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Revision as of 13:18, 26 March 2014

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

Point

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.


Area

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.


Setting the stop point for a Place

Point placement

The Point Area 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 it's navigation stop point set.

Large Area Place
Stop point detail zoom


Area+Point Combinations

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:


Multiple categories

  • 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


Place address detail

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.)


When to use Area or Point

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.

Parent Category Type Comments
Car Services Car Wash Point
Car Services Charging Station Point
Car Services Garage / Automotive Shop Point
Car Services Gas Station Voting is tied between Point and Area. Possibly size-dependent, but also depends on the future of parking lot roads and jam suppression.
Car Services Parking Lot Both There are very few parking lots which should be mapped at all. Please see the Parking lot section on this page.
Transportation Airport Area Special-handling
Transportation Bridge Area
Transportation Bus Station Point
Transportation Ferry Pier Point
Transportation Junction / Interchange Area
Transportation Seaport / Marina / Harbor Area Size-dependent.
Transportation Subway Station Point
Transportation Taxi Station Point
Transportation Train Station Point
Transportation Tunnel Area
Professional and public Cemetery Area
Professional and public City Hall Point
Professional and public College / University Area
Professional and public Conventions / Event Center Area Size-dependent
Professional and public Courthouse Point
Professional and public Embassy / Consulate Area
Professional and public Factory / Industrial Both Size-dependent
Professional and public Fire Department Point
Professional and public Government Point
Professional and public Hospital / Medical Center Area
Professional and public Information Point Point
Professional and public Kindergarten Point
Professional and public Library Point
Professional and public Military Area
Professional and public Offices Both Size-dependent
Professional and public Organization or Association Point
Professional and public Police Station Point
Professional and public Prison / Correctional Facility Area
Professional and public Post Office Point
Professional and public Religious Center Point
Professional and public School Area
Shopping and services Arts & Crafts Point
Shopping and services ATM Point
Shopping and services Bank / Financial Point
Shopping and services Bookstore Point
Shopping and services Car Dealership Point Size-dependent
Shopping and services Car Rental Point
Shopping and services Convenience Store Point
Shopping and services Currency Exchange Point
Shopping and services Department Store Point
Shopping and services Electronics Point
Shopping and services Fashion and Clothing Point
Shopping and services Flowers Point
Shopping and services Furniture / Home Store Point
Shopping and services Gifts Point
Shopping and services Hardware Store Point
Shopping and services Jewelry Point
Shopping and services Laundry / Dry Cleaning Point
Shopping and services Market Point
Shopping and services Music Store Point
Shopping and services Personal Care Point
Shopping and services Pet Store / Veterinarian Point
Shopping and services Pharmacy Point
Shopping and services Photography Point
Shopping and services Shopping Center Area
Shopping and services Sporting Goods Point
Shopping and services Supermarket / Grocery Point Standalone could be an Area, but a Point if it is part of larger shopping mall/center.
Shopping and services Swimming Pool Point
Shopping and services Toy Store Point
Shopping and services Travel Agency Point
Food and drink Bakery Point
Food and drink Bar Point
Food and drink Cafe Point
Food and drink Dessert Point
Food and drink Fast Food Point
Food and drink Food Court Point
Food and drink Ice Cream Point
Food and drink Restaurant Point
Culture & entertainment Art Gallery Point
Culture & entertainment Casino Area Large hotel-casinos perhaps could be Area Places.
Culture & entertainment Club Point
Culture & entertainment Game Club Point
Culture & entertainment Movie Theater Point
Culture & entertainment Museum Point
Culture & entertainment Music Venue Point
Culture & entertainment Performing Arts Venue Point
Culture & entertainment Racing Track Area
Culture & entertainment Stadium / Arena Area
Culture & entertainment Theme Park Area
Culture & entertainment Theater Point
Culture & entertainment Tourist Attraction / Historic Site Point Size-dependent
Culture & entertainment Zoo / Aquarium Area Size-dependent
Other Construction Site Area Not necessary to be mapped.
Other Residence / Home NONE Not to be mapped
Lodging Bed & Breakfast Point
Lodging Camping / Trailer Park Area Size-dependent
Lodging Cottage / Cabin Point
Lodging Hostel Point
Lodging Hotel Point
Outdoors Beach Area
Outdoors Golf Course Area
Outdoors Park Area
Outdoors Playground Point
Outdoors Plaza Point
Outdoors Promenade Point Unsure about mapping these at all
Outdoors Scenic Lookout / Viewpoint Point
Outdoors Ski Area Area
Outdoors Sports Court Point
Natural features Farm NONE
Natural features Forest / Grove Area Only map official state/national forests, not every stand of trees.
Natural features Island Area
Natural features River / Stream Area
Natural features Sea / Lake / Pond Area


Parking Lot

The decision to map a parking lot landmark is covered here, and the decision to map a parking lot road is covered in the Road type article for mapping parking lot roads.

Few parking lots deserve to be landmarked. Landmark-worthy parking must be something of a destination in itself, either having a well-known and documented name, or serving multiple unrelated POIs.

In nearly all situations parking associated with any other landmark, such as a shopping mall or train station, should NOT be landmarked separately using the Parking Lot type. It is sufficient simply to include such parking within the boundaries of the other landmark. In the rare case of named parking that drivers might wish explicitly to seek, such "double landmarking" of parking within a larger landmark may be acceptable, for example a cell-phone Parking Lot landmark within the boundaries of an Airport landmark.

Defining the boundaries of Parking Lot landmarks requires care. Like the Gas Station landmark, Parking Lots suppress Waze's automated "Map Problem" reports such as for missing roads; thus the Parking Lot landmark should NEVER be drawn over or attached/snapped to roads bearing through traffic.

While Waze provides a Garage landmark type, the Parking Lot landmark should be used, when appropriate, for parking structures and garages both above and below ground as well as for ordinary lots at ground level.

The Parking Lot landmark is always appropriate for:

  • Generic Park & Ride and similar municipal commuter parking not otherwise landmarked with a transit-center type. Always name these "Park & Ride", or whatever generic designation is used locally, to facilitate searches. Mapped at the fence line.
  • Municipal general-purpose or transit-oriented public parking that has a unique and documented identity, such as "City Lot #7", "Hourly Lot 3", "Domestic Garage", "Long-Term Parking", "South Lot", "Cell-Phone Parking", etc. Map to the extent of the lot or structure and assign the given name. If the lot is contained within a larger landmark, do not repeat that landmark's name; for example if the Domestic Garage is contained within the "SFO San Francisco International Airport" landmark boundaries, it can simply be labeled "Domestic Garage" not "SFO San Francisco International Airport Domestic Garage".
  • Rental car return located on airport property, provided all on-airport vendors share the same car return area (to avoid having to label separate return areas by commercial vendor), named "Rental Car Return".

The Parking Lot landmark is NEVER appropriate for:

  • Parking for a single non-transit-oriented destination, whether public or private, such as a business, office, church, park, city hall, library, hospital, gym, school, museum, restaurant, campground, etc. Do not use the Parking Lot landmark for these even if apparently supported, and widely used, as general-purpose parking; Waze cannot imply that drivers should, for example, park in the City Library Lot in order to visit a café or go shopping, even if locals often do so.
  • Employee, student, resident, or guest parking.
  • Parking for attendees of events or services.
  • Parking associated with campuses, parklands, shopping malls, theme parks, private installations, and office parks or complexes of any size or purpose.
  • Generic unnamed/unidentified parking lots associated with an already-landmarked complex such as an Airport, Train station, or Bus Station/Bus Terminal.

A gray area exists between the "always appropriate" and "never appropriate" categories above. Indeterminate situations include, for example:

  • Unnamed municipal general-purpose public parking.
  • Privately-operated but publicly-available general-purpose or offsite transit-related parking.

At this time, landmarking indeterminate situations like these is not encouraged, but may be appropriate in some circumstances and handled on a case-by-case basis.