It has been pointed out that there are many different opinions about what the purpose of the global wazeopedia is, and that this is the source of many disagreements about specific changes to global wiki pages.
Setting and understanding the strategy or purpose for the global wazeopedia can lead to a better understanding of which types of information should and should not go into it, and therefore to agreement on which are acceptable edits to global wazeopedia pages.
Before setting strategy, I think we must first understand the different types of publically-available information the waze community has, and who needs to use it.
Only then can the community decide on a strategy for what a "Global Wazeopedia" might be, what goes in a global wazeopedia, what goes in local wazeopedias, and what might, perhaps, go in some other "global reference" wiki resource.
I have asked some members of the community for their input, and this is just an initial, and very rough, list of what I have learned. It has some assumptions, based on my understanding of the opinions of a small number of editors, about who needs to use which information, and whether the information is truly global or local in nature.
Some types of information and users of this information may be missing from this table. Or improperly matched to each other. And there might not be consensus on whether it is truly global or local.
| Info | Description | User of the Info | Global or Local |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic WME operation | how WME works, how WME search, livemap search, and mobile app search work, how routing works, how client rerouting works, including traffic data, various penalties and non-penalty restrictions on routing, facts about road types, best continuation, detour prevention, etc. | All editors | Global |
| Points and Rank | General Information about editors, points, how to achieve rank in self-managed and non-self-managed countries | All editors | Global |
| Global How-to | Very global examples of how some very common editing goals are achieved, and of edits that are commonly recognized, globally, as mistakes. | All editors | Global |
| How to find localized information | Links to where editors can find more information about how solutions to common problems are implemented differently in different localities. | All editors | Global |
| Advanced information from Waze Team | Information from the waze team which is globally available, but not understood well enough yet for providing guidance to editors. | Champs / RCs. Routing Experts. Routing Students | Global |
| Advanced Concepts in Editing | Very advanced concepts in editing, which can be used for developing simple guidance, but which are not really designed to be read by beginning or junior editors. | Champs / RCs. Routing Experts. Routing Students | Global |
| Testing -- completed and underway | Information about tests currently being conducted by expert editors in order to understand some of the information provided by the team. | Champs / RCs. Routing Experts. Routing Students | Global |
| Translations -- Global information | Translations of various types of global information into other languages for communities which wish to have this information. | All editors who are native speakers of the languages into whieh the global material has been translated. | Global |
| Localized guidance | Localized guidance agreed by local communities, such as a single country (Australia) or a community of countries (DACH or BENELUX), including how to map gas stations and military bases, organization of the local community, etc | Every editor in the covered countries or region(s); Champs, CMs, SMs, and AMs from other regions currently developing new local guidance for their own regions; Global MMR team members who may need to compare guidance in different countries in order to provide help writing MMR wiki pages. | Local |
Users of verious types of information
Does this cover the entire community? Everyone we must consult to make sure the information and knowledge vital to their role in the editing community is captured and stored someplace readily accessible and organized well?
| User Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Routing Experts | advanced users who have mastered the guidance on best editing practice and are interested in understanding "odd behavior", and will test and share their results widely. These users will be able to provide information that will help GCs refine editing guidance. And to help the Waze team identify unexpected, undesirable, or incorrect (not working as designed) behavior. These editors need access to the most current non-proprietary information, regardless of whether it is editing guidance. |
| Routing Students | Editors who are studying how Waze works and working with routing experts so that they may become routing experts themselves. |
| Local Community Leadership | Champs, RCs, Country managers, State managers, area manager etc. They need a source of global factual information they can used to base guidance decisions on. |
| Global wiki managers | |
| Local wiki managers | Local wiki managers need sources of information for creating their community's wiki not "from scratch", but based on an understanding of best practices followed in other parts of the world. |
| Emerging local wiki manager | those who want to get more involved in local wiki editing and guidance discussions. |
| Emerging global wiki managers | |
| Editors in communities without their own wiki | |
| multi-country editors | Editors from one country who edit also in another country |