Hi
Since everyone else is doing it. Here's my canned responses. I started with DwarfLord's examples and modified.
- This is a collection of boilerplate responses for most typically encountered UR issues.
Update Requests with no immediately obvious issue
How to pave a road
To "pave a new road" in Waze open the report menu: Choose Map Issue and select the Pave tab: Click on Pave road to start paving. To stop paving click on the icon at the left of the screen:
After a new road is paved by a waze user, it will get added to the map after an editor edits it and cleans it up.
UR not near a road
Volunteer responding -
It appears that you are not near any drivable roads. Waze is specifically not intended for any other use than driving as walking/biking or other activities mess up the road speed data Waze uses to create routes.
Waze did not send us enough information to fix your request. Would you please let us know what went wrong?
speed limit not showing in app
We have had several reports of speed limits not showing in the app even when they are set. Unfortunately, in this situation, there is nothing wrong with the map that we can adjust to prevent issues with the app. Since speed limits are a new feature, I suggest being patient while Waze works out all the bugs. You can also report this to https://support.google.com/waze/answer/6276841
speed limit already correct
Volunteer responding - It looks like the speed limit is already set correctly here. We have heard that many of these reports were submitted inadvertently. Due to the large number of these reports which we've received since the release of speed limit reporting, we are closing this report at this time. Speed limits only display in the client when you are speeding, unless you set the speedometer settings to show them all the time. Waze is a bit slow with refreshing the screen when the speed limit changes, it can take several to seconds or longer. Mobile phone GPS signals typically have some delay, you may notice this as you drive past a street in real world while Waze shows that you are not quite past the street yet. Unfortunately, in this situation, there is nothing wrong with the map that we can adjust to prevent issues with the app. Since speed limits are a new feature, I suggest being patient while Waze works out all the bugs. This request will now be closed. Please feel free to report any other Speed limit signs or map issues you encounter on your drives. Thanks!
Please be aware that sending multiple reports for the same map issue over a short time taxes the volunteer map editors and prevents them from helping other reporters. Sending multiple, identical reports of any kind may be considered gaming, and can result in loss of reporting privileges.
PS Speed limits are for informational purposes only and do not affect routing or ETA calculations, those are based on average actual speeds of drivers on the roads.
missing invalid speed limit
Volunteer responding to your speed limit error report. What should the speed limit be? Any chance you could tell us where this speed limit begins and ends?
Speed Limit Lag
It looks like the speed limit change is already set correctly here. Mobile phone GPS signals typically have some delay. You may notice this as you drive past a street in real world while Waze shows that you are not quite past the street yet. Also Waze seems to be a bit slow with refreshing the screen on speed limit changes. So because of this, while it is nice to have the user request dropped right at the speed limit sign, I'd suggest waiting a few seconds to see if waze is just slow at refreshing the speed limit. If you think this is wrong or there is some other problem let us know. Otherwise well will close out this report in a few days. Thanks!
General Error
Volunteer responding to your "general error" map-issue report. Waze gives us volunteers very little to go on. What was wrong with the map? Can you provide any detail?
Missing Road
Volunteer responding to your "missing road" map-issue report. Waze gives us volunteers very little to go on. What was wrong with the map? What road is missing?
Missing Bridge Overpass
Volunteer responding to your "missing bridge" map-issue report. Waze gives us volunteers very little to go on. What was wrong with the map? What road is missing?
Missing Exit
Volunteer responding to your "missing exit" map-issue report. Waze gives us volunteers very little to go on. What was wrong with the map? What exit is missing?
Wrong Driving Direction
Volunteer responding to your "wrong driving direction" map-issue report. Waze gives us volunteers very little to go on; we don't even know where you were going! What went wrong with Waze's route? Most importantly, can you tell us your destination as you entered it into Waze?
Incorrect Turn
Volunteer responding to your "incorrect turn" map-issue report. Waze gives us volunteers very little to go on. What junction was incorrect? What was incorrect about it?
Incorrect Junction
Volunteer responding to your "incorrect junction" map-issue report. Waze gives us volunteers very little to go on. What junction was incorrect? What was incorrect about it?
Turn Not Allowed
Volunteer responding to your "turn not allowed" map-issue report. Waze gives us volunteers very little to go on. What turn was not allowed? Why wasn't it allowed? At what intersection?
Likely cause identified, give reporter opportunity to clarify
MN Basemap
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. This area is what we call "basemapped" in that it has not been edited since the start of Waze, and it is still the untouched original basemap import.
The Waze map is completely crowdsourced by volunteers. Sadly we do not have enough volunteer editors to cover the entire state and we have even fewer editors in rural areas. So honestly, I can't predict when anyone will be available to update this area.
The good news is you can help fix the map yourself! By logging into https://www.waze.com/editor/ you can fix the areas you have driven. If you are interested in mapping in MN, you can join our Google Hangout for MN editors where you can get help with mapping by going to this address https://hangouts.google.com/group/8gF0thNrKFjtkOTG3 Hopefully you can volenteer some time to help out with the map in this area. Thanks.
Open to any editor. Please close this report when the area is updated.
The "Waze 180"
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. When you ask for a route immediately after waking up Waze, it has to guess what direction you are pointed. If it guesses wrong, it may give you an awkward route to avoid any illegal U-turns (I call this the "Waze 180"). When Waze offers you a route that starts off the wrong way, please drive a little in the direction you are pointed and then ask for the route again; or, keep driving and let Waze recalculate. This gives Waze a chance to know which way you are pointed and offer you a more suitable route. If you are sure this was not the problem, please respond using the Waze app (emails don't work with the reporting system) otherwise we'll close out this report in a few days. Cheers!
Doesn't know I've arrived / going around the block
Volunteer responding to your report that Waze didn't realize you'd arrived at your destination. It's possible Waze's location "pin" for your destination isn't sufficiently precise. What exactly did you enter as a navigation target? We can see if its position can be improved. Cheers! (Open to any editor)
Routing back the way driver came
Volunteer responding to your report. The little bit of data Waze gave us suggests that it was trying to take you back the way you came, but you continued forward. This can happen when Waze (1) doesn't know about a legal U-turn; (2) has a badly incorrect position for your destination; (3) was given an erroneous destination; or, (4) is still trying to take you to an old destination. Unfortunately we don't know what your destination was! Where did you ask Waze to take you? Were you expecting Waze to offer you a U-turn? If so, where? Please respond using the app, emails don't work with the reporting system. (Open to any editor)
Failed route, user explicitly reports road closure
Volunteer responding to your report of a road closure. Do you know how long the closure will last? If it is only for a few days or less, we volunteer map editors can't help. It takes at least that long for our edits to make it to handheld devices! The best way to report short-term road closures is with the Report->Closure feature in the Waze app (you used Report->Map Issue to file this report). However, if this is a long-term closure or time-based or vehicle-type-based restriction, please respond using the app (emails don't work with the reporting system) and let us know as much detail as you can. Cheers! (Open to any editor)
Volunteer responding. Looks like Waze thought you'd be better off taking an alternate route to get where you were going. Waze is not perfect by any means but it often does know things about upcoming traffic that one can't see from the car. Unfortunately Waze doesn't provide us volunteers with traffic data so there's no way we can verify whether the route was in fact optimal at the time of your drive. If we've misunderstood the problem please respond using the app (e-mails don't work with the reporting system). Otherwise we'll close this report in a few days. Cheers! (Open to any editor)
Construction zones (followup response)
If the roads are just slow but not closed, unfortunately there's nothing we can do; we have to rely on Waze's real-time traffic-speed monitoring to identify the best route, and depending on how many Wazers have been that way, Waze may simply not know about the problems yet. Now, if the roads are completely closed, then our best approach depends on whether they are short-term or long-term closures. To report short-term closures please use the Report -> Closure feature in the app, as that takes effect immediately. On the other hand, Report -> Map Issue (what you used here) can take quite some time and only makes sense for long-term closures. Is there a long-term closure you'd like us to implement? If so, please provide details and we'd be glad to look into it! Otherwise we'll close this report in a few days. Cheers!
Volunteer responding to your map-issue report in which you described the problem as an address. Did you mean to enter the address as a navigation destination? If there is a problem with the address please respond using the Waze app (emails don't work with the reporting system) and explain what went wrong. Otherwise we'll assume this was an accident and close out this report in a few days. Cheers! (Open to any editor)
Lapsed conversations with other editor(s)
Unanswered reporter?
Another volunteer here. The reporter appears to have provided enough information to investigate this map issue. Any progress?
Looks like "not identified"?
Another volunteer editor here. Any progress on this map issue? If not, is it time to close it as "not identified"? To the reporter: please feel welcome to report a map issue again if the problem recurs.
Looks like "solved"?
Another volunteer editor here. It appears this map issue has been addressed. Is it time to close it as "solved"? Cheers!
Google pins
Google pin (easy)
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. The problem was caused by inaccurate data provided by Google (Waze gets most of its address locations from Google). We asked Google to fix its database and they accepted. Please allow at least two days for the fix to go live. Then -- and this is critical! -- please remove all instances of this destination from your Waze app's recents and/or favorites lists! This will delete the inaccurate position data from the app. The next time you navigate to the destination, Waze will automatically find the updated position. Cheers!
Google pin (difficult)
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. The problem is caused by inaccurate data provided by Google (Waze gets most of its address locations from Google). We have asked Google to fix its database but we have no control over how fast Google will respond. It is usually days, but it can be weeks or even months. We'll leave this report open in the meantime. Cheers!
Google FAIL, how to use Waze
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. The problem is caused by inaccurate data provided by Google (Waze gets most of its destination locations from Google). In this case, unfortunately, we cannot persuade Google to change its database (this often happens with large areas such as parks and airports, or with high-profile locations). You can however use the Waze database to reach the destination. First -- and this is critical! -- remove any instances of the destination from your Waze app's recents and/or favorites lists. Then look up your destination again, BUT DO NOT SELECT ANY OF THE IMMEDIATELY-OFFERED ITEMS, EVEN IF YOU SEE A PERFECT MATCH! Instead, scroll to the bottom of the menu and select "More results for...". You will be given the opportunity to choose a search engine under "Other search engines". Choose Waze and then select your destination. This is cumbersome and we volunteers don't like it any more than you do, but it works, and once the correct information is in your recents and/or favorites lists you should not need to repeat the process. Cheers!
Closing alerts
fixed speed limits
The missing/incorrect speed limit you reported has been updated. Please wait a few days for the map to be updated. Thank you!
No response, closure imminent
Hi, we haven't heard back regarding our last comment on the map issue you reported. In a few days we'll close the report. Cheers!
No response, closing now (unnecessary if imminent-closure already sent)
Hi, we haven't heard back regarding our last question on the map issue you reported and will close this report. Please feel welcome to report problems with the map in the future. Thanks!
If you'd like to help correcting more map problems, you can help contribute to the map at https://www.waze.com/editor/
Fixed Roads
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. Thanks to your report we've found and fixed a problem with the map. The fix should reach handheld devices within a week, but on rare occasions it can take longer. Thanks.
If you'd like to help correcting more map problems, you can help contribute to the map at https://www.waze.com/editor/
Fixed Road Construction
Volunteer responding to your report of road construction. Thanks to your report we've updated the map. The update should reach handheld devices right away, but on rare occasions it can take longer. Thanks.
Fixed Places and/or House Numbers
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. The good news is that we found your destination was incorrectly located on the Waze map and we have fixed it! The fix should be available within a week, but on rare occasions it can take longer. The bad news is, your Waze app has remembered the old, wrong position from your last drive and will not automatically update it. Please wait at least a few days, preferably a week, then remove all instances of this destination from your recents, favorites, home, and/or work lists. That will force the app to obtain the new position the next time you navigate there. Thanks.
Fixed location in Waze AND Google map maker
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. The good news is that we found your destination was incorrectly located on the Waze map and we have fixed it! We also went ahead and fixed it in Google Maps. The fix in Waze should be available within a week, but on rare occasions it can take longer. For Google Maps, no one can predict how long it takes for them to update anything, sometimes it can take many months. The bad news is, your Waze app has remembered the old, wrong position from your last drive and will not automatically update it. Please wait at least a few days, preferably a week, then remove all instances of this destination from your recents, favorites, home, and/or work lists. That will force the app to obtain the new position the next time you navigate there. Thanks.
(NOTE TO EDITORS, DO NOT INCLUDE IN RESPONSE: Remember when changing House Numbers to make some kind of road edit close by to trigger a tile update. It could be as simple as selecting a segment drag handle to create a new geometry node, then deleting the node and saving.)
RTC server down
We've had several reports of being routed through road closures around this date. We think it was a temporary server problem and there's nothing us volunteer editors can do about that.
One thing to check though is to make sure you are not using "shortest route" as that will route you through road closures. Make sure to use "fastest route" as only that navigation setting will avoid closures.
Roads not Displaying
Volunteer editor responding - sorry to hear roads are not displaying as expected. This may be for one of a few reasons:
1) The Waze app "hides" roads from its display while you are driving so as to avoid cluttering the screen. The faster you drive, the more roads it hides.
2) Also, if you zoom out the display, Waze hides more and more roads, showing only the most significant.
3) If the Waze app has recently downloaded new maps, it does (rarely!) happen that some roads don't display; quitting and restarting the Waze app should cure that problem.
If none of the above works for you, you can find more troubleshooting tips at https://support.google.com/waze/answer/6081221?hl=en
That's the best we volunteers can offer regarding road display, so we'll close this report. Hope it helps!
Bogus GPS
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. It looks like your GPS position information was awfully inaccurate. Bad GPS can cause all sorts of problems. For example, Waze may think you are on some other road and give you bogus directions to get you back to the road you're already on. There's nothing we volunteer map editors can do about this, but in the future, please try ensuring that your handheld device has as clear a view of the sky as possible so it will get the most accuracy out of the GPS satellite signals. Even this may not be enough in deep valleys, thick forests, or urban canyons, but it will help. Cheers!
Reporting traffic lights
Volunteer responding to your report regarding traffic and/or metering lights. Thanks, but Waze does not track the presence, behavior, or repair status of lights. Instead, it tracks the average speed with which Wazers transit the road segment in question. These averages will include any time Wazers spend waiting for lights. That is, the presence and operation of any lights on the route are already implicit in Waze's average-speed information and need not be handled explicitly. So there's no need to report light situations (and we have no way to enter that information anyway!). Cheers!
Still tracking stale route
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue. It looks like you departed from Waze's recommended route and instead followed a path that happened to parallel the recommended route. Under these circumstances, Waze can't be sure if you really left its route or if your GPS position data are just a little off. GPS data are never perfect, so Waze assumed the GPS was to blame and continued to give you driving instructions for its original route; it's no wonder the instructions didn't make sense. Sorry to say there's nothing we volunteer map editors can do about this, I wish we could be more help. Cheers!
Stale or bogus traffic indications/routing
Volunteer responding to your report of a map issue involving wrong traffic indications. We volunteers don't have access to the traffic history and have no way to figure out what happened here that led to your report. Typical causes include: (1) Waze may not have data on fresh accidents or slowdowns from other Wazers and may route you into them simply because it doesn't know yet; (2) after Waze has detected traffic, it can remember it for awhile, sometimes well after the situation changes; (3) Waze may route you into traffic to avoid a temporary closure elsewhere that was flagged by other Wazers; and (4) sometimes slow-moving Wazers can confuse Waze into incorrectly detecting heavy traffic (this is why one should never run Waze while walking or biking along roads). Without access to the traffic history all we can do is speculate. I wish we could be more help!
Waited forever to make Waze's recommended left turn
Volunteer responding. Sorry to hear of your experience. I would hate it too if Waze asked me to make a left turn through heavy traffic! Unfortunately there's nothing we volunteer map editors can do. If we disable the left turn, then others who want that legal turn during off-peak hours will complain. The good news is that, if you did follow Waze's directions, your long wait did not go unnoticed; Waze keeps track of how long it takes to successfully complete a turn. Once a number of Wazers have completed a turn at different times of day, Waze gets an idea of how slow that turn is and may then avoid it during peak traffic times. Unfortunately we volunteers have no manual tools to tweak or accelerate this process. I wish we could be more help!
Legal route but dangerous or impossible in heavy traffic
Volunteer responding. Sorry to hear of your experience! The volunteer editing community has wrestled with this issue many times, and every time we conclude that the Waze map must support legally-possible routes, even if some are dangerous or impossible in heavy traffic. Waze tries really hard to find you the fastest route, and it does that very well. Sometimes though, the fastest route may not be the safest or smartest route. As drivers ourselves we know how frustrating this is. We could prohibit maneuvers that may be difficult in traffic, but drivers would complain when Waze avoided those routes at other times. We sure hate this when it happens to us, and wish we could do something about it, but there's no good solution to this problem.
There are plans in the works to have an "avoid dangerous turns" option in waze in the future. But with Waze "coming soon" could mean it is still years away. So until then there's nothing we can do.
Verified temporary road closure
Volunteer responding to your report of a road closure. The best information we have suggests this was only a temporary road closure and that the route is now open again. Sadly it's not possible for us volunteers to be on top of every temporary road closure and program them into Waze. But you can help! You can report short-term road closures directly into the Waze system using the Report->Closure feature in the Waze app. You can improve other Wazers' driving experience within minutes! (but, doing this while driving is probably not practical or safe, so only do this when it is safe for you to do so.) It helps much more than reporting Map Issues; by the time Map Issues reach the volunteers, the temporary closure is usually over, and there's nothing we can do. Thanks!
Road inexplicably closed/restricted outside of normal restricted hours (followup response)
If the restrictions already programmed in the map are usually correct, there's not much more we volunteers can do. However, if you'd like to help other Wazers when you find unexpected temporary closures, please use the Report->Closure feature in the app. It takes effect immediately, and the more people use it, the greater confidence Waze assigns the closure. This will work much better than submitting a "Map Issue" report like this one, since Map-Issue reports depend completely on volunteers for processing and can take some time. Sorry I can't be more help. Cheers!
Unexplained detour
Volunteer editor responding.
The great thing about Waze is that it tries really hard to find you the fastest route. Sometimes the bad thing about Waze is it tries a little too hard to find you the fastest route and creates strange routes like this.
Traffic, a daily pattern of traffic, a temporary road closure, a bicyclist or very slow vehicle inappropriately using Waze, or just a slow stoplight that routinely backs up cars can all cause Waze to suggest surprising alternatives. Sometimes Waze may recommend a detour even after traffic has cleared up because it doesn't know yet. Also, if Waze hasn't yet collected enough data in the area, it may overestimate the speeds of side roads, turns, and U-turns.
I've found that sometimes the best way to fix these problems is to follow Waze's suggestion a few times. If it is slower, Waze records your speed data and should eventually adjust future routes. Or, you may find the alternative is a faster route.
We'll close this report as the map itself appears to be OK. Thanks!
Unexplained NON-detour
Volunteer responding. Waze is indeed aware of the alternate route to bypass traffic. It routed you on a more typical path at that time because it thought, at that moment, that it would be faster to go that way. We volunteer map editors can't do anything about Waze's traffic detection and routing algorithms, but we have checked that the map itself does look OK. Cheers!
Pronunciation
Volunteer responding to your report of poor pronunciation by Waze text-to-speech (TTS). Unfortunately even the most senior volunteers have little influence on the TTS system, and none of us can alter how any one street name is pronounced. I understand the frustration and I sympathize. Sorry not to be more help. Cheers!
No hablo muy bien el Español
Lo siento, estamos voluntarios solamente para mantener las mapas. No hablamos muy bien el Español y no podemos ayudar con el aplicación. Buena suerte y feliz viajes!
(Regrets, we are volunteers only for maintaining the maps. We don't speak Spanish well and we can't help with the application. Best of luck and happy travels!)
NO THRU TRAFFIC
Volunteer responding. Confusingly, the "private road" Waze type does not mean it is a private road. It is just a flag that Waze should prohibit thru traffic. This is indeed a public road, but legally-valid street signs mark it NO THRU TRAFFIC. For better or worse Waze, like most folks, "can't fight city hall" and must respect these signs. The good news is that, if you choose to drive on this street, Waze will automatically recalculate your route without complaint. Cheers!
Possible routing bug
Volunteer responding. The snippet of data Waze provided us along with your report does suggest inexplicable routing. I've checked everywhere I can think of and unfortunately I can't find anything wrong with the map. But, Waze is currently working on an issue with speed detection for different turns out of an intersection. In rare instances this issue can lead Waze to suggest non-ideal routes, usually involving one or more U-turns or loops. We volunteers have no way to know if your experience resulted from this issue, but as there's nothing I can find on the map I'll close this report as "not identified". I sure wish I could be more help but that's what's going on.
We can't do "continue straight" (usually a followup response)
That behavior has happened to me too and I agree it is disconcerting. Unfortunately at this time the Waze app has no ability to provide a "continue straight" instruction. We can often persuade it to say keep left or keep right, but we can't make it say keep going. In this situation, where all you needed to do was continue straight ahead with no turns, I'm afraid I don't see any way to improve the driving instructions. Waze continues to work on their app and their routing engine and it's very possible they will support a "continue on" instruction in the future, but for now we volunteer editors can't improve situations like this. Sorry not to be more help!
Apparent duplicate
Volunteer responding. Based on this report's timestamp, location, and other data, it appears to be a duplicate of one or more other reports submitted nearby. A single report is usually sufficient, so we will close this as an accidental resubmission. No worries! However, please be aware that sending multiple reports for the same map issue over a short time taxes the volunteer map editors and prevents them from helping other reporters. Sending multiple, identical reports of any kind may be considered gaming, and can result in loss of reporting privileges.
Other
= Response time
The Waze map is completely crowdsourced by volunteers. Sadly we do not have enough volunteer editors to cover the entire state and we have even fewer editors in rural areas. So if you are unhappy with the response times, we have GREAT NEWS! You can help fix the map yourself! By logging into https://www.waze.com/editor/ you can fix the areas you have driven. If you are interested in mapping in MN, you can join our Google Hangout for MN editors where you can get help with mapping and have access to higher level editors to help with restriced edits by going to this address https://hangouts.google.com/group/8gF0thNrKFjtkOTG3 Hopefully you can volenteer some time to help out with the map in this area. Thanks.