from will be referred to as the origin, and corresponds to s-in in the the algorithm text provided by Waze staff.
- The segment you will be on after the junction, in other words the segment you are going to will be referred to as the destination, and corresponds to s-out in the the algorithm text provided by Waze staff.
- Any segments other the destination which leave the junction at an angle less than 44° will be referred to as other branches, and corresponds to s-N, or s-1,2,3,4... in the the algorithm text provided by Waze staff.
- When the beginning portion two segments are directly on top of each other, meaning they both leave the junction at the exact same angle as each other, they will be referred to as an overlapping segment.
The interactive algorithm
Other than the origin and the destination, are there any other segments connected to this junction?
Are the origin or the destination part of a Roundabout?
YES, see section on Roundabout instructions
Is the turn angle from the origin to the destination between 44.5° and 135°?
NO, the turn angle is less 44.5°.
Turns with angles greater than 135° will follow the same instruction path as 44.5°-135°, but the Waze routing server will penalize this turn, and avoid routing through it.
Which direction is the turn?
Are there any other branches with unrestricted turns from the origin?
Is there more than one (1) other branch?
Are the two branches (the destination and the other branch) overlapping?
Is the name of the origin and the destination identical?
Are the origin and the destination the same road type?
Are both the name AND the road type of any of the other branches identical to the origin?
Is there any other branch to the left of this branch?
Is this an overlapping segment, is it overlapped by any other branch?
Are the segments in a right hand traffic country (such as the USA)?
Is the origin a primary road (Freeway, Major Highway, or minor Highway)?
Is the destination a primary road (Freeway, Major Highway, or minor Highway)?
Is the origin a ramp?
Is the destination a primary road (Freeway, Major Highway, or minor Highway), or a ramp?
Is the name of any of the other branches identical to the origin?
Are the origin and the destination the same road type?
Is the name of any of the other branches identical to the origin?
Is the road type of any of the other branches identical to the origin?
Are the segments in a left hand traffic country (like the UK)?
Is the origin a primary road (Freeway, Major Highway, or minor Highway)?
Is the destination a primary road (Freeway, Major Highway, or minor Highway)?
Is the origin a ramp?
Is the destination a primary road (Freeway, Major Highway, or minor Highway), or a ramp?
The instructions
No Instruction
There will be No instruction given passing through this junction. This can be caused by several factors including
- Best Continuation
- The instruction would be Continue Straight (this doesn't yet exist in Waze)
- Certain cases with an overlapping segment
Turn Right
Keep/Stay Right
Exit Right
The instruction in a right hand traffic country will be Exit right.
In a left hand traffic country this instruction does not exist, and will instead give a Keep/Stay_Right instruction. A junction with this exact setup but a left angle turn would give an Exit Left instruction in a left hand traffic country.
Turn Left
Keep/Stay Left
Exit Left
The instruction in a left hand traffic country will be Exit left.
In a right hand traffic country this instruction does not exist, and will instead give a Keep/Stay_Left instruction. A junction with this exact setup but a right angle turn would give an Exit Right instruction in a right hand traffic country.
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