User:Dovid/sandbox/Waze

forum covering this topic.

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This page covers the abbreviations and acronyms used in naming roads in Waze. By following these guidelines the Text-to-speech (TTS) feature will work at its optimum level. If you have questions about these instructions, see the further reading at the bottom of this page.

Standard abbreviations
Waze convention is to abbreviate words that are very common qualifiers in road segment names, especially suffixes such a s Avenue (Ave), Street (St), Boulevard (Blvd(, and many others. It helps keep segment names compact, which is a benefit for displaying roads on small screens, or even on zoomed-in larger screens.

A list of commonly abbreviated words in road names can be found link to a separate page, don't keep the long list here, makes the non-list part harder to read

Usage
Where there is any question of whether a name will be read properly by TTS, or will appear awkward or ambiguous on-screen, It is usually acceptable to spell out a word instead of abbreviating it, if you think this will result in either clearer TTS or on-screen display. However, you should try to use the abbreviations in all other cases, and carefully consider the effect of that on very long segment names. For example, the *need name of some well-known long roadway that could include an abbreviation*, is very long. If the abbreviation is used, it shortens the name and makes its on screen display better. In this situation, it is not just optional "common convention" to abbreviate, it is important for making the name physically fit better.

Do not include the period in the abbreviation; "Ave" is correct, "Ave." is not.

QUESTIONABLE?: 3. In the event that the original suffix is a plural (I.e contains a "s" at the end) and only its singular form is present as an abbreviation, simply add an "s" to the end of the abbreviation.

Special United States usage
In the United States, there are also some common prefixes that are abbreviated by convention, especially directionals (E/W/N/S for East/West/North/South) and various state and local highway designations, such as State Route 00 (SR-00), County Road 000 (CO 000), Highway 00 (Hwy 00). Please note that there are some areas that have unique local designations. Before editing in any US state, read the wiki page for that state and browse its forum for any unique handling on names and abbreviations. For example, in Brooklyn, East 13th Street would be abbreviated E 13 St, with both prefix and suffix abbreviations. In addition, the ordinal designation, "th" is also dropped.

Note that unlike the United States, some countries have a policy not to use prefixes. Nevertheless, in the United States, please follow the guidance above. See also "prefix guidance" below

TTS = Text To Speech for supported countries.

Other abbreviations
 Prefixes, directional abbreviations and other (non-suffix) abbreviations should not be used, except for state/ territory abbreviations & country abbreviations; under ISO 3166-1 alpha-3. 

1. Prefix abbreviations include: Mount (Mt.), and Saint (St.) Note: Mount (Mt.) is not the same as Mountain (Mtn.).
 * Although they are common, can cause issues as variation and overlap exists between naming, usage, and prefix standards (I.e. What words to, and how to, abbreviate).
 * Therefore a lake named "Lake Clair" would not be abbreviated, while if its documented name was "Clair Lake" it would be.

2. Directional abbreviations include: East (E), South West (SW), Central (CN), Upper (UP), and Lower (LR).
 * In addition to not being abbreviated, directions should only be included when they are a part of the documented name, and not a suffix or prefix added at a later stage to describe location or orientation/ direction.

3. Other abbreviations include: Island (Is.), Quay (Qy), Reserve (Res) and Tunnel (Tunl).
 * These are acceptable to be used when they are a suffix, but not acceptable when they are place names.
 * Therefore "King-Tunnel Road" should have tunnel spelt in full, as it refers to a tunnel. While "Queen Tunnel-Road" could have tunnel abbreviated, as tunnel refers to the type of roadway, and is a part of the suffix.
 * Likewise an Island named "Island Island" would be abbreviated to Island Is.

4. The exception to the above is abbreviations for states and or territories; and countries with their three character abbreviation. These contain correct punctuation. Other regions do not fall under this category.
 * For example: California would be abbreviated to C.A. not CA and Victoria to VIC.
 * Country abbreviations are done under "ISO 3166-1 alpha-3". Further information can be found on Wikipedia. (ISO 3166:)
 * Other regions include that of Suburbs, Districts, Localities, Shires and special purpose areas. (I.e. Indigenous, Military and Airport areas.)

Forums
If you have further questions on this topic, please refer to the following Waze forum for a "Work in progress" list of abbreviations that are being tested, currently available, and proposed:

Test of Text-to-Speech (TTS) Abbreviations in Waze Clients

Glossary
Refer to the Glossary page for definitions of many terms used in Waze.