Welcome to Waze Laos!
We would love to have your help. Read along and join the Waze Laos editing community.
What is Waze?
- Waze is a free navigation app for your GPS equipped smartphone.
- You can read more about its features here.
- Waze is crowd-sourced, meaning it is maintained by its users.
- The Waze map (Waze Map Editor, or WME) is updated and maintained by real people (like you) who volunteer their time to make Waze what it is.
- Waze users and Waze map editors form a community, who work together locally (as well as internationally) to improve the map for everyone.
Some general editing principles apply to all countries. The Global Wazeopedia gives a good explanation of these basic principles. There is also a very helpful Quick Start Guide for simple edits.
Each country has unique challenges, which require modified editing practices specific to that country. This page focuses on map editing in Laos. If you want to know more about a subject, you will find many links in this document that take you to other pages with detailed explanations. If you open them while you press Ctrl, the linked pages will open in another tab and keep this Laos page open.
Community
What Does the Map Editor Community Do . . . and Who Are They?
- The map editor community maintains the Waze map and makes sure it works in the best way possible.
- Map editors make guidelines that are specific to the country they are working in. (In this case, in the country of Laos.)
- Map editors from all over the world also work together as an international team.
- The Laos editor team:
- At this time, there are no local editors in Laos.
- Map editing in Laos is mostly done by three international editors who have never been to Laos.
- Much of the map in Laos is not even drawn yet.
If you live in Laos, or travel often in Laos, you can make a big difference in the Laos Waze Map!
- You can help by sharing your knowledge and experiences.
- You can help by physically testing the map. This is something international editors cannot do.
- You can also help by becoming a map editor yourself. (This combines the first two ways, and will be the biggest help to the map!)
Here is a list of editors currently working on the Laos map:
| Editor User Name | Rank | Role | Edits in | Home Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fermario73 (PM) | 5 | CM | Entire country | Argentina |
| leinerg (PM) | 5 | AM | Northern 2/3 of Laos | Costa Rica |
| kyhtak (PM) | 4 | AM | Northern 2/3 of Laos | United States |
Communication
No team can work together effectively without a lot of communication. There are three ways the Laos Editing community communicates:
Waze Laos Discord Chat
We have chosen to use Discord as the best way to communicate. If you would like to join discussions and help develop the Waze map in Laos, Discord gives the best opportunities. There are different channels for specific subjects, and you can send private Direct Messages (DM) as well. It is easy to share pictures and screenshots, and to get help from multiple editors. It is also easy to set notification rules for your browser as well as for your phone. You can request a link to the Waze Laos Discord server at the above link.
Forum Private Messages (PM)
With a Forum Account (which you will need before you can help edit the map anyway) you can make use of Private Messages (PM). This is a kind of inbox, like your e-mail. When you receive a PM, you will also receive a message to your regular e-mail to inform you of the new message.
WME Chat
While you are editing, you can directly request help in WME chat. It shows you the level of the editor you are talking to. Please keep in mind that most editors are willing to help, but not all of them have the technical knowledge or editing experience to give you the best answer. Because the built-in chat does not always work as desired, we mostly use Waze Laos Discord Chat.
Wazeopedia
A lot of information is available in the Wazeopedia. ("Wiki" for short) There are global pages with information applicable to all regions in the World. There are local pages (like this one) as well. Links here will take you to helpful information in the Global wiki.
We have just started this Wiki page for Laos. Because all of our current editors live outside of Laos, this page is only available in English right now. At the bottom of each Wiki page, the last update is shown.
If this is more than half a year ago, please take into consideration that the information might be outdated.
Editing
More coming soon
How to start
More coming soon
Roads
More coming soon
Base Map Editing
More coming soon
Road Naming
More coming soon
Abbreviations
More coming soon
Road Categories
More coming soon
Road Types
More coming soon
Drivable Segments
More coming soon
Highways
More coming soon
Other Streets
More coming soon
Roundabouts
More coming soon
Non-Drivable Segments
More coming soon
Locking Standard
More coming soon
Speed Limits
More coming soon
Update Requests (UR's)
More coming soon
Map Problems (MP's)
More coming soon
Projects
For starters, there are some basic projects (besides just getting the rest of the roads mapped) that would really help with the map in Laos.
Routing Continuity
- All Primary Streets (PS) begin and end at a road classified as PS or higher
- All Minor Highways (mH) begin and end at a road classified as mH or higher.
- All Major Highways (MH) begin and end at a road classified as MH or higher.
Find Non-Copyrighted Sources for Resources (if such even exists)
We really need non-copyrighted reliable sources so we can correctly map and label at least major roads, and so we can name rivers, major landmarks and features, cities, towns, and villages.
Falcon Alignment
Beginning with Freeways and working down, all roads should be aligned with the segment centerline.
City / Town / Village Names
This one is going to require some sort of non-copyrighted map and / or local users. Since there are few road names, about the best we will be able to do is get people to the correct village.
Create a UR Reply Spreadsheet
Pakistan has a really nice spreadsheet that uses both English and Pakistani responses. It would be nice to have something like that for Laos, since none of us speak the language.
Google Translate might be OK for a start, but the ideal would be to have native speakers of the Lao language, who are also fluent in English, to work with us on this.
Petrol / Gas Stations
Another thing to work on . . .