Philippines/Places Policy

Philippine Places Policy

• Introduction

This will serve as a guide for Waze Philippines on how to edit places and what should be approved and rejected for Place Update submissions.

EDITING PLACES

New Places

Before anything else, decide whether a place has to be on the WME at all. We only add a location that 1) will likely be a destination for driving and/or is a significant visual landmark, 2) is not a private residence, 3) is NOT a road (roads are already searchable on the app and it makes no sense to add them as places, and 4) actually exists ("sa puso mo" or "bahay ng duwende" will not work).

The first thing to do when adding a new place is to make sure the location is correct. Then make sure the contemplated place will not be a duplicate of another place on the WME, be it an Area Place or a Point Place. Next, determine whether it should be an Area Place or Point Place (see guidelines for place type), then choose the appropriate category (see place categories). Once you've added a place you must then add all the pertinent details. At the minimum you should put the Name and Address. Unnamed places are useless for navigation and are not searchable on the app. As for place addresses, remember to remove the DPWH RNS number from the street name, and make sure the house number is purely numeric (letters will not be accepted). Lastly, make sure the navigation point (if an area place) or the point place are placed right where the Wazer is supposed to be notified that they've arrived. If an Area Place will go beyond a city's/municipality's boundary or will cover more than one city/municipality, mark the city address as none. For bodies of water like creeks, rivers, lakes, sea, etc. mark the city address as none, this is so that their area will not be added to the city tile.

Place Types

Area Places - These are primarily POI locators but also serve another function on the Waze map. They serve as navigation aids and visual cues. So if a place is a significant landmark (serves as a navigation cue) and is more than 50m on it's X or Y coordinates, you can add it. If it is smaller than 50m, consider adding a Point Place instead. Compounds and buildings fall under this place type. When drawing an Area Place make sure to include the entire place including its parking lot.

Point Places - These are the main POI locators for establishments that you want to add on the map. Adding these makes these places searchable on the Waze app but not visible unless selected as a destination. If there is already an Area Place, do not add a Point Place and vice versa. Establishments inside a building or compound fall into this place type. Make sure not to leave point places right on top of road segments.

Special Place Categories

Gas Station - Gas stations should always be mapped as Area Places. When adding these and X or Y coordinates are not long enough, consider adding a small spike on one of the sides so that it goes over 50m in length so that it gets displayed on the client app.

Parking Lot - All parking lots should be mapped as Area Places. Once added to the WME, Parking Lots categories cannot be changed so be very careful about using this category or approving PURs using this category. Trace the parking lot as an area and place the navigation point at the entrance. Use the establishment's name followed by "Parking" or "Carpark" when naming. For parking lots with no official name or are not associated with an establishment, don't leave it unnamed. Use "Parking Lot" as its name instead.

Hospital/Urgent Care - Only places that offer emergency medical services may use this category. Other medical/paramedical facilities must be categorized as Doctor/Clinic or Offices.

Residence/Home - In general we do not use this category because once saved the name will automatically be removed. If you see any place using this category, choose a more appropriate category and rename it.

Residential - These are private residences that will not be publicly searchable. The minimum details necessary for these places are correct address with house number, and a picture of the exterior.

Refer to the Places Policy for more details on what can be added.

Naming Places

For most places, use the name on the signage as the primary name and then add alternative names for other commonly-known names for the establishment. Observe proper capitalization: we use Title Case for all place names regardless of how it is written on the signage, though we make an exception for acronyms.

For businesses with multiple franchises make sure to put a branch name/locator, following this format: <Business Name> - <Branch/Locator>. This is to prevent getting multiple generic names when a Wazer is searching for a specific branch. When deciding what branch name to put consider what a Wazer will likely use as a search term. This is of particular importance for gas stations whose branch names are often not known by customers and are instead known for their location. In those cases we use the location as the branch name.

It is recommended that you add all possible iterations of the name that you think an ordinary Wazer might use to search for the place - so the acronym may be used but also spell out the name.

Other Place Details

• Put only verified services and operating times. Leave blank if unsure
• Phone number format: +63 (Area Code) XXX XXXX OR +63AreaCode XXX XXXX (no dashes)
• Website format: Remove "http://" or "https://"
• Address: use the establishments listed address whenever possible. Do not use the DPWH RNS, and do not just copy the Waze road name (e.g. avoid using 1: EDSA S or 1: EDSA W, just use EDSA)
• External Providers: check if auto-linked places are correct. Manually link places that may be at the wrong location. [This feature is available only to editors level 3 or higher]

HANDLING PLACE UPDATE REQUESTS

Reviewing New Places

Approve

• New places that are legitimate POIs. Confirm if it is a real place.
• New places marked as Residence/Home WITH Address (Street number and Street)
• Correct capitalization and spelling of Place Name

Reject

• Places that are actually roads
• Duplicate places
• Incorrect capitalization and spelling
• Incorrect information

• If the new area contains more information or detail than the existing area, copy these information over to the old place and then reject the new place submission.

Pictures

Before taking a picture and submitting (approving for us editors) it, put yourself in the shoes of someone who will be going to that place and does not know where to go or look. The picture should be something that will make it easier for anyone to find that place. Every user (trusted or not) can become blacklisted and banned from adding places once they have tried adding a certain amount of places or updates which have been rejected. We also track places that have been flagged and removed - if we see a pattern where a certain user created many of these, he might be blacklisted.

Approve

• Clear image of entrance/facade
• Clear image of building or structure
• Images including a signage / billboard of the establishment displaying its name &/or address
• House or residence images set to private viewing

Reject

• House or residence images set to public viewing
• Obstructed view or taken while inside a vehicle
• Images with faces
• Dark images
• Blurred images
• Images with clear plate number of vehicles
• Interior images of buildings
• Images showing incorrect place
• Pornographic images

Updates on Places' Information

The general guideline to use to determine whether to Accept the update is,

Adding place addresses
When adding the address of a place, add the number if you know it or add the street name. DO NOT add the RNS route numbers, just the official street names.

"Is the majority of information provided in the update correct?"

A Place update, if the user completes ALL the information, can be extremely long

Even if some of the data is incorrect, or the photo included in the update improper and unhelpful to drivers, the editor can still remove the photo or update/delete the incorrect information after accepting the update. It is better, faster, and more honest to accept the good information from the driver, and fix the problems, rather than rejecting the entire update and filling in the info yourself.

Approve

• Correct information

Reject

• Wrong information
• Wrong capitalization
• Converting to Residence/Home if the place is not a house
• If it is a private residence but does not contain a street number and street name