A Friendlier Map Editor

This week we’re pleased to announce a cool facelift for the Waze map editor, including a brand new look, enhanced user experience, and nifty localization tweaks.

And in the Wazer spotlight, we've got the one and only alanoftheberg, one of our prominent Waze global champs. Don't miss it!

Making a Splash

Looks better, doesn't it?

In case you missed it, the Waze editor has undergone a makeover. The new splash screen is not only more attractive, but also easier to navigate (no pun intended).

The new layout is designed to provide first time editors with helpful access to the WME, so they can better understand the resources available to them, and jump faster into action.

Lastly, we localized the Wiki and forum links on the splash screen, so they will lead to relevant language page. Makes more sense, no?

Wazer Spotlight:

Alan Akins (AKA alanoftheberg), global Waze champ, US country manager

What do you do when not editing maps?

Alan, keeping a cool head

I am a governance subject matter expert. Specifically, I manage the governance and relationship between my company and the outsourced IT company which provides service desk and end user computing (deskside) services globally. I also handle escalation of performance issues of the vendor or their subcontractors in 19 countries as a matter of potential breaches of the agreements.

Which car do you drive?

2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid

How long have you been a Wazer?

August 2010

How did you get hooked on Waze?

A good friend and carpool buddy had somehow found Waze and installed it. Knowing I love geeky new things, he showed me and I had to download it immediately. Using the venerable Cartouche editor, I was editing the map of my town within a week. It wasn't long after that I was looking to get involved in the community to learn from those (few) who were already involved and finding ways to make things better both in the editor and the app.

What's your favorite part about the community?

Waze enables users of all types to get involved at the level they desire. Some only use the app, some report road hazards and issues like crazy, some dabble in map editing, and some go all-in and take time to learn mapping and community details and desire to become leaders of their local and/or national communities. Waze makes it very easy for users to step up and lead, be a productive community member, or a simple driver only.

...and the worst part?

People who are unwilling to read the existing documentation (on any subject) when given the link. People who underestimate the complexity of the Waze ecosystem and repeatedly berate developers and veteran users because change is so slow (Waze could be more agile in their development processes). People who, even when they know the mapping guidelines, purposely perform map edits which do not comply and are belligerent when confronted.

What's the funniest Waze story that happened to you?

It isn't necessarily funny, but I am always getting embarrassed because I don't know which Israeli names are male or female. Invariably, when I guess and use he or she, I am wrong. Other embarrassing things: while I had a crew from a local news station driving around with me, I tried to get Waze to post a hazard using voice commands, and it failed. And they aired it. :\ I think funny things just don't happen to me. :D

What's your best Waze tip for newcomers?

While the map editor and editing, in general, is fairly straightforward and easy to do, to do editing correctly and within community guidelines can require a lot of time and effort. Now that many urban areas of the map are fairly mature, new users eager to get points by finding things to edit or add on the map will likely be a bit frustrated that there just may not be much to do. Don't allow yourself to get frustrated and feel that Waze isn't a worthwhile effort just because you may not have much editing to do. Once the map is fairly complete, now we just get to use the app and enjoy the community and features it brings us.

What do you listen to when driving your car (aside from the Waze app messages, of course)?

I listen to all sorts of genres. Sometimes country, rock, 80s, Christian, hip-hop, soundtracks, etc. I've been listening to Christian metal and even some Christian metalcore and screamo recently.

Since I grew up in the 80s, pretty much anything from that era I'll listen to and enjoy. What genre or artist I listen to or Pandora station I turn up all depends on what mood I'm in.