The Big Benefits Of A Map Raid

Community Spotlight takes a behind-the-scenes look at the at the contributions made by local communities and Map Editors on Waze. The community is made up of volunteers with a shared vision, working together for the common good.

At the beginning of May, we wrote about a Mega Map Raid taking place in South Africa.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a Map Raid is a time-limited event where Map Editors zero in on a specific part of the Waze map. Like a hackathon, a Map Raid allows Map Editors to work intensively on the map, making as many edits as possible within a given time frame.  

 

This particular Map Raid focused on adding and verifying speed limits in South Africa. Adding speed limits to the Waze map is the all-important first step towards unlocking the feature in any country.

The Map Raid is still in progress, but the results are already too impressive not to share. Check out these before-and-after heat maps showing how many speed limits have been added during the raid.

Not too shabby, right? As you can see, Map Raids have a huge impact on map quality, which in turn has a big impact on driving with Waze. If you’d like to improve the quality of the map in your country, you can learn how to edit the map here.

We’d like to congratulate South Africa on their successful Map Raid. As a result of the community’s effort, the speed limits feature has been unlocked in the country!

Which city should have a Map Raid next? Comment below or you can join the conversation in our forums.

Unprecedented Floods Hit Bosnia and Serbia. Community Rallies to Help

This past weekend unprecedented rains across the Balkans caused historic flooding in Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia. The flooding has been described as the worst floods to hit the area in more than a century and has already caused tens of thousands of people to be evacuated. Landslides and the possibility of buried landmines has made relief efforts even more difficult.

In an effort to assist in any way possible, our Serbian community mobilized and created a list of emergency evacuation points as well as a list of roads no longer accessible due to flooding.

Using these lists, we have added emergency pins to our maps, each containing an evacuation point's distance, address and phone number.

Anyone using Waze in Serbia can locate their closest point of rescue by typing "help" in the navigation box.

We've also closed off all roads that are no longer accessible due to the Serbian floods which can be seen on our events page.

We hope these efforts will be successful in providing some form of assistance to relief workers and those affected by the floods.

If there are any other ways we can help, please let us know in the comments below.

UPDATE: If you'd like to personally donate relief, you can do so here

Communities in Philippines, Indonesia, Italy and the US Come Together in Times of Crisis

A little while back, we wrote about our efforts in the Philippines in response to Typhoon Haiyan which affected over 9.7 million people. At the time of crisis, we added pins showing emergency evacuation points and also allowed Wazers to find the closest rescue point to them by simply typing "help" in the navigation box.     

This past month, Mother Nature showed her force again, first bringing torrential rains and excessive flooding to Indonesia and Italy and then storm Leon to Southern Us. Immediately, the Waze community leaped into action and updated the maps to help reroute drivers around flooded and unsafe roads.

All this information was accessible both in the app and on our traffic center so that anyone in Italy or Indonesia and Southern US could stay safe and on top of real-time conditions.

All in all, these efforts combined to help hundreds of thousands of Wazers to stay safe and keep away from dangerous roads.

If a crisis strikes your area, or if you know about any upcoming major events in your city, please help us out by filling this out this quick form

Waze Aims to Help The Philippines in Wake of Typhoon

This past weekend the Philippines was struck by Typhoon Haiyan - one of the most powerful and devastating natural disasters in recent memory. Authorities estimate that at least 9.7 million people have been affected by the typhoon. The sheer scale of the damage has made evacuation and the delivery of assistance extremely difficult. We can only imagine how difficult a time this must be.

In an effort to assist in this time of crisis, we have added pins to our maps showing emergency evacuation points across the Philippines.   

Wazers in the Philippines can also find the closest rescue point to them simply by typing "help" in the navigation box.  

We hope that these efforts along with real-time reports from the Waze community will provide rescue workers with the most up-to-date road conditions on their way to offering help.     

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those affected by the typhoon. If you must drive, please drive safe. And if there are any more rescue points we should add or any other ways we can help, please reply in the comments below. 

Waze Champs Meetup at Waze HQ

Over the past couple of years, we here at Waze have both arranged and attended community meetups all across the globe - in France, the US, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic just to name just a few. Typically organized by some of our 110,000+ map editors, these events are incredibly important to us as they provide direct feedback and help shape our product road map. Plus, our community members are really awesome! ;)

This year however we wanted to do something different. Something special and extraordinary. Then it dawned on us. Why not invite the top Wazers and map editors from all over the world for an up close and personal visit to our HQ this year? And so it was.

Invitations were sent out and there was excitement in the air:

All in all 42 of the top Wazers in the world arrived for the meetup. Combined, this influential group of Waze "champs" have amassed over 21 million map edits and are instrumental leaders in the Waze community. 

The meetup itself involved a visit to Waze HQ and many talks given by several key members of the Waze team on topics ranging from community, product, ETA logic, infrastructure, and of course, the map editor. All topics were followed by Q & A sessions. 

There were also opportunities for fun as the Waze champs and staff went sightseeing ate at some nice restaurants, and of course sang some hardcore karaoke!

All in all it was a great weekend consisting of both work and fun. We had a great time and we have a feeling that they enjoyed themselves as well. 

Until the next meetup!

Complete list of Wazers who participated in the meetup:

AlanOfTheBerg, antigerme, anto64, arbaot, argus-cronos, asterix06, azrco, banished, bgodette, Brshk1, calandraca, CBenson, Dave2084, deeggo

dmcconachie, faitaru, fvwazing, gettingthere, GizmoGuy411, GPSRitter, guri211, Instigater, jondrush, kentsmith9, kpouer, leocylau, levin, lopaolo69, maantje76, meb001, Michelozzo, orenfl

pulsarxp, robindlc ,scarlogarcia, shmupi, slicer, spookyx, steveningelbrecht, top_gun_de, WeeeZer14, zsezo

City of Austin Works With Waze in Wake of Aggressive Flooding

Last weekend the city of Austin, Texas, was ravaged by flash floods. On Sept 20th we worked closely with the city of Austin to mark road closures within Waze, keeping citizens safe and routing them around the most dangerous conditions. 

Many drivers believe their cars or SUVs will win any battle against rough weather, and assume driving in a thunderstorm is less dangerous than snow. Here's a glimpse* at how deadly flash flooding can be: 

-About 75% of flood fatalities occur in vehicles
-Since 1960, 54 people have died in flash floods in Travis County (where Austin is located)
-Texas leads the nation in flood-related deaths 

(* Credit - Austin Flood Safety site)

At night, during heavy storms, it may be difficult to see that a road is flooded. Accidents occur when individuals drive through flooded areas and the currents carry them off the road, or when a car's electrical interface shorts out due to rising water.

The outcome: Working together, Waze and the city of Austin ensured the Waze map was updated accordingly; Austin Wazers were alerted to closures of six major streets in real time. The app then navigated around area pain points, and the city of Austin was able to protect its citizens.

We always hope to work with cities around the world under more positive circumstances, but when a natural disaster strikes, our community can be confident we'll be there to help.

How to Beat Epic Traffic Caused by Summer Events

With summer on our doorstep, there are bound to be lots of events happening in cities across the globe. Unfortunately, with these events usually comes epic traffic that tends to affect the whole city. Luckily the Waze community knows a thing or two about fighting epic traffic like the time we fought carmageddon in 2011 (and won). So, to help drivers avoid the traffic jams that these events tend to cause, we're unveiling a new website that is bound to become a driver's survival kit.

Annnnd we're starting off big with the Tour de France.


For the event, we're going to prepare drivers for road closures as well as provide live, real­time information on traffic conditions.

Of course, in the spirit of Waze, crowdsourcing and community, all map updates, road closures, and preparation for the project will be contributed by our amazing French community, lead by Waze Champ Marc Turpin who brought the idea to our attention.

We are very excited about this initiative and are looking forward to rolling it out in other countries soon.

So how about you Wazers out there? Any events near you that will surely cause traffic chaos in your city this summer? Help your fellow Wazers by letting us know here

Waze Map Editors Help Drivers Get Around Collapsed Bridge and Damagefrom Oklahoma Tornadoes

Maps can change in an instant. Unpredictable events such as road closures, oil spills and even natural disasters can seriously affect the roads causing drivers confusion, delays and frustration.

Luckily, Waze has a bustling community of drivers and map editors who keep the Waze map updated to reflect real-time road conditions.

Just last month, we saw two examples of how Waze's map editing community acted quickly to help drivers get around messy conditions due to a collapsed bridge in Washington State and the Tornadoes which struck in Oklahoma.

The I-5 bridge collapses

On May 23, at 7:00pm PDT, an entire section of the heavily travelled I-5 bridge collapsed into the Skagit River in Washington State, about 60 miles north of Seattle. As it turns out, there happened to be a Wazer nearby who promptly reported the incident. Within minutes, veteran Waze map editor and country manager Alan Akins received the alert and quickly went to work.

Before the day was done, the Waze map had been updated and Wazers were being routed around the collapsed bridge. The I-5 Bridge is scheduled to re-open again sometime in mid-June. We're confident that Alan will be ready to update the Waze map when it does.

Tornadoes in Oklahoma

Last month also saw devastating tornadoes strike Oklahoma. In response, veteran map editor and country manager Jared Peacock began updating the map in a very clever way.

First, he manipulated the unsafe roads on the Waze map editor so that people driving through the city would be routed around them, but also so that first responders and people living in the area could be routed on the perilous roads.

In addition, he set up landmarks on the map demarcating dangerous areas where he warned drivers to exercise caution.

In Jared's words: "I did not want to disconnect or delete roads because I felt people would still need them for navigation and orientation purposes.  The damage was so severe in areas that it looked like empty fields where neighborhoods once were so people needed a sense of direction through the map."

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge Alan and Jared for their extraordinary work in making the roads a little safer and easier to navigate during times of crisis.

To: Moore, Oklahoma Wazers

There are many of you still out on the roads right now. We can only imagine how difficult this time is. You are deeply in our thoughts. We are busy closing the roads as you tell us how things are changing. All Wazers can also add temporary closures as you encounter to help other wazers and responders get around.

Additionally, we have added the Open Red Cross shelters to our map so you can navigate easily if the need arises. Just look for these symbols on the map but of course be safe and stay off the roads as possible.





If you are in Oklahoma and have more shelters and aid centers you think we should add or additional roads you need help closing, please list them here.

Waze World Champs Meetup 2013

Oh what a weekend it was!

This past weekend, 30 veteran country and area managers from both Europe and South America convened in Prague, Czech Republic for a full day of Waze related presentations, discussion and QA.

Travelling from Waze HQ to attend the meetup were Co-Founders Ehud Shabtai and Amir Shinar as well as Head of Community and Support Chen Barshai. Also joining were community and product managers Ohad, Shirli, Ori and Adrian.

Presentations given by the Waze team included the topics of the map editor, community, social media and of course some things we have planned for the future.

Not to be outdone, the community planned some presentations of their own on issues ranging from what it's like to be a baby Wazer, gamification, search and improved tools for area management.

All in all it was a great weekend spent with a dedicated and passionate community of long time expert Wazers.

We'd also like to send a special shout out to Zirland for meeting participants at the airport and ensuring a soft landing in Prague with train tickets and SIM cards.

Check out our full photo gallery of the event.

The full list of Wazers in attendance included: (AUSTRIA) GPSRitter; (BELGIUM) steveningelbrecht; (BRAZIL) antigerme, scarlogarcia; (CHILE) meb001; (CZECH REPUBLIC) Zirland; (FRANCE) arbaot, bullshoot, milkyway35, pulsarxp, slicer; (HUNGARY) railcar, wroadd, zsezo; (ITALY) anto64, asterix06, fmondini, lopaolo69, Michelozzo; (NETHERLANDS) gerben, petervdveen; (SLOVAKIA) guri211, dragstor, foxitrot, shalafi; (SPAIN) Brshk1, Robindlc; (SWITZERLAND) argus-cronos; (UK) dmcconachie, kieranrawley.

Our Amazing, Hardcore, Slovak Waze Community

We never cease to be amazed by the passion and dedication of the Waze community. Particularly our Slovak community.

With the extremely popular motor show Autosalon taking place in Bratislava, Slovakia, veteran Slovak Wazer Thomas (aka guri211) received an invitation to present Waze at the Zelena Vlna traffic broadcasting booth. Of course he didn't think twice about accepting.

Armed with graphics from WazeHQ, Thomas put together flyers, stickers and t-shirts (all translated into the Slovak language) in order to help spread the Waze spirit throughout Slovakia.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Zelena Vlna for the invitation to present at their booth. In addition, thank you to Thomas, Peto (petk0), Suik and Pista (porubcan) for presenting Waze, being such great Waze ambassadors and for embodying the community spirit that epitomizes Waze.

Chalk up another win for the vibrant and thriving Waze community!

Victims of Hungarian Superstorm Use Waze for Roadside Safety

These Wazers keep on amazin' us.

When a snowy blizzard hit Hungary last weekend, temperatures dropped to record lows and snow crippled cars, with many drivers stranded in their cars overnight on the country's major highways — just look at the pic above taken by a Hungarian Wazer.

Waze's Hungarian community quickly mobilized to provide drivers with real-time traffic information. They did this both in the app itself and via the community's Facebook page, which was used as a 24/7 traffic channel.

We caught up with Peter Zsak ("wroadd"),  Hungarian Country Manager and an active leader in the community,  to learn more about what transpired and how crowdsourcing played a role in keeping drivers safe.

5,700 cars were stranded on the roads, more than 8,000 people had to take refuge in government heated buildings and more than 100,000 people lost electricity. Where were you when this storm hit?

I was at home in Szeged, in southeast Hungary. We had a 3-day weekend for a national holiday so a lot of people were travelling, including members of the Waze map editing community living in the affected areas. The storm affected the whole country, but the areas of western Hungary were hit the worst. The emergency response teams, the military, police and the firefighters worked continuously for 48 hours to help those in need, but their coordination was awful.

The biggest help came from Austria, whose government sent snow sweepers and the Austrian RedCross to help feed and keep people warm.

What role did the community play in alerting drivers of traffic conditions?

We used Feed The Waze, a tool that helps add long term road closures to the Waze map. The app and Facebook were both used to report problems and communicate with the people stuck in their cars. The community also helped find volunteers.

Two of our fellow Wazers, Szikra and SivatagiSas, were out all night on the motorways bringing hot drinks and food to all those stranded in their cars and in "safehouses". So many Wazers volunteered, not to mention those who posted their offerings (accommodation, food, etc.) in the app.

What features of Waze did you and the community use?

We mainly used the Map Chat feature to communicate.

Has anyone shared with you stories of how Waze saved them during the blizzard?

One user, Kaszast, guided his wife through the storm using information posted in Waze Map Chats, eventually leading her to the nearest "safehouse".

How would you recommend Wazers around the world deal with the next big weather crisis in their region?

Waze is a real-time solution for these events. If the local community can cooperate with the emergency response officials, the possibilities are infinite.

Palo Alto Meetup Brings Together New and Experienced Map Editors

Boy, do we love meetups!

Earlier this month, a group of new and veteran map editors convened in Palo Alto to do what they do best — discuss how to create the best and most efficient community mapping initiative possible.

In attendance were special guests from Waze HQ: Co-Founder Ehud Shabtai and Community, Support and Product team members Shirli, Jonathan and Ohad.

The agenda featured wide-ranging talks that were mostly technical in nature. Everything from modifications to gas stations, turn restrictions, intersections, service roads and more map editor features and tweaks were discussed.

Highlights included a talk by CEO Noam Bardin and presentations by top map editors 'skbun,' 'bgodette' and 'AndyPoms.'

Major accomplishments in 2012 were discussed, as well as goals for 2013.

"We still have a lot more to do. It's not going to get boring," Noam said in his talk.

Map Updates Now Daily -- Worldwide!

Pop Quiz: Did you know that every time you make a map edit in the Waze map editor your edit will appear LIVE in the app within 24 to 48 hours?

If you answered no, that's okay. This is a relatively new development that we're excited to share with you guys.

In January, we announced that new and existing map editors in the United States can fix up any map issues on the map editor and see their routes improve right away in the app. Now, this rings true for map editors worldwide! 

A survey we ran in October revealed that more than 77% of new map editors sign up after encountering a map problem where they drive regularly.

Today, anyone can log on and correct any local map problems, and see how their contribution improves driving routes within days. This is a vast improvement over previous turnaround for update time, when map edits took months, and later weeks, to update.

Try your hand at map editing next time you see a road needs fixing, a parking lot needs marking or a gas station needs adding — and see your work benefit all the Wazers around you within days!

[Infographic] Spanish Community WoWs with Map Editing Campaign

What a difference a handful of motivated map editors can make!

In recent months, members of Spain's map editing community have undertaken an ambitious project to fully map out specific cities in the central and eastern regions of Spain.

The initiatives, led by two power Wazers, have been dubbed "Waze Outediting Week," or "WoW."

The project, the brainchild of Plumaveloz, a map editor from Valencia, was launched in June.

The premise is simple: users identify a city in Spain where the map needs serious work. They alert their fellow Spanish Wazers of the geographical area that needs mapping in the Spanish forum, and a small group of volunteer map editors join together to map that area.

The result is an intensive collaborative effort to fixing up the map of a certain locale — and ultimately create a better map and driving experience for all of Waze's Spanish community, which is nearing 1 million drivers!

During the first WoW in June, power Wazer Calandraca led the efforts to map the the city of Tordesillas, a city in central Spain. Six map editors undertook most of the work, with help from an additional 5 map editors on the Spanish forum.

The second WoW, led by Plumaveloz in July, rallied the same group to undertake a similar initiative for the Valencian city of Monover and its surrounding area.

The third and latest WoW, launched in late September, brought in a larger group of editors to the map editing community. Their task has been to educate one another on best map editing practices, as well as to polish up all the modifications made during WoW 1 and WoW 2, such as adding missing street/city names and segments.

With these guerrilla map editing efforts underway, it is no surprise that the community efforts in Spain are growing so quickly! Just check out a snapshot what's been going on in Spain over the last 12 months.

What do you think of Spain's 'WoW' map editing campaign? Could it be replicated in other countries?

A Little Treat For Brazilian Wazers!

We've rolled out a special treat for our Brazilian Wazers this week, in celebration of Carnaval!

Brazil's fast growing community of drivers may be seeing some brand new road goodies on their daily drives.

The goodies — a festivus hat, a mask and a tambourine (see above) — are each worth 3 points and will be available through the end of Carnaval.

For those of you who feel left out, don't worry, we like to reveal new road goodies around the world to celebrate different seasonal and holiday occasions.

Are there any special road goodies you'd like to see? Let us know!

500 Million Map Edits in 2012

It's been a great year for Waze. We've grown faster and in more places than we ever could have imagined, and we're constantly in awe of the amazing community of drivers we have and their commitment to fighting traffic, together!

BUT this growth would have been impossible without the hard work of the incredible map editing community, without which Waze (and the map) would be obsolete.

So we wanted to take a moment to reflect on some map editing highlights from 2012, as a precursor for an even better 2013!

Sleek New Map Editor

Plans to overhaul the Waze world map editor began as early as last January, when our attempts to create a more intuitive user interface began. After releasing a revamped version, we published a full video to get new map editors acquainted.

In October, we revealed that our map editing community is growing quite fast, with a 40% month-over-month increase in new editors. The increase was likely attributed to the new and improved map editor, a higher growth rate in drivers using Waze and increased efforts on our part to make map-editing a more user-friendly experience.

In November, the older map editor (affectionately known as the "Cartouche") was officially retired. The now-official map editor was rolled out in its place, newly designed for new map editors to be able to "jump in" and edit, with features such as "play mode."

Meetups, Meetups, Meetups Everywhere

Meetups were all the rage, and if there is one thing we love more than our map editors meeting online, it's when they meet in real life. These gatherings produce great ideas, are a chance for the local/regional communities to summarize their objectives, and give the ordinary folk from Waze HQ a chance to meet the extraordinary map editors they work with in person.

2 'superuser' meetups, one in Paris and one in Palo Alto, set the stage for a meetup-filled year, which included gatherings in:

Czech and Slovak: The community there met first in January, and then again in June, when they launched a DIY bumper-sticker guerrilla campaign. At their last meetup in Bratislava, Waze Co-Founders Ehud Shabtai and Amir Shinar paid a visit and were awed by the great level of engagement and involvement they saw.

Hungary: The Hungarian map editing community produced a spirited Waze musical tribute! If that wasn't impressive enough, the community there also revealed a telemetry car, used to fine-tune map editing while on the road, during a Budapest meetup in June.

Meetups were also held in The Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, and more.

Finding Cheap Gas and Avoiding Toll Roads

After launching our gas station feature in the United States, we gave editors the ability to add gas stations to the map editor worldwide in July. With the ability to add gas stations in their country, map editors could expedite the release of Waze's cheap fuel locator in their respective countries.

The initial numbers were quite impressive, with editors adding more than 50,000 gas stations on the map in the first month. Today, thanks to the map editing community, the real-time gas price feature is active in more than 20 countries and counting.

Similarily, after adding the ability to add toll roads to the map editor, map editors marked more than 50,000 toll roads worldwide, expediting the release of the the ‘avoid toll roads’ feature in countries such as Australia, Belgium and Canada.

Solving Map Problems at Record Speed

New data revealed in December showed that map editors are resolving map problems at an astounding pace, with nearly 70% of system-detected map problems solved by the map editing community over a 30-day period and nearly all user-reported map problems resolved within one week.

Map Editing Rockstars

In August, we learned who some of our record-holders in map editing were, with the inaugural "Waze World Records." Revealed were the top 10 Record Holders in Solving System-Generated Map Problems, The Record Holders in Solving User-Reported Map Problems, and the Wazers That Have Logged The Most Map Edits.

Needless to say, it was a whirlwind year. We're humbled by this community's achievements and are so thankful we've all come this far. Huge thanks to our amazing map editing community for all their hard work and making Waze all that it is. Cheers!

Colombia Wazers Can Now Navigate to Cheap Gas

Wazers in Colombia can now find the cheapest, closest gas stations on or along their route, thanks to the launch of Waze's real-time gas price feature in the South American nation.

The launch makes Colombia the 24th country where the real-time gas feature is available, and the third in South America, after Panama and Brazil.

For the feature to work effectively, Colombia Wazers (and all drivers with the gas price feature) need update the prices they see at a gas station for the community. The better crowdsourcing gas price data YOU contribute, the more drivers who will get to save $$$ on gas! Do your part — so that no one has to fill up at one station when a better price is just down the street!

The Colombia launch is credited to the work of the map editing community there, which mapped out 1,200 of their countries’ gas stations in the Waze map editor.

In order for us to enable our real-time gas price feature in more countries, the map editing community needs to add up to 70% of a country’s total gas stations to the Waze map.

To update gas prices — just click on the Report button and choose Gas Prices whenever you’re at or near a gas station.

Real-Time Gas Prices Launch in Czech Republic, Norway and Panama

We're happy to share that Wazers in the Czech Republic, Norway and Panama can kick off the new year by saving some money at pump. Drivers in these 3 countries are the latest to enjoy Waze's real-time gas prices feature.

Waze's real-time gas price feature is 100% crowdsourced. This latest launch is credited to the fastidious work of the Czech, Norway and Panama map editing communities, which mapped out the majority of their countries' gas stations in the Waze map editor.

With this feature, drivers in these countries can update one another on the latest gas prices at various gas stations on or along their route.

Update gas prices each time you drive and the entire Waze community will benefit, making it easier for drivers to quickly locate the most inexpensive gas stations.

We know first hand just how negative the effect of high gas prices has had on your lives. In October, a poll we ran in Italy revealed that 70% of Italian commuters in Milan, Rome and Naples have adjusted their daily driving habits to cope with increasing fuel costs.

The real-time gas price feature is active in more than 20 countries, including the United States, Spain, and New Zealand and more. In order for us to enable our real-time gas price feature in more countries, the map editing community needs to add up to 70% of a country’s total gas stations to the Waze map. Currently, the map editing community has added an astounding 170,000 gas stations to the Waze map, worldwide!

To update gas prices — just click on the Report button and choose Gas Prices whenever you're at or near a gas station.

Do you rely on Waze's real-time gas prices?

NEW DATA: Map Editors Fix Map Problems Nearly As Fast As They'reReported

We've always been quick to point out that Waze maps offer the most updated and real-time depiction of what's happening out on the roads. The latest numbers on our map editing community prove this, while shedding light on just how quickly the resourceful group is solving map problems!

In fact, we've discovered that the community is so quick at resolving user-reported map problems that the majority of newly opened problems are resolved within one week!

We've taken a look at the number of map problems reported over the last 30 days and how our worldwide map editing community has handled them:

• They've solved nearly 70% of system-detected map problems and 100% of all user-reported map problems!

(graphs showing over 100% solve-rates indicate our map editors are solving all of this month's problems, plus backlogged map problems as well)

• In the United States, home to our largest community of map editors, 97% of system problems and 100% of user problems were resolved.

• The trend continues in Europe, where two major map editing communities, Italy and France, are resolving system-detected problems at slightly lower rates of 85% and 90%, but are similarly closing out 100% of all user-detected problems.

• South America's largest communities, Brazil (chart below) and Chile, also lag in system-detected problems, with 65% and 38% of those problems resolved, respectively. But they make up for it in their swift solving of user-reported problems, with Brazil solving 97% of all problems, and Chile solving 100% respectively.

This data shows just how astonishingly fast the community is working, and thanks to them, Waze maps are more 'real-time' than ever. If you report a map problem, chances are it'll be resolved within a week or two. Our data shows that 64% of all user reported map problems are solved within one week, another 9% within two weeks, 5% within three, 4% within four weeks and 18.5% are solved after one month.

Feeling inspired? Check out our new and improved map editor and watch this clip for a refresher on how to edit map problems.