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Places is the Waze Point of Interest (POI) system. Places supports two types of POIs: Point and Area.

Point Places create app-searchable POIs with limited rendering on the user's client display. The Point Place may be used for many destinations subject to the table of Place categories and types, but becomes especially useful in situations where the other POI search engines accessed by Waze do not list a desired destination.

Area Places (formerly called Landmarks) serve all the functions of Point Places while providing additional visual orientation cues on the user's client display. Because of their increased visibility and the resulting potential for map clutter, Area Places are easily overused. In principle, if a location is not distinctive and significant enough to orient drivers, it should not be marked with an Area Place. This principle guided the determination of Point vs. Area in the table of Place categories and types. Exceptions include gas stations, which receive special handling.

The Point type of Place is rendered with the following icons:

Standard Point marker pin is purple-ish

The currently selected Point marker will turn blue

Any Point markers which have been edited and not yet saved by you will turn an orange-pink color, just like Area Places and segments.

Location Details

• The Point marker for a Place should be located on or nearest to the segment to which the driver should be navigated. The Point Marker is the stop point.

The Area type of Place is rendered as a polygon. Just like a segment, you can adjust the shape by using the geometry handles. All Area Places in the editor show in pink when not selected and blue-green when selected:

Location Details

• The Area type has a target which is the navigation stop point.
• The target stop point can be moved anywhere within the shape and also a short distance outside the actual Area shape
• The stop point target should be placed on or nearest to the segment to which the driver should be navigated.

Extent

Some locations that qualify for an Area Place may involve one or more structures as well as open space, roads, and parking. In such cases, particularly if these components form a unified complex or campus with an overall identity, the boundaries of the Area Place should encompass the entire property (i.e., "mapped to the fence line"). This ensures that clients render and label the Area Place with the correct significance when viewed with reduced zoom.

Other qualifying Area Places whose property lines are substantially identical with a single destination structure may be drawn, if desired, to approximate the structure's outline or footprint.

The Gas Station and Parking Lot categories of Area Place suppress automated detection of Map Problems and should always be mapped at least to the extent of the drivable area (see Places/Parking lot for more detail on the Parking-Lot Area Place).

Overlap

In some cases an extensive Area Place may contain within it locations that would themselves qualify as Area Places; for example, different medical buildings within a hospital campus or separate malls within a large shopping complex. As of this writing, however, the Waze client renders only the names of subset Area Places and does not show visible boundaries for them. Users therefore cannot visually distinguish Area Places subset within other Area Places; the Area-Place text labels appear to "float" amidst an undifferentiated colored background.

Future versions of the Waze client may render overlapping Area Places more usefully. In anticipation of this, qualifying Area Places may be drawn subset within others.  It may be a better approach for the time being to use Point Places for the components of a larger Area Place, unless it is essential that the subset Place names be visible in the current version of the Waze client. If overlapping Area Places do render more usefully in the future, qualifying Point Places may be converted to Area Places at that time.

Template:As of, Point Places are not rendered in the Live map, or Client Devices, but are searchable within the app.

Point placement

The Point Place is to be placed on or nearest to the segment to which the driver should be navigated. Here is an example of a gas station Point located directly on a parking lot segment.

Area placement

Here is an example of an Area (a large park in this case) which has an entry road on the east side. The second image is zoomed in on the target to show how this type of Area should have its navigation stop point set.

There are some situations where it will be appropriate to mix both Area and Point Places. For example, shopping centers and shopping malls where the mall itself could be considered a navigation destination, but there are also individual stores which are also valid for being marked.

A simple shopping center, when mapped in this manner, would look like this:

• A Place can be assigned to multiple categories
• The Primary Category for a Place must be the first one you enter
• The Primary Category is displayed in a darker shade of blue than the others
• The Primary Category is used to determine whether to use a Point or Area for the Place

Every Place, whether Point or Area, should have as much detail completed as possible. This includes a name, proper categorization, and full street address, city and state. If any Place doesn't have a City or Street, you will need to check the None checkbox.

Here is an example of a Gas Station Area with its details completed:

Additional fields to allow entry of more detail will be coming in future editor releases. (One field available in previous editor releases but not available at this time, is phone number.)

Here is the global guidance on selecting Area or Point for Places in the Waze Map Editor.

The Primary Category for a Place is used to determine whether to use a Point or Area.

The Parking Lot Place marks a well-defined area constructed for off-street public parking, including parking structures and garages as well as at-grade lots. There are many elements that must be considered before deciding to map a parking lot. The details are covered in Places/Parking lot.