Places/Parking lot

New Parking features are being rolled out to the display of PLAs in the client app. It is now encouraged to convert point places to area places. New parking lot point places can no longer be created. Waze is also importing Parking Lot Areas. Do not delete them unless instructed to do so. Use the guidance here to improve their name, data, shape, and placement. Current guidance is to add PLAs to the map, since the client is being updated. Initially we should focus on adding large and/or popular lots, but all lots should eventually be added.

The Parking Lot Area (PLA) Place marks a well-defined area constructed for off-street public or private parking, including parking structures and garages as well as at-grade lots. The parking lot feature in the app will recommend parking lots to Wazers navigating to a nearby destination. Waze will recommend lots within ⅔ mile of a Wazer's destination. As the feature matures, Waze will recommend the 'most popular' lots that other Wazers have chosen when navigating to the same destination.

Area or point

Parking lots can ONLY be added as an area as of August 1st, 2016. They are a special place category; you cannot add other categories to a parking lot place, or convert/add a parking lot category to another kind of place.

Parking lot point places

As of this writing, you can no longer add Parking Lots as a point place.

Existing point places should be evaluated for inclusion and either converted to an area if applicable or deleted to solve the Map Problem (MP) report.

Scope

At this time, parking lot areas (PLA) should be added to all lots including businesses like gas stations or businesses with small parking lots (less than 10 spaces). Start by adding parking lots to event venues, shopping centers, airports, public use lots, garages, multi-use parking lots, popular lots with heavy usage or URs, etc.

Shopping Center PLA Example

For a mall or large shopping center, break the parking lot up into multiple lots, as shown in the image to the right (use your discretion or discuss with your State Manager(s) or RC for official guidance if necessary.)

If a lot is stacked (underground + surface), map it as one place covering the footprint of the parking lot / garage. Future UI enhancements may allow for better modeling of these lots.

If a lot has different entrances serving different levels of a multi-level garage and you cannot drive from one level to another to park, but rather the levels are served independently by different entrances, then they should be mapped as multiple places.

Care must be taken that stacked areas like this do not obscure each other. You do not want two areas with identical boundaries stacked on top of each other as it will be hard to notice or select the right one for editing in WME.

As with all Area Places, a Parking Lot Area Place's geometry nodes should not be allowed to "snap" to adjacent road segments or junctions while being adjusted. Doing so can make the Area Place, as well as the adjacent segments or junctions, more difficult to modify.

On-premises parking

• It is important to create 2 separate places - one for the complex / place, and one for its designated parking lot.
• Multiple parking lots for one premise: Create separate parking lots so the best parking lot can be recommended.
• Valet parking - Valet is a service attribute of a place but is also an attribute for a parking lot.
• Multi-level lots should be created as single place with the shape of the overall parking surface outlined.

Underground parking lots

• It is still important to map these correctly so they can be routed to properly, and recommended appropriately in the client to users. Since the underground portion of the garage is not visible to drivers, it is not important to be displayed fully in the app.
• To support the internal features of the client; The polygon must include all above ground areas, and the areas where it starts to go underground. See the Drawing section below for more details and examples on how to draw these lots.
• If parking lots overlap with a Place, do not add "Parking Lot" category to a Place. Create a separate Area polygon for the parking lot.

Rental-car lots

• With the availability of the "Car Rental" Place, rental car facilities and returns, including at airports, should be marked with the Car Rental Place category for the desk and/or the building. If there is any customer parking, or return vehicle parking, then mark that area with the parking lot category.

Creating and editing parking lot areas

Outline building footprint only

Drawing

The Parking Lot Area (PLA) Place should never be attached/snapped to roads. Places snapped to roads are difficult to edit.

For planned parking features to be announced later, it's important that the shape of the polygon be drawn as close as possible to the actual shape of the parking lot, including the entry/exit location. Keeping in mind that for multi-level garages, only the footprint of the structure should be outlined.

For underground garages it is not important to draw the polygon to match the internal perimeter since there is no GPS signal underground. It is important that the polygon includes any above ground areas, and the underground areas near any entrances or exits in a single polygon. If a lot has more than one entrance/exit the polygon must be made to connect both the areas. It is not important however to draw the polygon to the entire footprint of the garage. The accuracy of the entry point (Setting the stop point) is very important.

Naming

If a parking facility or area has a documented identity, such as "Beach Street Garage", "18th Avenue/Geary Lot", "Lot 7 - <Stadium name>", "Short-Term Parking - <Airport name>", "Cell Phone Lot - <Airport name>", etc., its Place should reflect that name to facilitate searches. Generic park-and-ride lots should be named consistently according to local custom, for example as "Park & Ride".

If a Parking Lot Area Place is contained within a larger Area Place, do not repeat the larger Area's full name. For example, if the Domestic Garage is contained within the "SFO San Francisco International Airport" Area Place boundaries, it need not be named "SFO San Francisco International Airport Domestic Garage"; "Domestic Garage - SFO" is sufficient.

If a mall or shopping center has several lots which can be associated with various anchor stores in the mall/shopping center, the lots can be named for the anchor stores. For example: "Macy's Lot - Big Hill Shopping Center"

In rare cases, a municipality or district provides public parking distinct from any other Area Place but without any documented or signed identity. These can be named after the municipality or district, for example, "Redwood City Public Parking". Do not use completely generic names such as "Parking" or "Public Parking" for anonymous parking facilities.

A block range or specific address should not be used to name a lot. If the lot does not have an official and/or signed name, then leave the name blank, and be sure to add the address details in the address field. Some imported PLAs were created with the address or address block range as the name, these names should be removed accordingly. Check your local guidance for any variations.

Restricted parking

If there are posted signs restricting the lot to only one certain category of users (e.g. Customers, Residents, Staff, Attendees, Permit Holders, Faculty, Students, etc.) ONLY, then put that restriction in the name. If the lot is restricted to more than one category of users, then put "(restricted access)" in the name. Also put the details of the restriction in the description.
Examples:

• "Starbucks Parking (customers only)"
• "Macy's Lot (customers only) - Big Hill Shopping Center"
• Lot D (attendees only) - Cheery Stadium"
• "Alpha Lot (permit only) - StudyHard University" Parking allowed by permit only ( even if permits are available to multiple groups (eg for Students, and Faculty)
• "Bravo Lot (restricted access) - StudyHard University" Parking allowed for Students, and Faculty ONLY
• "123 Somewhere St Lot (residents only)"
• "345 Other St Lot (restricted access)" Parking allowed for resident, guests, and staff

Description

Any lot which is fully restricted in some way (eg permit/resident/customer only), and not open to the public for general parking, must include that information as the first line of the description. If only some of the available spots are restricted, but there are some spots in the lot open to the public for general parking, then it should not be mentioned.
Examples:

• "Parking by permit only."
• "Parking only for customers of John Doe's Supermarket"
• "Parking only for residents of 123 Something St, and their guests"
• "Parking restricted to 15 minutes or less"

Operator

When there is a recognized parking operator, select it from the list, otherwise, leave this field blank. If an Operator is missing from the list that you feel should be added, please send the information to your Regional Coordinator (RC).

Locking standards

Due to this major shift in editing guidelines, it is recommended that once a Parking Lot Area (PLA) has been added, that it be locked to 3 to avoid newer editors, or those not familiar with the change, from editing or deleting the PLA.

Interface - more info

WME User Interface - More info tab

Opening hours - Hours lot is open. Set open times for the lot or select each day and the All day radio button for lots open 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.

• Cars can exit when lot is closed - Check if the lot or garage does not restrict egress after the lot is considered closed.
• Cost
  • Cost determination should be made based on parking lot fees for other similar and nearby lots for the same type of venue.
    • Example #1: Adding / editing parking lots near an airport; terminal parking may be the most expensive at $25/day, express parking the next level down (moderate) at $15/day and remote parking the next best option at $5/day (low).
    • Example #2: Hotel parking; on-site $50/day (expensive), self-parking garage at $30/day (moderate), and off-site parking at $15/day (low)
  • Each lot within approximately ⅔ mile (1 km) radius should be taken into consideration for PLA cost determination where appropriate.

• Services (select services listed below)
  • Reservations - Lot accepts reservations or accepts pre-paid parking passes or permits.
  • Disability parking - Spaces exist for handicap parking / wheelchair accessible spaces.
  • Car wash - A car wash is on premises within the parking lot (some airports and other venues have amenities such as this for those parking within the lot).
  • Security - On-site security for the specific lot exists
• Number of Spots
  • List the most accurate number of spots within the specified parking lot area polygon.
• Contact info
  • A link to the specific parking lot or vendor's site (if applicable) is permissible here.
• Phone
  • The phone number for the main venue to which the parking lot belongs or to the parking lot vendor is permissible here.

Parking lot roads

Don't forget to map any necessary parking lot roads, to allow for proper navigation into and out of the parking lot. The parking lot place does not substitute roads needed for actual navigation.

Parking lot roads are not required simply because a lot qualifies for a PLA. It is OK for small lots which do not qualify for their own PLRs to still be mapped as a PLA, the two features are independent of each other. PLRs have an effect on routing which can sometimes be detrimental. While it is important to map the necessary PLRs, please follow the guidance and do not add PLRs which are not necessary.

What does not qualify as a PLA?

On-street parking

On-street parking should not be added at this time.

Valet only facility

Parking lots or garages accessed exclusively by valet staff, and situated away from the valet drop off point should not be added to the map. (If regular drivers are not allowed to drive up to the valet facility, and rather must drop the vehicle at a different location, and the valet drivers are the only ones driving to this facility location, then it serves no purpose being recommended ever.

In such cases, where the valet drop off is not near the stop point for the place it services, the valet drop off may added as a PLA, and marked as valet only in the name.

If regular drivers are allowed to drop their vehicle at the valet facility, or there is mixed use of the facility where non-valet users can park as well, then a PLA should be added.

Image of properly mapped lots nearby lots with >10 spots, and street parking emphasizing that the latter should not be added to the map as a PLA.