How and When to Mark Parking: The Parking-Lot Place Area
- The decision to map a Parking-Lot Place Area is covered here, and the decision to map a Parking-Lot Road is covered in the Road type article for mapping parking lot roads.
Principles
The Parking-Lot Place Area marks a well-defined area constructed for off-street public parking, including parking structures and garages as well as at-grade lots. Two principles govern whether a given lot, structure or garage warrants a Parking-Lot Place Area:
- General Public Use
- The Waze map must never show a Parking-Lot Place Area where a naive driver could risk towing, ticketing, or violating community norms. All Parking-Lot Place Areas must be legally and locally condoned for at least short-term use by the general public. There are no exceptions.
- General Purpose Use
- Drivers who leave cars in a Parking-Lot Place Area should be entitled to walk or take other transportation to any destination of choice, and this should be a common occurrence. The sole exception is for public waiting lots where drivers are required to remain with their vehicles, such as airport cell-phone lots.
Parking that does not satisfy both general-public and general-purpose principles shall not be marked with the Parking-Lot Place Area.
Implementation
Extent
Parking-Lot Place Areas should be mapped to the property boundaries (the "fence line"). If those are unclear, or if the Parking-Lot Place Area is located within the boundaries of a larger Place Area (such as an airport), map to the extent of the lot, structure, or garage.
Naming
If a parking facility or area has a documented identity, such as "Beach Street Garage", "18th Avenue/Geary Lot", "City Lot #7", "Short-Term Parking", "Cell-Phone Lot", etc., its Place Area 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 the lot is contained within a larger Place Area, do not repeat that Area's full name; for example if the Domestic Garage is contained within the "SFO San Francisco International Airport" Place-Area boundaries, it need not be named "SFO San Francisco International Airport Domestic Garage"; "Domestic Garage" is probably sufficient (unless the neighboring region is littered with Places named "Domestic Garage" in which case "SFO Domestic Garage" would be more appropriate).
Some municipal parking facilities have no separate documented identity. For example, general-purpose public parking associated with a train station may not have its own explicit name. Place Areas for such parking should leave the name field blank unless local Waze convention dictates otherwise. In particular, never use hopelessly generic names such as "Parking" or "Public Parking" or even "Train Station Parking".
Free versus Paid Parking
As long as parking satisfies both general-public and general-purpose principles, it is eligible for a Parking-Lot Place Area regardless of whether it is free or paid.
Suppression of Automated Problem Reports
Like the Gas Station Place Area, Parking Lot Place Areas suppress Waze's automated "Map Problem" reports such as for missing roads; thus the Parking Lot Place Area should never be drawn over or attached/snapped to roads bearing through traffic.
Special Cases
Airports
Airports typically distinguish between parking for different terminals, for short or long term, for rental car return, and for cell-phone/waiting. As common navigation destinations, such parking deserves to be marked with Parking-Lot Place Areas and named according to the airport's documented nomenclature, even if it means creating Parking-Lot Place Areas within a larger Airport Place Area.
Bus and Train Stations
Bus and train stations are often located within city centers and may offer convenient public parking. At some stations, such parking may be intended and commonly used for general purposes. At others it may be illegal, inappropriate, or simply pointless and uncommon, to park if one doesn't intend to use the transit facility. Thus whether to mark bus- or train-station parking with a Parking-Lot Place Area depends on the local situation. Regardless, if by local Waze convention the station itself would be marked with a Place Area (as opposed to a Place Point), the boundaries of the station's Place Area should include its associated parking. In some cases this may mean a Parking-Lot Place Area would be located within a larger Bus- or Train-Station Place Area.
Privately-Operated Public Parking
Private businesses often provide public parking in dense urban centers and near airports. Privately-operated parking facilities that support hourly general-purpose parking for the public may receive Parking-Lot Place Areas. Private facilities intended only for long-term parking are special-purpose and inappropriate for the Parking-Lot Place Area.
Examples
The Parking-Lot Place Area is always appropriate for:
- Generic Park & Ride and similar municipal commuter parking.
- Off-street general-purpose short-term public parking lots, structures or garages independent of any particular mall, complex, campus, or other final destination.
- Large rental car return areas, particularly those shared by multiple vendors, such as are found on airport property.
The Parking-Lot Place Area is NEVER appropriate for:
- Street parking, whether parallel, angled, or right-angled.
- Parking intended to serve a single non-transit-oriented destination such as a business, store, office, church, park, city hall, library, hospital, gym, school, museum, restaurant, campground, etc. Do not mark such parking with the Parking-Lot Place Area even if locals use it as if it were general purpose.
- Employee, student, resident, visitor, or guest parking.
- Parking for attendees of events, fairs, services, or performances.
- Parking associated with campuses, cemeteries, parklands, shopping malls, theme parks, stadiums, private installations, and office parks or complexes of any size or purpose.
Including Noncompliant Parking in Larger Place Areas
Some neighborhoods enjoy abundant but dedicated parking for shopping malls, office parks, theme parks, stadiums and the like. Parking lots for exceptionally large venues may even have distinct, named identities such as "South Lot", "Green Lot", etc. Such parking is typically not intended as general purpose and thus should NOT be marked with a Parking-Lot Place Area. However, if under local Waze conventions the complex itself warrants a Place Area, any associated parking can be included within its boundaries. For example, a Shopping Mall Place Area with dedicated parking would include all stores and parking associated with the mall.
The Parking-Lot Place Point
As of this writing the client display of Parking-Lot Place Areas versus Place Points remains unclear. In the future, the Parking-Lot Place Point may be useful for identifying parking in certain limited situations that would not be appropriate for the Place Area, for example stadium or theme-park parking zones, rental car returns for specific vendors, or privately-operated long-term public parking. However, until more clarity emerges, the Parking-Lot Place Point should not be used.