This page serves as the primary resource for editors of Mississippi. Review all the sections to better understand how the guidelines for this state might deviate from the overall USA or worldwide guidelines. If you have any comments or questions about this page or state refer to the community links below.
NOTICE (4/15/2017): This page is being replaced by the South Central Region harmonized Wazeopedia page. Where information on this page conflicts with the SCR page, the SCR page takes precedence.
Introduction
Mississippi is a part of the South Central region, which includes the states and/or territories of:
Before editing the maps in Mississippi, be sure to fully review and understand the editing manual.
The Waze user community follows the Waze etiquette guidelines discussed in the Wiki. Be sure to familiarize yourself with these guiding principals while editing the maps and this Wiki, as well as when communicating with other Waze users.
Mississippi Mapping Resources
Mississippi DOT maps, including functional class maps, city and county maps, and construction information.
Mississippi GIS page, to be considered a secondary resource – with some errors, but with some additional information not found in the above link. Most of the base map data we have appears to have been imported from this source.
Community
The Waze forum is a great place to find answers to previously asked questions and also a place to ask new ones. Below are links to the forums specific to Mississippi.
New editors should consider checking into the formal mentoring program available at no charge.
Cities and towns
One of the most common errors when editing the maps is when an editor creates a road and does not confirm the road by setting the city and road name (or stating it has none).
Some states and territories manage a separate page on cities and towns to identify the specific city names that should be entered, and no others. For states that do not have a separate page to track the names, see this Wikipedia link and find the state or territory in question.
Major roads
Mississippi follows the general road naming and road type guidelines of the USA.
Functional Classification of Roads in Mississippi
MDOT Classification
Waze Road Type
Interstate
Freeway
Expressway
Major Highway
Principal Arterial
Major Highway
Minor Arterial
Minor Highway
Urban Collector
Primary Street
Rural Major Collector
Primary Street
Rural Minor Collector
Primary Street
Local Road
Street
Exceptions:
US Functional Classification guidance states that county roads (CR-xxx) with a shield should be classified as Primary Street. Since several Mississippi counties number their roads vs giving them a name, and does not imply a special route class, any CR-xxx road should be classified per the MDOT FC maps.
MS-7xx, 8xx, 9xx roads should be classified as depicted on the functional classification maps. They often are not signed and are local roads that receive state maintenance.
IE., if it is classified as a Collector = Primary Street, Principal Arterial = Major Highway, etc...
MS-43 would normally be classified as a Major Highway to the Canton city limit, which is one segment beyond Finney Rd. Likewise, MS-16 would be a Major Highway about a mile short of Sharon Rd. It has little effect on routing but helps improve the appearance of the map.
Mississippi Road Segment Locking Guidance
Mississippi provides the following guidance for locking roads based on segment type. Any road of a certain segment type should be locked at least to the rank (level) in the chart below. Roads may be locked higher for protection and special situations (areas with construction, tricky design, frequent mistakes, imaging inaccuracies, and the like), but should not be locked lower.
A great time to implement these locks is while bringing the road types of an area into compliance with the current US road type standards (FC and highway systems). Lock the roads based on type after they've been set to current US road type standards.
Segment Type
Default
Freeway
5
Ramp
Highest Rank of Connected Segment
Major Highway
4
Minor Highway
3
Primary Street
2
Street
1
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Railroad |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|
3
Lock segments higher than what is listed in the table (at least your editing rank) to prevent tampering with unusual turn restrictions, one-way segments, road geometry, etc...
Special roads
Drivable roads
Mississippi follows the standard USA guidelines for all of the following special road types.
Review the Wiki guidelines for non-drivable roads to ensure compliance with the general guidelines.
Dirt Roads
Roads in Mississippi that are dirt or gravel should be classified as such in the editor. This is to maintain proper function of the "Avoid Dirt Roads" feature in the Waze app. This includes roads that are classified by the MDOT as Urban or Rural Collectors.
Roads across farm fields, tree farms, dirt roads across private property also should not be mapped.
Driveways / Private Roads
DO NOT map driveways to single residences UNLESS there is a potential for a routing issue, ie., a user may be routed onto an adjacent street or is a very long drive that may make it difficult for Waze to determine a start point navigating from that address. Driveways left over from the original base map import that do not meet that criteria should be deleted.
Private roads serving multiple residences should be mapped, but is not a high priority over other editing tasks. If they are there from the base map, they may be left in place.
There are some counties that name or number private drives off of county/state maintained roads. These should be left in place and set to private road type.
Closures
When managing a section of roadway under construction or being closed for a major event, follow the Wiki guidelines on construction zones and Real time closures.
The Federal Highway Administration keeps a website indexing all states that can provide highway and construction project information. Go to the page, find your state, and check the links for the desired information.
Places
Mississippi follows the USA standard for Places. Do not deviate from the guidelines without first obtaining consensus to do so via the state forum linked on this page.
Cameras
Not every camera-looking device at an intersection is a speed or red light camera. Generally speaking:
a speed camera takes a photograph of a vehicle when it passes by the camera at too high a speed.
a red light camera takes a photograph of a vehicle that enters an intersection after the light is red. In some areas, it takes the photograph when a vehicle is not clear of the intersection some period after the light turns red.
When adding a camera, be sure to review the camera placement recommendations.
Laws regarding speed and red light cameras vary between the states and territories, so be sure to understand the details of camera legality in Mississippi.
Speed and Traffic Cameras are NOT legal in Mississippi as of 6/2015
To do list
Many states and territories keep an active list of pending or closed actions that need to be done in the state by the editors. All editors are welcome to contribute to the list of activities.
Speed Limits:
All Freeway roads are complete.
Major Highways are 98% complete, look around to see if there are any missing SLs in your editing areas.
Minor Highway: 57%. Most rural state highways are generally 55 if you don't see it posted. Pay attention around junctions between other state highways for reduced limits or general signage.
Primary Street: 23 %
Street: 2.3%
Most rural counties generally do not post speed limits outside of incorporated/unincorporated cities/towns. Focus should be placed on more populated areas for PS unless you can find guidance for a county that says their default limit is X.
Area Managers
The table below identifies the editors also designated as Area Managers or higher who are editing in Mississippi. If you have any questions, please consider contacting them directly as needed. If you are an Area Manager that covers Mississippi, or a USA Country Manager that does a lot of work in Mississippi, please add yourself to this list (alphabetical by username) in the correct rank section.
The editor who also serves as the Regional Coordinator for Mississippi is automatically listed at the top of the table. That editor may not be highly active in this state and therefore may not be listed separately in the table.
Mississippi — Area, State, Country Managers, and Regional Coordinators
Lauderdale, Newton, Scott, Jasper, Smith, and Clark Counties/Meridian
The following editors are also editing in the state and may be working towards an Area Manager position. Feel free to contact them for assistance in their respective areas.
