Places/How to report Discussion View history

Revision as of 17:03, 3 November 2014 by PesachZ (talk | contribs) (→‎More details: location edits require moderation)
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Starting in the client version 3.9, users are now able to submit new places to the Waze map directly from their client devices. There is some confusion on how to properly submit a place with all the details from a client device. This page endeavors to walk you through the process of submitting a place properly so it will be added to the map in a useful way.

Start a report

There are a few ways to start a place report, whether you want to report a new place, or modify an existing one.

  1. From the main view in the client tap the report menu (the button with a pin) in the lower right corner. Then tap on Place when you are at the physical location of the place you want to add or modify.
  2. When you arrive at your destination, Waze will display an info bar across the top of your devices' screen. From this bar there will be a camera button with the option to take a picture of your destination. Tapping this camera will also start the Place reporting process.
  3. The only way to report a place at a different physical location than where you are is to first search for the Place. This requires that the place already exist in the Waze map, however you will be able to modify it. After searching for the place by name (or by category if it is nearby), you can tap on the place you'd like to modify in the results list. This will open the details page, with an option at the bottom to Suggest an edit.


If you utilize one of the first two options above, you will be immediately prompted to take a picture of the place you are reporting.

To avoid the picture you take accidentally being rotated upside down, it is preferable if you take the picture while holding your device straight up (in the portrait orientation). From your device it will not be possible to tell if a picture taken with the device held on its side (landscape orientation) will be upside down once it is uploaded to the Waze Map.

Please ensure that any pictures you upload to Waze meet the guidelines of appropriate pictures handed down from Waze staff. Photos which contain offensive, inappropriate, or otherwise unacceptable content, will have to be rejected or deleted in the Waze Map Editor. If this happens too many times, you will be banned from submitting any future Places reports.

Choosing or creating a place

After taking the requisite picture, the only options you will be presented with are; a "This is a residential place" button at the top, a search box, and a list of any nearby Waze Places (if there are any).


  • If the place you're reporting is a house or private residence, tap the button "This is a residential place".
  • If you are reporting a public place, business, etc., do not tap the button.


To choose an existing place to modify, or add details to, just tap on it in the displayed list. If you don't see the place you eat to modify, start typing it's name in the search field. As you start to type the name, the list below will be filtered to only show matching places. There will also be a item on the list to "add Your_New_Place". If your place is not listed, type the full name in the search field, and tap the option to add it as a new place.


The basic details

Now that your place has a picture and a name, it's time to confirm or add the basic details. These include the relevant categories, street and address.

  • Private residences: If you are reporting a private residence, the only information you'll be able to enter is the street and house address number.


  • Categories help optimize your place for search, so it can be presented in search results when appropriate.
    • Choose the most relevant category (and subcategory) for your place first. You can start typing in a category name to filter the list for all possible options.
    • After choosing the category, tap "Done" at the top right to save the category.
    • Now repeat this process to add any more relevant categories e.g. ATM, Cafe, etc. for any other services, or attributes of your place.


  • Address helps your place be presented when Wazers search for its street address instead of its name.
    • Add the street your places' official address is on, if there is one.
    • Hint: the "Number" field here is for the street address number not the phone number
  • Now tap Done. Congratulations your (new) place is now live in the Waze Map, and is helping Wazers in your area find this location. You should now see this pop-up giving you the option to "Add more details", or to tap "No thanks" and return to map display.

More details

Tapping on "Add more details" on the previous pop-up will allow you to add or modify all the details of the (newly created) Place. Scroll down the screen to go through all the different details.


  • Photo Here you can take additional photos from various angles, Waze will try to display approaching drivers a photo taken from same angle and time as their approach. You can also flag or delete certain photos here. View multiple photos by swiping through them side to side.
  • Location Tap on the location preview to expand the full screen map. Here you can fine tune the pin location. This is the Stop Point where Wazers will navigated to when coming to this place. Your own current GPS location is also displayed here for reference. Be sure the Stop Point is on one side of the street, this allows a correct destination print for approaching Wazers telling them which side of the street their destination will be on. Hint: you can pinch to zoom in this map display.
    Regardless of whether you are a trusted editor or not, any updates to the location of an existing place will require moderation in WME. If you are a high enough ranking editor to edit this place in WME, you'll be able to moderate the edit yourself.
  • Opening hours Multiple entries can be made here, as long as they are not for overlapping times. If you try to add overlapping times, it will cause an error in WME, and may interfere with your place being used by the Waze app.
    The days which are pushed in (Saturday in this image) are the days which you are adding opening hours for. Choose the opening and closing hours in local time using the 24 hour format. Hint: opening hours can cross midnight e.g. a bar might have opening hours on Friday and Saturday from 15:00 to 02:30.
  • Details This is where you can provide a message and contact info for the place.
    • You can enter a brief description about the place. Add information that will help wazers recognize or discover more about the place.
    • Type a website URL.
    • Finally enter there places' phone number.

Save

When you're done editing all the details, Tap done at the top of the screen to save your changes.

Place reports from users who are below rank 2 map editors will originally require moderation before they approved to display on the map. After several reports are successful approved through the moderation process in WME, they become trusted, and their reports will no longer require moderation.