July 2020
Hello Communities!
Welcome to our 10th edition :)
In light of the constantly evolving situation with COVID-19, we hope everyone is safe and healthy. Thank you for helping each other navigate to safety by editing in the WME and being active community members. Read on to find out what our communities have been up to recently.
Waze Communities Team.
2020 Waze Map Editors' Survey
We'd like to better understand how satisfied you are with the Waze Editor's Community and what we can do to improve.
Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey.
For your convenience, the survey is available in 5 languages:
Thank you!
Notice anything different?
We recently launched our exciting refreshed look!
With this launch, you can rediscover the magic of Waze with a new color scheme, new Moods, and more.
Waze was founded on the simple idea that by working together, we could beat traffic.
Everyone feels a certain way when they are on the road and our evolved Waze Moods capture these emotions. Whether it’s Happy, Adventurous, Zombified, or anything in-between, there’s a Mood for you.
To choose your mood from the full list in the app, make sure you have the latest app version, then click on Search > click on your username and scroll down to Mood.
Speed Limit Update Requests
When users update a change in speed limit, WME shows a SLUR - Speed Limit Update Request.
Many communities have asked not to show SLURs on their local map or see it in WME's Beta, since they create an overflow and are not always useful.
After a period where SLURs were not shown, we're happy to announce that we're bringing SLURs back, with a local configuration - starting July 1st, each country will be able to choose whether to show SLURs on their country's map or not.
Communities Putting Railroad Crossing on the Map!
Thanks to the community, Wazers in many countries will now be alerted when approaching a Railroad crossing.
Many communities around the world have been busy mapping and verifying railroad crossing locations.
The Belgian community went one step further and has been working with the national railway company to add more than 1,200 railroad crossing alerts!
Thanks to everyone who joined the effort and helped make our driving experience safer!
Join Our Office Hours Sessions!
For the last few months, we've been overjoyed to meet community members online regularly, twice a month, in our Office Hours sessions.
During these sessions we share updates about features and answer community questions.
The Office Hours sessions are open to all community members, so make sure you sign up to join the Product Updates session, Sunday, August 9, 4PM UTC.
Meet SNYOWL from the US - Top Contributor of the Month
It's all thanks to a black vulture:
Kathy, AKA SNYOWL, a devoted birder, was on her way to a wildlife sanctuary to see a black vulture. The sanctuary had not yet been mapped in Waze, so she sent an Update Request. Kathy got a reply saying that she can go ahead and map it. After doing so, she gradually began adding places near her home and especially destinations for people who enjoy hiking.
Kathy joined the community and has since taken on several roles such as State Manager and Partner Coordinator.
In a recent Waze Win, Kathy and BobC455 mapped a peanut shaped rotary, built to direct traffic through a 7 street intersection which was previously infamous for most accidents in the state. Click here to read more about the project.
Kathy's advice to new editors is to reach out to the local community as they will be happy to teach anyone how to edit.
Community Made Tool: WME Send-To-Slack
Tunisiano18 from Belgium created a tool that helps editors send Update Requests directly to their local community channel. This helpful tool currently works with Slack, Discord and GForm. Click here to learn more about it and other community-made scripts.
Waze Coloring Book
Calling all kids, ages of 1-111!
It's time for the #WazeColoringChallenge :)
Whether your summer vacation is coming up, or just the weekend - enjoy it with a waze coloring book!
Print the book or even color it online.
Share your amazing works of art in your local social media channel with the #WazeColoringChallenge!
Looking forward to seeing who can color inside the lines!
Aluna98's shared this beautiful result, made by his 11 old daughter
We want to hear from you :)
Share your community's story, be featured in an upcoming newsletter or tell us what you think about this newsletter in this form!