City Layer Discussion
Overview/Background
Note A segment must have a primary street name in order to have an alt street or city name
South Carolina
South Carolina does not use CDP data, or alternate cities. Only townships are given info in the city layer. This means that there are open areas of the map with no city info associated.
Concerns
This raises questions about how Waze returns search results for addresses, and routes users. "What if someone lives on a no-city street?" Waze supposedly uses more than one source of information for determining street addresses, but some editors assert that Waze shouldn't rely on this 'safety net', and should be capable of storing and relying on it's own address information
Questions
- Is alt city information valuable/purposeful?
- How dense/rich should city info be to the user via the app?
- Can an alt city be added to a segment which is far away from the city center? (see Richland, MI)
Notes on the City Layer
Discovered through trial and error, the city layer takes information from more than just the primary indicated city to render. See Richland (2), MI for an example of an isolated city surrounded by no city - all surrounding areas have only a primary city of 'none' See Cooper, MI for an example of primary city 'none' and alt city 'Cooper' in the aurrounding area.
Alternate Approaches
Smallest area primary, parent area alternate
Municipality primary
Description
All incorporated areas should have a primary city. Only unincorporated areas should lack a primary city. A nearby city/township may be included as an alternate city to assist with search/routing/navigation. This provides a user with richer information as they drive around the map - knowing when they have crossed into another township or municipality. Assuming most areas of the map are incorporated, the borders of these areas becomes blurred and are only indicated via text.
City/Metro primary
Description
Only include a primary city for major metro areas. This definition can be extended to mean that only a 'city center' should be mapped on the city layer. This guarantees that the city name is placed logically on the map, and excludes clutter from neighborhoods, townships, and CDPs
The city name may be included as an alternate for areas outside the city center, so assist with search, routing and navigation.
Strengths
Provides the simplest, cleanest representation of the map
https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipPEJU3JYwepn0Xiw7mGaqFSeFv4ZY-tkWTxiLAk
Drawbacks
There may not always be enough roads to create an area bounded by roads, resulting in 'diamond' or 'trangle' shaped cities. See Vriesland, MI.