Texas/Mapraid

MapRaid! Houston,Texas will begin on 2015-01-11, Sunday. 19:00 UTC. The raid will last for roughly 7 days.

To join MapRaid! Houston, TX please fill out this form.

Please be sure to explore this Wiki page, and the specific page for the Houston Jan '15 raid. Also, check back regularly in case of added materials. You are only seeing modifications of this page made up until Mon, 11 Nov 2024 04:35:02 UTC, make sure to log in to the wiki to see the latest updates.

The following line will only be displayed after the Houston 01/15 raid has ended.

To see the results, and other information specific to MapRaid in Houston during Jan 2015, see the archived page.

Welcome to Texas!

Mission

Our primary mission will be to handle the URs, and PURs, followed by Place validation, and general map verification.

Functional Classification (FC) has been fully implemented for the Houston area. Some road types deviate intentionally from the state DOTs classifications. If you find a road which you feel is not classified correctly or set to the right type, please contact a local champ or State Manager (SM) before making changes.

Local Hosts

txemt (PM [Help])   - South Central Regional Coordinator - available

jasonh300 (PM [Help])   -South Central Regional Coordinator-

driving79 (PM [Help])   -Southeast Regional Coordinator-

pjlasl (PM [Help])   - US Champ, US CM, Texas SM -

ctpoole (PM [Help])   - Texas SM

karlcr9911 (PM [Help])   - Texas SM

jakflash (PM [Help])   - Houston area editor

coontex (PM [Help])   - Houston area editor

Important!

Please do not alter any of the following road types without first consulting a Local Host: Freeway, Ramp, Major Highway, minor Highway, Primary Street.

Please do not mass-edit Do not perform edits which will affect large numbers of segments at once. The edit history of segments is highly valuable in the process of solving URs. Mass editing effectively mass erases this history, permanently. We ask that all necessary processes which might affect large portions of the map, or long stretches of roads, be reserved until near the end of the MapRaid. This includes the “Select entire street” function.

Anything locked at 5 or 6? Please check with a local editor before making changes. Rank 5 and 6 editors - consider keeping highlights active for locks 5 and 6.

Close nodes We make extensive use of the "micro-dogleg" technique, where a geometry node is carefully placed, at full zoom, directly next to a junction node, in order to set the angle to create a desired Turn/Stay/Exit prompt. Please watch for these if you move any junction node, and be sure to recreate the same angle at the new location.

Local Guidance

Functional Classification

In the United States, we set our road types using a national standard called Functional Classification (FC). You can read a detailed explanation in our Road Type Wiki

The Functional Classification has been completed in the Houston Area. Occasionally, we find short segments that were missed in the selection process for conversion, and it is important that these be corrected for routing continuity. In general, however, we ask that Road Types not be changed without consulting one of the Local Hosts. In isolated cases, we have chosen to deviate from official classifications, due to errors or outdated information in the TxDot FC maps, or to better accommodate real-life situations and Waze quirks. It is important that these remain intact. Sometimes dirt roads may appear higher on FC maps but shouldn't be used by Waze for routing.

If you find an area that doesn't seem to be complete please bring it to the attention of a Local Host for review.

We observe the following minimum lock levels for Waze road types:

 Freeway  - 5

 Ramp  - locked to the level of the main road it is for

 Major Highway  (MH) - 4 - In some dense metropolitan areas, the minimum lock for MH can be 5

 Minor Highway  (mH) - 3 - In some dense metropolitan areas, the minimum lock for mH can be 4

 Primary Street  (PS) - 2

 Street  - 1, or as needed

Note that these are minimums and, for protection, certain segments may be at higher lock levels. If you find a road locked to a higher level than its minimum, please leave it locked no lower than that level when you have finished editing.

TxDot functional classification classifies roads as

• An Urban Interstate, Urban Principal Arterial Freeway & Expressway is a  Freeway 
• Any road that acts, looks, & feels like a freeway should be set to  Freeway  road type.
• An Urban Principal Arterial-Other is a  Major Highway 
• An Urban Minor Arterial is a  Minor Highway 
• An Urban Collector is a  Primary Street 
• All other roads are to be classified as  Street 

Place Editing

Not only were our URs and PURs out of control, places from both editors and trusted users have become a major issue. Misspelled names, wrong categories, missing addresses (EVERY business place should have an address!!) poor location and incorrectly assigned photos are all over the map. Use the powerful Place Browser (link below) and the information on the Place editing page (section 4.1) to get these places corrected.

Please use good judgement when approving photos. Any photo which has nothing to do with the actual place, reject. This is including, but not limited to body parts, car parts, bathrooms, children, & animals. If you're not sure, please ask one of the senior editors.

Gas Stations
Gas Stations should be locked to level 3 but, only after all data fields in the gas station have been filled. At least ensure that Brand, Name and Address have information. Remember to ask a hosting local if you need help identifying gas station information.

For editors below rank 3, once you have completely filled out a gas station with the min required information, please ask for a lock request.

Toll Roads / HOV / HOT / Truck Lanes

It is our custom to mark the toll checkbox on the entire sections of Toll Roads to include those ramps which are tolled. HOV and HOT road types have already been set correctly according to our local practices. If you have a question about one of these lanes, please contact a Local Host.

Construction

Houston has been under construction over the last 40 years. There are a number of major construction projects in process within the overall MapRaid area. These construction projects can cause frequent intermittent road closures. Many closures change daily and cause great numbers of URs to appear. When handling URs in one of these areas, be aware that reports of "Turn not allowed", "Missing road", "Wrong driving direction" are common, but may not indicate a map problem that can be fixed, because the physical road situation will change before our edits can take effect.

LINKS:

Texas driving conditions and road construction

Houston area road construction

I-69 US-59 is being converted to interstate standards to become I-69. They have officially designated US-59 as I-69 through most of the Houston area already, but TxDot has been slow to make the changes on the signs. If there are any URs about US-59 not being I-69, simply explain TxDot has been slow to make changes. There are many maps which have already shown the changes through the area.

U-turns

In Texas, U-turns are generally allowed unless unsafe, or specifically denied by signage. In general we can confirm, lock or "harden" U-turns (click to remove the Purple question mark indicating a soft turn -- see the Wiki) on residential streets, but please avoid confirming them on major streets.

Alleys

Alleys are not mapped in the State of Texas

UR & MP Guidance

As the MapRaid Texas begins, the greaterHouston area has over 6,000 open Update Requests (URs) and over 500 Map Problems (MPs); some of the URs are older than 300 days. Investigating and responding to these URs and MPs will be a primary objective of the MapRaid teams. Therefore, a UR Guidance page has been created to help guide teams through the maze of MPs and URs.

As we have now reached 7 days from the beginning of the Raid, and URs are being closed, please double check that the UR you are closing still is not/cannot be solved. Sometimes a question has been left for verification, and a map correction delayed, pending a response/no response. Also, DO always leave a closing comment; no UR should be closed without one.

Cameras

Speed Cameras are illegal to use in the State of Texas

Red light cameras are illegal to use in the City of Houston, however that does not apply to the various suburbs in the area. Following is a list of Cities known to currently use Red Light Cameras:

• Baytown
• Humble
• Jersey Village
• Lake Jackson
• Sugar Land

Mapping Resources

TxDot Functional Class

GIS

Harris County property appraisor Click to your region

Communication

Communication will be handled mainly in Google Hangouts (HOs) and WME chat which means WME Chat addon will be required (which can be found here). Chat rooms will be split up and named by location or group.

In addition, there is a Waze Forum dedicated to the MapRaid here, where questions can be asked, and specific issues may be identified as the Raid progresses.

Reference Links

The Basics

• New editor welcome page
• Waze Map Editor
• Best Map Editing Practice
• Editing manual
• Common editing mistakes
• How to make a Permalink
• All about using the WME Chat
• Community Plugins, Extensions and Tools where you'll links and descriptions to most of the editing scripts being used. Some of these are essential to good editing, and others make the editing process much easier. WME Validator, URO+, and WME Toolbox are highly recommended.
• Texas Wiki

Recommended Tools for Houston

• The Houston MapRaid Group/Region Overlay is available on GreasyFork to indicate the Group areas on the map as you work. You will need TamperMonkey (Chrome) or GreaseMonkey (Firefox) to install and use this.

• UR Comments - a tremendous time and labor saving tool with automation and integration with URO+, to help with working URs. Read the documentation.

• Place Browser - In combination with the Place Name Harmonization list, this is an invaluable tool for working on existing places. Be sure to click the About tab to get an overview of the tool.

• The WME Reference Sheet^[PDF] is a printable double-sided tri-fold quick reference guide to some of the common topics used in WME.

• Validator is a script that validates a map area in Waze Map Editor, highlights issues and generates a very detailed report with wiki references and solutions.
  

Download links:

* For Chrome browser please download the script at Chrome Web Store
* For Firefox browser please download the script at GreasyFork.org

Note: for Firefox browser you also need Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey installed.

• WME Chat Addon is a script that improves the WME chat GUI. For a list of all the features check the thread here.

 Tapermonkey/Greasmonkey is required to use this script

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Click here to view the MapRaid! Houston forum thread

Mapraid edit lists

Spreadsheets and forms are being used to streamline management of various group efforts and track important edits. Below you can find links to use these these forms, sheets, and see the lists.

Scheduled Edits

These are edits which need to be completed but must be postponed in order to retain history for UR Solving. These edits are designated to specific editors to complete, once they get the green light from the MapRaid! leaders.

These editing tasks have been delegated to specific editors for future completion at the end of MapRaid! LA. Please DO NOT EDIT or try to fix any of these items unless you are the designated "Editor to Complete" for that item in the list. These edits may only be completed once the "Continue When" instructions on the row for that item are met. If you have any questions please ask one of the listed Local Hosts.

Please enter new information on this form

Click here to view this list in fullscreen

Boots on the ground

We need local boots on the ground to check things. Please add requests for locals to go and scout things in person, as in on the road. Some examples when this would be used include to check and see if:

• The street view is accurate,
• A road is really closed,
• A turn really allowed/prohibited, etc.

To make a new request, or respond to an existing request, please use this form.

Click here to view this list in fullscreen