Road Types
Why are road types required?
There are a dozen reasons for road types;
- Routing purposes
- Higher road types i.e Minor Highway (mH), Major Highway (MH) and Freeway (FWY) are used to route Wazers through a long journey. Lower road types i.e. Street (St), Primary Street (PS) are often not used to route through longer journeys.
- They are helpful in providing alternative routes to Wazers. For example, if in Islamabad a Wazer wants to go from Rawat to Faisal Mosque, he would be given the route through Islamabad Expressway however if it is jammed with traffic, Grand Trunk Rd may be used to provide an alternative faster route which it can determine from historical traffic data and Road Types.
- You may have noticed that when zoomed out in the Waze App you would only see FWY's and MH's. This is to reduce clutter on the screen and make the map easy to interpret.
Types of Roads
In the Waze Map Editor (WME) you see twelve options to choose from for a segment's Road Type i.e.
Freeway
Ramp
Major Highway
Minor Highway
Primary Street
Street
Narrow Street
Off-road / Not maintained
Parking Lot Road
Private Road
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Public Accessible Roads
Freeway
Freeways have the lowest priority after Ramps. The routing server will at most times prefer to use this type for naviagation.
In Pakistan, the following are to be selected as FWY's:
- All Motorway's (M-1, M-2, etc.)
- Signal Free City Highways/Expressways (Srinagar Highway, Islamabad Expressway, Lahore Ring Road to mention a few)
- Limited access fast roads
There may be some exceptions though so please consult a senior editor for more knowledge.
Please note that all Motorways should not have a city name and if there is a Motorway going through a city add the city name with the numerical number (e.g. M-15) in the alternative.
Ramp
Ramps have the no penalty on them meaning the routing server will always use the ramp if needed too.
In Pakistan, the following are to be selected as ramps:
- Exit's and Entry's of Interchanges (e.g. Khanna Interchange on Islamabad Expressway, Islamabad)
In Pakistan, the following are NOT to be selected as ramps:
- U-Turns on any segment
- At-Grade Connections (AGC's)
Major Highway
Major Highways are common in Pakistan due to the dense road network of National Highways throughout the country.
In Pakistan, the following are to be selected as MH's:
- All National Highways (N-5, N-75, N-125 etc.)
- All Strategic Highways (S-1, S-2, S-3)
- All Major Roads of Cities (Jinnah Avenue, Islamabad, Faisal Ave, Islamabad)
There may be some exceptions though so please consult a senior editor for more knowledge.
Please note that all National Highways should not have a city name and if there is a National Highway going through a city add the city name with the numerical number (e.g. N-10) in the alternative.
Minor Highway
Minor Highways are important for the routing server it is the last type it uses for long routes so making a non-mH road selected as mH can be confusing and can route a Wazer through an unreliable/unpreferred route.
In Pakistan, the following are to be selected as mH's:
- All Road's that connect two cities (e.g. Attock-Kamra: Attock Rd)
- All Main Road's in a Sector of Islamabad (mainly four roads) (e.g. Park Road, F-8, Bahria Road, E-8)
- All decently fast-flowing (Average Speed: 60-80 km/h) roads in a city (e.g. Liaquat Road, Rawalpindi)
There may be some exceptions though so please consult a senior editor for more knowledge.
Primary Street
Primary Street's are low-traffic roads which connect societies to higher type roads (mH, MH, FWY)
In Pakistan, the following are to be selected as PS:
- Major in-city roads
- Roads to small villages/chak (چک)
- Main Colony Road's (e.g. Central Avenue, Fazaia Colony, Rawalpindi)
- Service Road's
In Pakistan, the following are NOT to be selected as PS:
- Residential Streets
There may be some exceptions though so please consult a senior editor for more knowledge.
Street
Street's are roads accessible to the public which have little to no traffic at any given time.
In Pakistan, the following are to be selected as St:
- Residential Street's (St 31, F-8/1, Islamabad)
- Any road that does not meet the PS, mH, MH, and FWY criteria
Narrow Street
These are NOT to be used in Pakistan, these are designed for cars in other countries narrower than a normal car in Pakistan.
If you encouter a Narrow Street in Pakistan, please consult a senior editor for what to do with it. If there is a case where you are 100% determined that Narrow Street should be used then please consult a senior editor for his/her approval.
Other Drivable Roads
Off-road / Not maintained
The off-road type are roads that are not drivable by a normal 4-door car (sedan). Use of this type should be avioded unless it is not drivable by a normal sedan. It would NOT used by the routing server as it has a 3 hour penalty on it, and will only be used if the destination can only be reached through this type. Unpaved roads are not to be selected as this type instead they should be checked with the Unpaved attribute in WME.
Moreover, any road regardless of his maintenence status that is NOT drivable by a sedan is to be selected with the off-road type.
Parking Lot Road
Parking Lot Road's (PLR) are roads in a parking lot.
These should not be used unless it meets the following criteria:
- PLR in Petrol Pumps
- PLR in Schools, Malls, Supermarkets etc.
Private Road
Private roads are any roads not accessible by the public. Do NOT map PR's to avoid a particular segment or route. The routing server will always try to avoid these segments unless the destination is only accessible by the PR.
In Pakistan, the following should be mapped as PR's:
- Gated communities with limited access