User:DwarfLord/Landmarks View history

This text suggests an addition to the Places Waze wiki article regarding landmarks. It is offered in hopes that it will replace the use of "size-dependent" in that article's Area/Point decision table.

When to use Area or Point

Landmarks

Any Place that functions as a landmark may be represented as an Area Place even if the table above indicates it should receive a Point Place. A landmark in Waze is a named, architecturally unique location, locally well-known for its uncommon height or iconic exterior appearance, easily visible to and recognizable by passing drivers, that is visually and obviously unlike its immediate surroundings.

As defined here, every landmark is a local reference, but not every local reference is a landmark. A local reference is a location used for orientation by those who frequently pass near it. Unless the local reference is also a landmark, however, a first-time visitor would see nothing remarkable about it. We distinguish landmarks from local references so that landmarks stand out in the application; every additional landmark shown on a driver's device lessens the display impact of other landmarks.

Horizontal size alone, such as found in vast but nondescript office-building complexes, does not qualify a location as a landmark. Nor does fame due to whatever goes on at or inside the location, especially if its exterior is unremarkable. Naturally, however, any location may still be mapped as an Area Place if the table above allows it for its category.

When creating an Area Place for a landmark, assign its primary category to reflect what makes it a landmark. This primary category may have little or nothing to do with the location's owner, operator, or tenants. For example, the Empire State Building is landmark that happens to house offices; the primary category of its Area Place is "Tourist Attraction / Historic Site", since that is what makes it a landmark, while its secondary category of "Offices" notes the offices within it. Another example is a small but uncommonly historic and visually distinctive retail building with several destination stores; the building would receive a "Tourist Attraction / Historic Site" Area Place, while the stores would receive Point Places within the building.

Retailers

Some retailers have built dedicated stores with such uncommon exterior design that they are unquestionably landmarks. Marking such stores with Area Places may, however, puzzle unfamiliar drivers who will simply see the name of the retailer on their map. They may not understand its significance as a landmark, and indeed may confuse the Area Place on their display with an advertisement. As of February 2015 it is not encouraged to map as landmarks any structures, regardless of how visually iconic, built by and dedicated to single retailers.