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, districts and villages, we adhere to the standard UAE naming convention :
[English name] [#] [Arabic name], for example Umm Suqeim 1 ام سقيم
As standard we try and use the official district names, however in some cases it might be more useful to use the name of the community or area when the district name is not adding any value. For example Arabian Ranches المرابع العربية is situated in the district of Wadi Al Safa 7 وادي الصفا, however in this case the community name will add more value to the map so it takes preference over the district. Again, based on local knowledge.
If no Arabic name is known, do not guess or use any placeholder text, just use 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.
- Sources : NO illegal sources are to be used or we risk losing the entire map ! You can use whatever information you can obtain from other Wazer's User Reports (URs) or your own, or whatever you may have seen with your own eyes or registered with e.g. a dashcam whilst driving around. We can also use the satellite and StreetView provided within WME. This does NOT include Google Maps or Google StreetView. For more info visit https://wazeopedia.waze.com/wiki/Global/External_sources. If any government sources are available, without copyright, post them on the forum or send a PM to regional coordinator Arnoniem 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 !
- Capitalization : Road and all other names must be properly capitalized. For example : Ibn battuta st → Ibn Battuta St
- Abbreviations : For English names, use the standard abbreviations for Street, Avenue, Boulevard, etc. A full list can be found here.
- Format : Street names will either have a NAME or NUMBER. To improve readability and keep the map clean, different rules will apply to the abbreviations used in their format.
- NAME : the name shall be written in full, however any pre- or suffixes shall be abbreviated. For example Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Rd, Al Yalayis St, etc.
- NUMBER : the number shall be followed by "Street" or "Road", written in full. The number shall be written first, followed by the suffix. For example 11A Street.
Freeways/Major Highways
All UAE highways are starting with a capital E followed by the highway number, e.g. E11.
In most cases they will also have a name, e.g. Sheikh Zayed Road.
No city shall be given to a Freeway (FW) or Major Highway (MH).
Then 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]
Wayfinders
We try t