Welcome to the Waze community!
Waze's mission is to work together to improve the quality of everyone's daily driving. By taking part in the Waze community, you help other Wazers get a more accurate map, up to date traffic reports, localized app and features, and more. These Community Terms govern your rights and obligations regarding the use of Waze’s Software (“Software”) and service (both collectively referred to as the “Service”), and are in addition to, and are not intended to replace the Waze Terms of Service, which are hereby incorporated by reference. In the event of a conflict between the Community Terms and the Waze Terms of Service, the Waze Terms of Service shall prevail.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVENESS
Waze is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive community. We aim to create a community that celebrates the diversity of our community members, partners and drivers. We endeavor to build features that work for everyone by including perspectives from backgrounds that vary by race, ethnicity, social background, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status and national origin.
We are committed to a supportive environment, where community members have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. We are striving to grow and preserve a community culture of mutual respect, transparency and acceptance where all voices may be heard. Community members are expected to do their utmost to create a space and culture that is free of harassment, intimidation, bias and unlawful discrimination.
Waze prohibits discrimination, harassment and bullying of any form. Therefore, we would like to ask for your cooperation to address others with respect and to be mindful of the effect your words and/or behavior might have on others. This is not limited to our virtual interaction channels (Waze official and non official channels) but also applies to the instances when we meet face to face.
If you believe you’ve been bullied or harassed by anyone, we strongly encourage you to immediately report the incident by emailing us at product@waze.com. We will promptly and thoroughly investigate any complaints and take necessary action, including, but not limited to, banning the relevant users from some or all of Waze’s channels.
PROHIBITED COMMUNICATION
Our community members shall never do the following (including in external links):
- Flame, insult, or threaten other members (even as a joke)
- Post or share personal information about others (i.e. name, address, email, phone number, etc.)
- Publicly post or share private discussions with other users or staff (unless the sender has given you permission to do so). Private discussions are intended to be just that - private.
- Post copyrighted material
- Post or link to violent or sexually explicit content
- Post or link to hate speech (including slandering or vilifying a particular race, religion, ethnic group, gender, sexual preference, or sexual identity)
- Post or link to content that facilitates or encourages dangerous activities or that can in any way cause serious physical harm to individuals, animals or the environment
- Post false, inaccurate, or deceptive information can cause significant harm to individuals or businesses
- Post or link to content produced by or on behalf of terrorist groups or to content that incites violence, promotes terrorist acts or celebrates terrorist attacks
- Post or link to content that exploits, abuses, or that may endanger minors
- Post religious, political, and other “prone to huge arguments” posts or comments
- Post links to phishing sites or spam
- Solicit, beg, auction, sell, or advertise any product or service, or refer to third parties who do so
- Promote or link to exploits, cheating programs, or any other sort of illegal activity
- Impersonate a Waze employee
Please note that Waze is not moderating the content in the community internal chats. However, all the Waze communication guidelines apply to those chats as well. Chat admins may block or remove any community members that disrespect these guidelines.
We take the actions above seriously, and performing such prohibited actions may result in immediate, temporary, or permanent suspension of posting privileges (even without prior notification). Serious or sustained offenses can also result in the suspension of the user's access to the forum and/or blocking of the user’s Waze account.
CONFIDENTIALITY
As a member of the Waze community, you may be exposed to Waze’s confidential information such as information related to new features we are working on and/or partnerships that have not been announced to the public yet. You are expected to keep any information that Waze shares with you as confidential and not share it with third parties outside of the Waze community.
BETA TESTERS COMMUNITY
As a member of the Waze Beta Community, you will be asked to use and provide your feedback on new features that we are working on. Waze conducts thorough testing and quality assurance before releasing any feature to be tested by our beta community to ensure that such features conforms with our product and safety standards. Nevertheless, some flows may be incomplete, broken etc. Please make sure to always drive vigilantly according to road conditions and in accordance with traffic laws. It is strictly forbidden to send feedback about beta features, or to non-verbally interact with the Service or use the Service in a non-verbal manner for any purpose other than navigation while driving. Feedback about beta features or non-verbal reports you want to submit to the Service may only be sent after you have stopped your vehicle in an appropriate location permitted by law. Alternatively, such updates may be sent by a passenger other than the driver, provided it does not interfere with the due course of driving and does not distract the driver’s attention to the road.
WAZE MAP EDITORS COMMUNITY
When making edits to the Waze map, some of your information may be public, for example: any edits you make in the app can be public; your Username may be used to identify you in the forum and other community related tools, and in public summaries of the community activity (such as the Map Raids “hall of fame” board and other leaderboards); your Username and any edits you make can also be used for moderation actions that the community is responsible for.
When editing the map, you must comply with the editing guidelines established by the local community you are a part of. When you submit map edits, or any other content to be published on the Service (“Content”), you represent and warrant that you have the necessary legal rights to post the Content publicly on the Service in accordance with the Waze Terms of Service.
We encourage new community members to be in contact with local community leaders who can provide guidance and assistance on editing the Waze map. You can contact your local community leaders via the Waze Forum or Waze Chat.
LOCALIZATION COMMUNITY
Localization is the process of adapting a product or service to a specific locale, such as a country or region. This can involve translating the product or service into the local language, as well as adapting the content and design to meet the local culture and customs.
When Localizing a language you must comply with the original text and Waze glossary.
SURVEYS AND EVENTS
When you join the Waze community, you acknowledge and agree that Waze may contact you from time to time in connection with your Waze activity. For example, we may contact you and ask you to answer surveys related to your role and the community you are a member of. Participation in our surveys is completely voluntary and you may opt out of being contacted at any time via the notification settings in your Waze mobile app or by emailing us to Communities-Surveys@google.com. We may also contact you in connection with any events we are holding for our community members, and for community moderation purposes.
NO EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
These Terms and your use of the Service, including the submission of content onto the Service, your participation as a member of the Waze community, and any other active or passive contribution you make to the Service, is completely voluntary and do not, and shall not be construed as creating any employment or business relationship, partnership, joint venture, employer-employee, agency, or franchisor-franchisee relationship in any way and of any kind between the parties hereto. Your use of the Service is intended for your enjoyment and benefit and the provision of the Service to you and others, and (subject to your compliance with these Terms and with the Waze Terms of Service) constitutes the sole and sufficient consideration that you are entitled to receive for any Content or other contributions you have made to the Waze Service, its contents, maps and any other data.
SHARING INFORMATION WITH COMMUNITY LEADERS
The Waze community is a self-moderating community, and so your username and activity in the community (such as the edits you have made in the map) may be shared with higher level community members for moderation purposes. Aggregated metrics may also be shared publicly in the community leader boards like the community “hall of fame”. If you choose to answer one of our surveys, aggregated survey results that do not personally identify you may also be shared with community leaders.
FEEDBACK
In the course of your participation as a member of the Waze community, you may provide comments, feedback, ideas, reports, suggestions, data, or other information to Google relating to Waze and/or other Google products and services (collectively “Feedback”). Google may use any Feedback without restriction to develop and improve Google’s current or future products and services. You agree that you will not disclose to Google any third-party information in your Feedback that you are otherwise obligated to maintain as confidential. Google has no obligation to use your Feedback. Feedback collected is processed according to the Waze Privacy Policy.
CONTACT US
You may contact us concerning any question about the Waze community by emailing us to product@waze.com. We will make our best efforts to address your inquiry promptly.
Last update: July 24, 2023.