Places is the Waze Point of Interest (POI) system. Places supports two types of POIs: Point and Area.
Point
The Point type of Place is rendered with the following icons:
Standard Point marker pin is purple-ish
The currently selected Point marker will turn blue
Any Point markers which have been edited and not yet saved by you will turn an orange-pink color, just like Area Places and segments.
Location Details
- The Point marker for a Place should be located on or nearest to the segment to which the driver should be navigated. The Point Marker is the stop point.
Area
The Area type of Place is rendered as a polygon. Just like a segment, you can adjust the shape by using the geometry handles. All Area Places in the editor show in pink when not selected and blue-green when selected:
Location Details
- The Area type has a target which is the navigation stop point.
- The target stop point can be moved anywhere within the shape and also a short distance outside the actual Area shape
- The stop point target should be placed on or nearest to the segment to which the driver should be navigated.
Setting the stop point for a Place
Point placement
The Point Area is to be placed on or nearest to the segment to which the driver should be navigated. Here is an example of a gas station Point located directly on a parking lot segment.
Area placement
Here is an example of an Area (a large park in this case) which has an entry road on the east side. The second image is zoomed in on the target to show how this type of Area should have it's navigation stop point set.
Area+Point Combinations
There are some situations where it will be appropriate to mix both Area and Point Places. For example, shopping centers and shopping malls where the mall itself could be considered a navigation destination, but there are also individual stores which are also valid for being marked.
A simple shopping center, when mapped in this manner, would look like this:
Multiple categories
- A Place can be assigned to multiple categories
- The Primary Category for a Place must be the first one you enter
- The Primary Category is displayed in a darker shade of blue than the others
- The Primary Category is used to determine whether to use a Point or Area for the Place
Place address detail
Every Place, whether Point or Area, should have as much detail completed as possible. This includes a name, proper categorization, and full street address, city and state. If any Place doesn't have a City or Street, you will need to check the None checkbox.
Here is an example of a Gas Station Area with its details completed:
Additional fields to allow entry of more detail will be coming in future editor releases. (One field available in previous editor releases but not available at this time, is phone number.)
When to use Area or Point
Here is the global guidance on selecting Area or Point for Places in the Waze Map Editor.
The Primary Category for a Place is used to determine whether to use a Point or Area.
| Parent | Category | Type | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car Services | Car Wash | Point | |
| Car Services | Charging Station | Point | |
| Car Services | Garage / Automotive Shop | Point | |
| Car Services | Gas Station | Voting is tied between Point and Area. Possibly size-dependent, but also depends on the future of parking lot roads and jam suppression. | |
| Car Services | Parking Lot | Both | There are very few parking lots which should be mapped at all. Please see the Parking lot section on this page. |
| Transportation | Airport | Area | Special-handling |
| Transportation | Bridge | Area | |
| Transportation | Bus Station | Point | |
| Transportation | Ferry Pier | Point | |
| Transportation | Junction / Interchange | Area | |
| Transportation | Seaport / Marina / Harbor | Area | Size-dependent. |
| Transportation | Subway Station | Point | |
| Transportation | Taxi Station | Point | |
| Transportation | Train Station | Point | |
| Transportation | Tunnel | Area | |
| Professional and public | Cemetery | Area | |
| Professional and public | City Hall | Point | |
| Professional and public | College / University | Area | |
| Professional and public | Conventions / Event Center | Area | Size-dependent |
| Professional and public | Courthouse | Point | |
| Professional and public | Embassy / Consulate | Area | |
| Professional and public | Factory / Industrial | Both | Size-dependent |
| Professional and public | Fire Department | Point | |
| Professional and public | Government | Point | |
| Professional and public | Hospital / Medical Center | Area | |
| Professional and public | Information Point | Point | |
| Professional and public | Kindergarten | Point | |
| Professional and public | Library | Point | |
| Professional and public | Military | Area | |
| Professional and public | Offices | Both | Size-dependent |
| Professional and public | Organization or Association | Point | |
| Professional and public | Police Station | Point | |
| Professional and public | Prison / Correctional Facility | Area | |
| Professional and public | Post Office | Point | |
| Professional and public | Religious Center | Point | |
| Professional and public | School | Area | |
| Shopping and services | Arts & Crafts | Point | |
| Shopping and services | ATM | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Bank / Financial | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Bookstore | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Car Dealership | Point | Size-dependent |
| Shopping and services | Car Rental | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Convenience Store | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Currency Exchange | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Department Store | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Electronics | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Fashion and Clothing | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Flowers | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Furniture / Home Store | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Gifts | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Hardware Store | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Jewelry | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Laundry / Dry Cleaning | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Market | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Music Store | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Personal Care | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Pet Store / Veterinarian | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Pharmacy | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Photography | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Shopping Center | Area | |
| Shopping and services | Sporting Goods | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Supermarket / Grocery | Point | Standalone could be an Area, but a Point if it is part of larger shopping mall/center. |
| Shopping and services | Swimming Pool | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Toy Store | Point | |
| Shopping and services | Travel Agency | Point | |
| Food and drink | Bakery | Point | |
| Food and drink | Bar | Point | |
| Food and drink | Cafe | Point | |
| Food and drink | Dessert | Point | |
| Food and drink | Fast Food | Point | |
| Food and drink | Food Court | Point | |
| Food and drink | Ice Cream | Point | |
| Food and drink | Restaurant | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Art Gallery | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Casino | Area | Large hotel-casinos perhaps could be Area Places. |
| Culture & entertainment | Club | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Game Club | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Movie Theater | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Museum | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Music Venue | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Performing Arts Venue | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Racing Track | Area | |
| Culture & entertainment | Stadium / Arena | Area | |
| Culture & entertainment | Theme Park | Area | |
| Culture & entertainment | Theater | Point | |
| Culture & entertainment | Tourist Attraction / Historic Site | Point | Size-dependent |
| Culture & entertainment | Zoo / Aquarium | Area | Size-dependent |
| Other | Construction Site | Area | Not necessary to be mapped. |
| Other | Residence / Home | NONE | Not to be mapped |
| Lodging | Bed & Breakfast | Point | |
| Lodging | Camping / Trailer Park | Area | Size-dependent |
| Lodging | Cottage / Cabin | Point | |
| Lodging | Hostel | Point | |
| Lodging | Hotel | Point | |
| Outdoors | Beach | Area | |
| Outdoors | Golf Course | Area | |
| Outdoors | Park | Area | |
| Outdoors | Playground | Point | |
| Outdoors | Plaza | Point | |
| Outdoors | Promenade | Point | Unsure about mapping these at all |
| Outdoors | Scenic Lookout / Viewpoint | Point | |
| Outdoors | Ski Area | Area | |
| Outdoors | Sports Court | Point | |
| Natural features | Farm | NONE | |
| Natural features | Forest / Grove | Area | Only map official state/national forests, not every stand of trees. |
| Natural features | Island | Area | |
| Natural features | River / Stream | Area | |
| Natural features | Sea / Lake / Pond | Area |
Parking Lot
- The decision to map a parking lot landmark is covered here, and the decision to map a parking lot road is covered in the Road type article for mapping parking lot roads.
Few parking lots deserve to be landmarked. Landmark-worthy parking must be something of a destination in itself, either having a well-known and documented name, or serving multiple unrelated POIs.
In nearly all situations parking associated with any other landmark, such as a shopping mall or train station, should NOT be landmarked separately using the Parking Lot type. It is sufficient simply to include such parking within the boundaries of the other landmark. In the rare case of named parking that drivers might wish explicitly to seek, such "double landmarking" of parking within a larger landmark may be acceptable, for example a cell-phone Parking Lot landmark within the boundaries of an Airport landmark.
Defining the boundaries of Parking Lot landmarks requires care. Like the Gas Station landmark, Parking Lots suppress Waze's automated "Map Problem" reports such as for missing roads; thus the Parking Lot landmark should NEVER be drawn over or attached/snapped to roads bearing through traffic.
While Waze provides a Garage landmark type, the Parking Lot landmark should be used, when appropriate, for parking structures and garages both above and below ground as well as for ordinary lots at ground level.
The Parking Lot landmark is always appropriate for:
- Generic Park & Ride and similar municipal commuter parking not otherwise landmarked with a transit-center type. Always name these "Park & Ride", or whatever generic designation is used locally, to facilitate searches. Mapped at the fence line.
- Municipal general-purpose or transit-oriented public parking that has a unique and documented identity, such as "City Lot #7", "Hourly Lot 3", "Domestic Garage", "Long-Term Parking", "South Lot", "Cell-Phone Parking", etc. Map to the extent of the lot or structure and assign the given name. If the lot is contained within a larger landmark, do not repeat that landmark's name; for example if the Domestic Garage is contained within the "SFO San Francisco International Airport" landmark boundaries, it can simply be labeled "Domestic Garage" not "SFO San Francisco International Airport Domestic Garage".
- Rental car return located on airport property, provided all on-airport vendors share the same car return area (to avoid having to label separate return areas by commercial vendor), named "Rental Car Return".
The Parking Lot landmark is NEVER appropriate for:
- Parking for a single non-transit-oriented destination, whether public or private, such as a business, office, church, park, city hall, library, hospital, gym, school, museum, restaurant, campground, etc. Do not use the Parking Lot landmark for these even if apparently supported, and widely used, as general-purpose parking; Waze cannot imply that drivers should, for example, park in the City Library Lot in order to visit a café or go shopping, even if locals often do so.
- Employee, student, resident, or guest parking.
- Parking for attendees of events or services.
- Parking associated with campuses, parklands, shopping malls, theme parks, private installations, and office parks or complexes of any size or purpose.
- Generic unnamed/unidentified parking lots associated with an already-landmarked complex such as an Airport, Train station, or Bus Station/Bus Terminal.
A gray area exists between the "always appropriate" and "never appropriate" categories above. Indeterminate situations include, for example:
- Unnamed municipal general-purpose public parking.
- Privately-operated but publicly-available general-purpose or offsite transit-related parking.
At this time, landmarking indeterminate situations like these is not encouraged, but may be appropriate in some circumstances and handled on a case-by-case basis.