Places are searchable destinations in the Waze map, just like the "Points of Interest" found in other maps and GPS devices. They can be added from the client, but also from the Waze Map Editor (WME). By default, Waze will show categories depending on size, type and situation. For instance, if you search for a supermarket, Waze will show you the supermarkets in the neighbourhood. When driving fast, less will be shown to keep the map clear.
For a description of the different types of places, see the Place categories hereunder.
Point or Area place?
A Place can be a Point or an Area. Depending on size and situation, Area Places can be visible in the client. A Point Place is not visible, but will show up when searched for and navigated to. There is also a third kind of Place called Residential, which are private addresses. Which one to choose?
The Waze routing server will navigate the Wazer onto the segment which is physically closest to the center of the Place. If this is undesirable, you can adjust the navigation goal by adding an entry point.
Point Place
Point Places don't show on the Wazers device, but are listed in the search results. They are used to help Wazers find locations, especially when they are not or wrongly listed in other search engines.
In WME, a Point Place appears as a small circle:
Standard point
Selected point
Modified point
Modified point, pending for approval
The Point Place is to be positioned at or close to the segment that should be used in the navigation. Typically, this will be the (main) entrance. Try to imagine where you would stop to drop someone off for this location. If this location differs a lot from the geographical location, you can add an entry point.
Please try to add as much useful details, like the address, telephone number if applicable, etc..
Area Places
Area Places appear in the Waze app. Too many of them can clutter the map, creating large gray zones that do not help Wazers orient themselves. Too little of them leaves us with an empty map without much clue as to where we are. Therefore, we like to see Area Places that are distinctive and significant, but that is subjective. One objective criterium we can use is the size: If they are larger than 500 m2, you may map it as an Area Places . See also the paragraph on how to determine Area or Point.
Outline
- Generally, an Area Place covers what a Wazer sees when driving to the actual location.
- Keep the shape simple; Waze will anyway simplify the place in the App. Consider mapping with a basic rectangle.
- We have two options:
- Map the edges of the building: Used for individual significant buildings. Think of big supermarkets, a lighthouse, churches or mosques, etc..
- Map the visible contour of the area: Handy for natural features and building clusters such as a universities campus, shopping malls, factories, parks, forests, etc... Parking Lots and Gas Stations) are always mapped to their property lines.
- If the Area itself needs to be modified, click on the place to select it. Use the geometry nodes to adjust the shape. To move an area place without changing its shape, drag the
Move Handle icon. - Care should be taken not to snap to road segment nodes, because this makes it more difficult to edit the place and/or segments later on.
- Do not overlap Area Places to prevent grey areas without distinction. Read more on combining places.
Colors
- The different types of Area Places show in different colors in the Waze app. The colors vary slightly, depending on your display. Generally, Natural features show green (e.g., Park) or blue (e.g., River).
- When the center of the Area Place is not closest to the desired navigation destination, define the navigation goal by adding an
entry point. This point can be moved to where you should arrive, or where to park. Again, try to imagine where you would stop to drop someone off for this location.
Residential Places
Residential Places are a special kind of Point Places shown as triangles in WME. When arriving, Waze proposes to take a picture of your destination. In this way, many private Places are uploaded. For these private Places, the category Residential is used. Private Places will not be searchable, and the identity of whoever created them will not be exposed. Private Places only contain photos and an exact address, without all the other properties of a Place. The pictures will only show to people driving explicitly to that address. Waze editors can use the pictures and exact locations to improve the house numbers database.
When to use Area or Point
The basic guideline is: Places larger than 500m2 may be drawn as an Area Place. They can function as a visual guide on your drive.
Avoid Areas within Areas, and overlapping Areas, as this may become confusing on the client's display. When there are various destinations in one building or a larger distinct area, better use a combination of Area and Point as described in next paragraph on . Only Parking Lot Places can be stacked.
Do not map underground Places as Areas, except for Parking Lots.
Clusters of areas would also become one grey area, with only the names being on the map. If you'd like them distinct, you need to leave space between the Areas, or combine them.
Regardless of its size. we always map Parking Lots and Gas Stations as an Area Place, and farms as a Point Place. The area for a Gas Station must cover at least 500m2, for visibility reasons in the app.
Smart mapping: Size is not always the only criterion deciding whether to map an Area or Point Place. We can think a bit further, especially from the driver's perspective. A building hidden in the woods might be large, but neither significant nor distinctive, as it won't help the driver orient during the drive; instead displaying it might have him wonder if he is on the correct route as he doesn't see it from the road. The same goes for a water treatment plant: it may be large, but probably not recognizable from the road. So even though being large, we only need them to show approaching our destination and they can be mapped as a Point Place as well.
On the other hand, a power plant with high voltage substations can be very handy to map as an Area, as you'll see them quickly scanning the surrounding. Or, arriving at an industrial area, it definitely helps seeing more distinct destinations that helps to orientate.
And last but not least an editor's note: many Area Places clutter WME as well: you might need to disable the layer of Places to be able to edit the roads.
Guidance table
Here is a guidance on selecting area or point for places in the Waze Map Editor. This list is based on the US English selection for WME. The default WME setting for standard English is slightly different for some entries.
| Parent | Category | Type | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parking Lot | Parking Lot | Area | See specific page |
| Car Services | Car Wash | Point | |
| Car Services | EV Charging Station | Point | In addition to adding a charging station point Place, also add the 'Charging Station' service to the appropriate parking lot area (PLA) Place. |
| Car Services | Garage / Auto Shop | Point | |
| Car Services | Gas station | Area | Many gas stations also have convenience stores and ATMs. Remember to use "gas station" as the primary category and the add any others which are relevant. Please see the Places/Gas station article. |
| Transportation | Airport | Area | Special-handling |
| Transportation | Bridge | Area | In general, a bridge place should only be mapped if its significance entails:
1. An official and/or locally-used name, such as a signed name, a name used in traffic reports, or a commemorative name that differs from the feature the bridge crosses or the road that crosses the bridge 2. Use of the bridge as a destination, waypoint, and/or landmark for navigation |
| Transportation | Bus/Train/Subway Station | See next column | Main train/Bus station: Place
Bus Stop: Point |
| Transportation | Carpool Spot | -- | N/A in Rwanda |
| Transportation | Ferry Pier | Point | |
| Transportation | Junction / Interchange | Area | Can be used to mark well known landmarks (example in Kigali: Rwandex, Kanogo, Yamaha,..) |
| Transportation | Rest Area | Area | |
| Transportation | Seaport / Marina / Harbor | Area | Size-dependent. |
| Transportation | Taxi Station | Point | |
| Transportation | Tunnel | --- | N/A in Rwanda |
| Professional and Public | Cemetery | Area | |
| Professional and Public | City Hall | Point | Size-dependent |
| Professional and Public | College / University | Area | Use Point for locations occupying what appears to be commercial real estate without any outward appearance characteristic of an educational institution, as is typical of vocational schools or learning/office satellites located in business districts. Check regional guidance to see if such locations should be assigned a different category altogether. |
| Professional and Public | Conventions / Event Center | Area | Size-dependent |
| Professional and Public | Courthouse | Point | |
| Professional and Public | Doctor / Clinic | Point | Clinics and medical offices which do not offer urgent medical care for walk-ins should use the Doctor / Clinic, (and any other appropriate) category instead. When emergency service is available, use Hospital |
| Professional and Public | Embassy / Consulate | Area | |
| Professional and Public | Emergency Shelter | ||
| Professional and Public | Factory / Industrial | Point | May be Area if Landmark
Area for Industrial Parks |
| Professional and Public | Fire Department | Area | ONLY Fire Stations providing first response to nearby emergencies should use this category. All others should use a different category, such as Office. Administrative, training, and support facilities are not emergency locations. |
| Professional and Public | Government | Point | |
| Professional and Public | Hospital / Urgent Care | Area | Only Hospitals, emergency rooms, and places offering urgent medical care should use this category. ERs encompassed in a hospital place area should be points. Other should use Doctor/Clinic category. |
| Professional and Public | Information Point | Point | |
| Professional and Public | Jail / Prison / Correctional Facility | Area | |
| Professional and Public | Landfill / Recycling Facility | Point | |
| Professional and Public | Library | Point | |
| Professional and Public | Military | Area | |
| Professional and Public | Offices | Point | May be Area if Landmark |
| Professional and Public | Organization / Association | Point | |
| Professional and Public | Police Station | Area | |
| Professional and Public | Post office | Point | |
| Professional and Public | Preschool / Daycare | Point | |
| Professional and Public | Religious Center | Point | |
| Professional and Public | School | Area | Size-dependent
Small private school (Domestic house size): Point |
| Shopping / Services | Arts & Crafts | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | ATM | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Bank / Financial | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Bookstore | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Car Dealership | Point | Size-dependent |
| Shopping / Services | Car Rental | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Cell Phones | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Clothing / Fashion | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Convenience Store | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Currency Exchange | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Department Store | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Electronics | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Florist | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Gift Shop | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Gym / Fitness | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Hardware Store | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Home Furnishing | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Jewelry | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Laundromat / Dry Cleaner | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Market | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Music Store | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Personal Care | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Pet Store / Veterinarian Services | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Pharmacy | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Photography | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Shopping Center | Area | |
| Shopping / Services | Sporting Goods | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Supermarket / Grocery | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Swimming Pool | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Toy Store | Point | |
| Shopping / Services | Travel Agency | Point | |
| Food and Drink | Bakery | Point | |
| Food and Drink | Bar / Winery / Tasting Room | Point | |
| Food and Drink | Coffee Shop | 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 | Point | |
| 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 | Race Track | Area | |
| Culture / Entertainment | Stadium / Arena | Area | |
| Culture / Entertainment | Theme Park | Area | |
| Culture / Entertainment | Theater | Point | |
| Culture / Entertainment | Tourist Attraction / Historic Site | Point | May be Area if Landmark |
| Culture / Entertainment | Zoo / Aquarium | Area | Size-dependent |
| Other | Construction Site | Area | Not necessary to be mapped.
Map only if very large and long term. |
| Lodging | Bed & Breakfast | Point | |
| Lodging | Campground / RV Park | Both | |
| Lodging | Cottage / Cabin | Point | |
| Lodging | Hostel | Point | |
| Lodging | Hotel | Point | May be Area if Landmark |
| Outdoors | Beach | Area | |
| Outdoors | Golf Course | Area | |
| Outdoors | Park | Area | |
| Outdoors | Playground | Point | |
| Outdoors | Plaza | Point | |
| Outdoors | Pool | Point | |
| Outdoors | Promenade | Point | Unsure about mapping these at all |
| Outdoors | Scenic Lookout / Viewpoint | Point | |
| Outdoors | Ski Area | Area | |
| Outdoors | Sports Court | Point | |
| Natural Feature | Canal | Info here | Natural Feature detailed guidance |
| Natural Feature | Dam | Info here | Natural Feature detailed guidance |
| Natural Feature | Farm | Point | |
| Natural Feature | Forest / Grove | Info here | Natural Feature detailed guidance |
| Natural Feature | Island | Info here | Natural Feature detailed guidance |
| Natural Feature | River / Stream | Info here | Natural Feature detailed guidance |
| Natural Feature | Sea / Lake / Pond | Info here | Natural Feature detailed guidance |
| Natural Feature | Swamp / Marsh | Info here | Natural Feature detailed guidance |
Places details
Any Place - Point or Area - should contain as much useful information as possible.
General tab
The General tab for a Place is where you complete all of the basic information: categorie(s), name, description (if adding to the navigation), residential/public, country, state, city, street and house number. Depending on the category more options may be available, like the gas brand for gas stations.
Category
- Places need at least one category to be assigned, but may belong to several others. Always choose the main category first. For example, a Gas Station may also be “Convenience Store”, “Car Wash”, or “Charging Station”. An ATM within a bank, should be added as secondary category as well. However, if the second category like the ATM is available outside the opening hours of the main place (like the bank), add it as a separate Point place.
- If you cannot find a suitable category, choose "others" and add the (missing category in front of the name
- As the categories are not localized, some entries need extra focus:
- Hospital / Urgent Care: To be used only for hospitals that have emergency care facilities. Waze will provide these in case of calamities. Hospital without emergency room need to be categorized as Doctor / Clinic
- For a more detailed explanation of categories, see the Place categories table hereabove.
Address
- Fill the address with the available elements (city, street names, house number)
Name
- The naming of a Place should be done in the formal language of the location where the place is situated. Add other relevant information, such as brand (service stations).
- In multi-lingual areas, use alternate names to allow searches in the other languages.
- In case you cannot find an applicable category for the Place, add the missing category in the alternate name in front of the regular name.
- Keep the name as short and informative as possible. Long names on area places clutter the map.
- If at the External Providers field (see below), a Google link is specified, add the Google name as alternative name.
- You should add the locality to the name in these cases:
- - The locality is part of the official name.
- - On brand clusters to distinguish between the location. Consider to use the name as listed in the brand's official publication.
- There are 2 icons to replace the following words in the name while keeping the pronounciation (TTS). You can copy them from below:
- ⛽️ Gas station
- ✈ Airport
Unfortunately, other icons don´t work as expected or not on all platforms, so please abstain from using other icons.
Description
- Beware not to use the Description field for notes to other editors. This field is visible in the Waze app, and should only contain details pertinent to the Place itself.
Entry / exit points
- Add, if necessary, Entry points so Waze is able to navigate you to the right side of the place. Use one place per destination. The navigation chooses the nearest entry point.
- If a hospital has different destinations for the general entrance and for emergency/first aid at the other side of the building - create an area place for the hospital with its own entry point and a point place for the emergency/first aid entrance.
- Don't put entry points on top of road segments but a little beside them. Every entry point should have a name, the name will be shown in the client ETA screen. It’s important to keep the name short to fit the card and make sure it’s easily understandable.
External provider
- Waze allows you to connect the Place to the POI from external providers. One of the providers is Google Maps. When a Place is linked to a Google Map POI, add the Google name as alternative name. Then - if, in the app a Google search result is selected, the navigation will lead you to the Waze place.
- If the external provider has more than one distinctive places defined for a Place, link to the most important one. Example: Big shopping mall with several separate entrances, use the main entrance. For the others, you can add multiple Point Places if it adds to navigation. Of course, if there are multiple places in the external provider that refer to only one entry, link them all to only one Place.
More Info tab
You can provide the website address and phone number in the “More Info” tab. Here you can also add hours of operation and select optional services, like Wifi, Toilets, or Parking for customers (see also Restricted Parking Lot Place) . Information in this tab is shown in the search results. From there you can click the website address or telephone number and activate your browser or phone function. Therefore, they should be in a usable format:
Website
- The website address is best written as a hostname without path, like liegeairport.com, rather than liegeairport.com/business-park. Leave out http:// or https://.
- Only one website can be added. If the website is multilingual and a choice has to be made, if possible default to English.
Telephone
- Telephone numbers should best be written in international format: Generally, the number consists of the country code, followed by the area code (without 0), and than the subscribers number, all without dashes, slashes, brackets and the like. Formatting spaces are allowed but not necessary.
- ex: Rwanda:
- +250 XXX XXX XXX
Services
- Check the available services
Opening hours
- Add the opening hours if available.
Photos tab
Any photos which drivers have added to a Place will appear in the "Photos" tab. Photos can be uploaded via the Waze app, via a Place update request (PUR) or via WME. In WME, we can moderate newly added photo's, and view and delete exisiting photos. Make a well thought-out decision about discarding a photo. Once a photo is deleted, it cannot be recovered. Delete only if the photo really is unclear, not helpful and/or inappropriate. Delete/do not accept photos if someone's face is visible, if a car registration plate is visible or if any private information in shown on the photo.