Glossary

Central reservation

Strip of land or barrier separating a dual carriage way

Cookies, cookie munching

Cookies are the dots on unconfirmed (pacman roads). Cookie munching (or road munching) is driving over such roads (and in the process confirming them)

Directionality

Whether a road is one-way, two-way or no-entrance

Divided highway

See dual carriageway

Dual carriageway

A road or highway in which the two directions of traffic are separated by a central barrier or strip of land, known as a central reservation or median

Freeway

Motorway; the major road system in your country

Geometry

The layout of a road. Each road is made up of straight line segments. These can be arbitrarily short, effectively allowing curves

Grade

The level or elevation of a road with respect to surrounding roads. So a road would normally be a level grade. A road going underneath in a tunnel would be a -1 grade. A road going over would be a +1 grade. At complicated junctions such as freeway interchanges there can be many levels. So on a flat map we assign levels to show that while the roads cross, they do not connect because they are at different heights or elevations

HOV

High Occupancy Vehicle. A vehicle with 2 or more passengers. HOV Lanes, also known as Carpool Lanes and Transit Lanes, are lanes restricted for the use of cars carrying a specified number of passengers

Junction

The point where two or more roads connect; often incorrectly referred to as a 'node'.

Junctions look differently depending on the situation:

• Selected and editable segment junction
  
• Selected and uneditable segment junction (no permissions to change)
  
• Changed, unsaved junction

Map tile, tile

The Waze map is divided into a grid using 1KM square areas which are called tiles or map tiles. Changes to map are processed on a per-tile basis. Changes to any part of a map tile causes Waze to mark the tile as changed and it will be rebuilt in the next map update cycle.

Median, median barrier

Strip of land or barrier separating a divided highway or motorway

Motorway

Freeway; the major road system in your country

Munching

Driving over unconfirmed roads (pacman roads). See cookie munching

Node

A handle on a segment or landmark allowing modification to the object geometry; also referred to as a 'geometry node'

Origin

Starting point for a driving route

Pacman roads

Unconfirmed roads marked with dots (cookies). Roads that have not been driven on since created or significantly edited in Cartouche. Driving over these roads earns you points and turns your car icon into a Pacman-type character that "munches the dots"

Pathfinder

The road segments linking roadways that are not necessarily their own named streets. They are often part of the rampways getting on or off freeways and highways or between freeways. After initially exiting a freeway they help further direct drivers through additional turn decisions before reaching the desired roadway or street. See the Junction Style Guide for more information.

Pothole

Also called a kettle or chuckhole, is a type of disruption in the surface of a roadway where a portion of the road material has broken away, leaving a hole.

Ramp

A freeway entrance or exit; sliproad. Ramps may be on-ramps or off-ramps. Ramps used to connect a roads at a different grade from the connecting road or freeway. See the Map Legend for more detail.

Road munching

Earning points by driving over roads (distance travelled). Also see cookie munching

Segment

Defines a section of roadway on which vehicles may travel. Multiple segments are connected by junctions.

Sliproad

A motorway entrance or exit; ramp. Sliproads are often at a different grade from the connecting road or motorway

Wayfinder

See Pathfinder

Wazer

A user of the Waze application