Names

Names in general

It's often not very clear what a road, village or place is called, so either leave it empty, or make a good guess and hope that local editors improve it. Check nearby segments for the correct city name.

You might be able to find names in Waze StreetView by looking for signs, bearing in mind NO other external sources are allowed !

English as standard

English is the basic in all road and place names. The percentage of English speaking people in the UAE is much higher than the percentage of Arabic speaking people. When Arabic is added to names, as a second language, the 2 languages shall be separated by a comma and space. This assures the instructions given in Waze match what drivers are seeing to avoid confusion. The only exception shall be City Names where NO comma is required.

For the english part of names, use the abbreviations as listed here

Emirate names

State name support is awaiting HQ activation. Once activated, the intent is for the name of the Emirate to go into this field : Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain.

City names

Adding new cities to WME is restricted to L5 Country Managers, to prevent proliferation or alternate spelled city names.

For cities and villages, we adhere to the standard UAE naming convention :

[English name] [Arabic name]

• [English name] is composed of [city] for main cities and small cities without districts
• [English name] is composed of [[district], [city]] for districts within large cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, etc.

[district] is based on public known name and/or road signs. [city] might be skipped if it's not adding any value to the district name. Again based on local knowlegde.

If no arabic name is known, do not guess or use any placeholder text; just write the English name.

Roads

Street names

We try to match street names to match local signage when official signs with romanization are available. This assures the instructions given in Waze match what drivers are seeing to avoid confusion that might lead to an accident or missed turn.

1. Road Names Sources:

Don't use any copyrighted external sources. Only Waze satellite, Waze StreetView are allowed.

Government sources: if they are available, without copyright, post them on the forum or send Country Manager Arnoniem a PM, and we will check if Waze permits us to use them. Use of an illegal source can result in deletion of parts of the map!

• Source for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi: none available yet
• Source for the Emirate of Ajman: none available yet
• Source for the Emirate of Dubai: none available yet
• Source for the Emirate of Fujairah: none available yet
• Source for the Emirate of Sharjah: none available yet
• Source for the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah: none available yet
• Source for the Emirate of Umm al-Quwain: none available yet

2. Road names must be properly capitalized. Example: Bani otbah avenue -> Bani Otbah Avenue

3. For english names, use the standard abbreviations for Street, Avenue, Boulevard, etc. A full list can be found here.

3. Labelling Freeways/Major highways: All U.A.E. highways are starting with a capital E, followed by the highway number. No city shall be given to these Major Highways/Freeways Then optional a dash, if the highway has a name, such as the example: E22 - Abu Dhabi Al Ain Road.

Naming policy for ramps/exits:

• {Exit [exit number] -}_​[connected road number] [direction e.g. N/E/S/W] to [destination(/s) where available]*​ eg. E11 S to Abu Dhabi

• {Exit [exit number] -}_​ [connected road number] [direction e.g. N/E/S/W] *​[connected road name(/s)]* eg. D69 Al Meydan Rd

4. Add the Arabic names of streets: If a streetname is added in Arabic, then use the following template: [English Name], [Arabic Name]