This page serves as the primary resource for editors of North Carolina. 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.
This page has been updated as of 3/23/2022.
New guidance has been added for road elevation, lane guidance, and shields, along with improved formatting and clarified language throughout the wiki.
East End Connector I-885 / NC-885 / NC-147 Construction Information Added.
Introduction
North Carolina is a part of the South Atlantic region, which includes the states and/or territories of:
Before editing the maps in North Carolina, 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.
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 North Carolina.
New editors should consider checking into the formal mentoring program available at no charge.
Discord
The South Atlantic (SAT) region primarily uses Discord for real-time communication among editors. Editors of any level may join the server by clicking here, or contact any North Carolina AM or SM for an invitation.
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).
NOTE: North Carolina does not use Census Designated Places (CDPs) for city names.
USPS city names should be added as an alternate name on:
All segments that do not have a primary city (i.e. "None" is checked).
Any segment whose mailing city differs from the primary incorporated city.
Major roads
North Carolina follows the general road naming and road type guidelines of the USA.
An exception currently to the USA Roads standard is North Carolina state highways. North Carolina has numbered state highways from Controlled Access Freeways down to Alleys. Because of this, North Carolina strictly uses Functional Classification to set road types for state highways and below.
Road Names
See Road types for general rules where North Carolina does not specifically differ.
See Military Bases for a complete list of rules for mapping on Military Bases.
North Carolina has two classes of state funded roads, Primary State Highways, and Secondary Roads (aka State Rte or Road). Please carefully observe the following naming formats for roads in these categories.
Primary State Highways
State Highways are numbers under 1000 (1-3 digits) and bear the NC diamond shield.
These roads should be named "NC-###"
Use a single hyphen and no spaces between NC and the route number.
This applies to both Primary and Alternate road names.
Secondary Roads (aka State Rte or Road)
Secondary Roads are route numbers of 1000 or greater (four digits or more).
These Roads are not signed with shields. Regular green or white road signs are most commonly used to designate secondary roads.
On green signs, the prefix "SR" should precede the road number.
On white signs (commonly attached to stop signs), it will just have the road number. (See pictures above)
These roads should be named "SR-####" Use a single hyphen and no spaces between SR and the road number.
These names are typically used as Alternate Road names, along with Primary names which match local road signage.
This should be the first step in determining the correct road type in WME. The list below are minimums (e.g. a State Highway would be at a minimum a minor highway. It could also be a major highway or freeway depending on functional class).
Freeway - Interstates and all other roads with no at-grade intersections.
Major Highway - US Highways, Interstates that have at-grade intersections.
Minor Highway - State Highways, US Business Highways.
Primary Street - State Business Highways.
If the road is not defined as one of the above then please use the functional class to determine what type to qualify the road as.
Using the NC Functional Class Map
The NC Functional Class Map is divided into 9 road type classifications. Most road classifications will minimally be defined by the above criteria. For all other roads that do not fit into that criteria, please use the references below:
Functional Class
Waze Type
Interstate
Freeway
Other Freeway
Freeway
Other Principal Arterial
Major Highway
Minor Arterial
Minor Highway
Major Collector
Primary Street
Minor Collector
Primary Street
Local
Street
Contact an Area Manager or State Manager if you feel there is an exception to these rules. Consistency is key. Do not change a road type for routing sake or to make it appear on the map at a higher speed. Also, do not switch road types every few segments just because the functional class does (Contact an AM or SM for help).
Function Class Quick Reference Chart
Refer to this chart to determine the road type of a given paved public road based on the North Carolina functional class.
To use this chart, first determine the functional class of a road, and whether it is a signed, numbered highway in a particular highway system.
Where the column for the road's highway system and the row for the road's North Carolina functional class meet, you will find the proper road type for that particular road.
^a When a state highway "SPUR" route is used to connect a state highway with another state highway, a US highway, or an Interstate (i.e., when it is used as a connector/CONN route), use the first state highway column. ^b Also known as Principal Arterial - Interstate. ^c Also known as Principal Arterial - Freeway. ^d Also known as Principal Arterial. ^e Also known as Other Arterial.
Examples
An Interstate Business Loop classified as a Minor Arterial is a Major Highway .
A US Highway classified as a Minor Arterial is a Major Highway .
A US Highway Spur route classified as a Minor Arterial is a Minor Highway .
A State Highway classified as an Other Freeway is a Freeway .
A State Highway classified as a Collector is a Minor Highway .
A locally-maintained road classified as an Other Principal Arterial is a Major Highway .
A locally-maintained road classified as a Collector is a Primary Street .
Do not assume! Know the correct speed limit for a segment before setting a speed limit.
If you do not know the speed limit for a segment leave it blank. It is safer to not set a speed limit then to get it wrong.
North Carolina statutory speed limit laws are:
Within municipal corporate limits is 35 MPH unless otherwise posted.
Outside municipal corporate limits is 55 MPH unless otherwise posted.
Military Installations is 30 MPH unless otherwise posted.
Interstates (Freeways) all have posted speed limits and a maximum of 70 MPH.
Speed Limit Status
Road Type
Status
Freeway
100%
Major Highway
100%
Minor Highway
100%
Primary Street
99.3%
Street
26.6%
USA Score
98.5%
USA Rank
10
Updated 2018-08-13
Road Locking
In North Carolina we have a set minimum standard for locking roads based on segment type. Any road of a certain segment type must 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.
North Carolina Minimum Locking Rank Standard
Segment Type
Statewide
Freeway
5
Ramp
Highest rank of connected segment
Major Highway
4
Minor Highway
3
Primary Street
2
Street
1
• • • • Ferry • • • •
5
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Railroad |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|
2
Note: Certain areas may be locked higher than the above minimums. Please do not lower locks unless approved by the RC or SM of North Carolina.
Road Elevation
In general, North Carolina only follows “True Elevation” to the extent that negative elevations should only be used for tunnels, and does not follow “Seagull” elevation rules, with some exceptions as described below. This is due in part to issues experienced with exceptionally short segments, and to our state’s unique closures system, where most closures are handled by editors instead of Waze Partners.
General Principles
Drivable and non-drivable segments are handled the same way with elevation.
Set elevation to Ground in most cases.
Only segments passing over other segments shall have higher elevation, relative to ground.
The entire segment should be elevated between existing junctions with other segments.
Do not cut segments at the start/end of a bridge (see exceptions below).
Do not increase elevation on segments passing over water or any other bridge that does not cross other segments (see exceptions below).
Elevation of overlapping segments should be set relative to each other, with the lowest segment as Ground (unless a tunnel).
Only set elevation as low/high as necessary (i.e. only set elevation to 2 if passing over a segment set to 1)
Only tunnel segments should have negative elevation.
Exceptions
In order to allow for proper closure placement, there are exceptions to the above guidance:
If a navigable destination (i.e. house number or place entry point) exists on a segment that would be elevated, the segment should be cut at the start/end of the bridge/actual elevated portion (unless another junction is located within 60m/200ft).
Bridges over water on rural, two-way segments should be mapped with cuts at the start/end of the bridge (unless another junction is located within 60m/200ft), and the elevation raised by 1 to suppress “unneeded junction” warnings from scripts.
Reminders
If you use the Bridge tool to join segments, be aware that it raises the elevation of the joined segment. Lower the joined segment as appropriate.
Tunnels should be cut at least 15m/50ft before and after the tunnel, to allow time for the GPS to regain signal, and must have the “Tunnel” checkbox selected in addition to negative elevation.
Examples
Click to expand examples of Good and Bad Elevation
Good: This bridge was cut because it is a rural, two-way segment over water (it would also qualify under the first exception for nearby destinations, due to the driveway to the south).
Good: This bridge has destinations on either side of it that should remain accessible in the event of a closure.
Good: This ramp is a single segment with an elevation of 3, because the off-ramp from I-540 W to Capital Blvd (labeled #1) must be at elevation 1 due to crossing over Triangle Town Blvd (the LS at the southeast corner), which makes the on-ramp from Triangle Town Blvd to I-540 W (labeled #2) at elevation 2, due to crossing over the aforementioned off-ramp.
Good: This bridge is cut at the west end, due to the presence of a destination (HN), but not cut on the east end due to the nearby junction (note: screenshot utilizes the HN Navpoints script to show where HNs fall on the segment).
Bad: This bridge should be cut at its west end due to the presence of the cemetery and its HN; the east end should not be cut due to the nearby junction (note: screenshot utilizes the HN Navpoints script to show where HNs fall on the segment).
Bad: Bridges on freeways should not be cut. Instead, the entire segment between the ramps should be elevated in each direction.
Bad: A bridge over a highway between two ramps does not have any destinations and should be one elevated segment:
Lane Guidance
North Carolina follows national guidance for Lanes. Contact an NC SM with any questions.
Do not add lanes to H or # intersections if they are outside of the angles currently allowed by the lanes heuristics. Instead, leave a map comment noting "future lanes" needed.
Road Shields
North Carolina follows national guidance for shields and visual turn instructions.
IMPORTANT: Only add shields on streets where the primary name matches the shield you intend to add. For example, on a street with a primary name of “US-64 W”, you should add a “US Hwy Main” shield with the number “64” and the direction “Wᴇꜱᴛ” (using the proper small caps). But if a portion of US-64 is named “W Main St”, you will not add the shield to that primary name.
Instead, in the above example, US-64 should already be an alt name on W Main St, and the shield can/should be added to that alt name.
NC diamond shields should only be added to NC-### highways; secondary roads with SR-#### numbers do not have shields.
As of January 2022, NC has all of its requested state shields available in WME. If you come across a shield design that is not available, please contact an SM.
NOTE: This guidance was updated in December 2020. North Carolina uses ___ road type for driveways (tbd; check with SMs).
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.
North Carolina 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.
Deviations may also be approved by contacting an NC SM.
Place Update Requests
When moderating Place Update Requests (PURs), please be aware that they are not added to the map until the Wazer hits Done. This means that a passenger of a car may take a great photo of a business, but be a block or two down the road before it is added. Zoom into the map where the Place was added and ensure they are where they are supposed to be.
See here for rules for mapping places on Military Bases.
Photos of any kind are NOT ALLOWED on places within Military Bases!
Chain Name Harmonization
In an effort to keep common Places the same across the region, the South Atlantic wiki page now has a list to reference. The list includes Names, Alt Names, Categories, and Websites of Chain companies across the region. If you do not see a Chain listed and feel it should be added, please fill out this form to submit it for review.
Experienced editors may also use the Place Name Harmonization script to assist with this process.
Place Locking
Editors are encouraged to fill in all available information about a place. A place can be locked once it minimally has the following information:
Correct Category
Name - Formatted with Title Case (Use capital letters for the first letter in each word)
Area or Point with Destination Point in the correct location
Address - House number and correct street name
Once complete, NC uses the following minimum place locks:
Place Category
Minimum Lock
Airports, Hospitals, and Freeway Rest Areas
5
All other places
3
Other important places such as major tourist attractions prone to editing and major parks can be locked at 4 or 5 as necessary to protect their integrity.
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 North Carolina.
Speed Cameras are NOT CURRENTLY LEGAL in the State of North Carolina.
Red light Cameras are legal only in specific jurisdictions:
There are also cameras mounted on traffic signal posts that are used by traffic engineers to observe current conditions. These devices CAN NOT issue tickets.
There are traditional traffic monitoring cameras covering most of the major highways in the state. These send live video to NCDOT & local media and serve ONLY as a traffic monitoring system.
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.
Refer to Special Roads for a list of allowed Railroad names.
Area Managers
The table below identifies the editors also designated as Area Managers or higher who are editing in North Carolina. If you have any questions, please consider contacting them directly as needed. If you are an Area Manager that covers North Carolina, or a USA Country Manager that does a lot of work in North Carolina, please add yourself to this list (alphabetical by username) in the correct rank section.
The editor who also serves as the Regional Coordinator for North Carolina 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.
North Carolina — Area, State, Country Managers, and Regional Coordinators
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.
NC diamond shields should only be added to NC-### highways; secondary roads with SR-#### numbers do not have shields.
