Waze Data Feed specifications

Revision History

The following revision table presents the changes made for each version of this document.

 

Revision

Date

State/Description

2.7.1

May 2016

Updated-confidence and reliability scores

2.7.2

June 2016

Updated linqmap:speed units

2.8

March 2017

Added configuration options, and specified irregularity parameters

2.8

August 2017

Added broken traffic light alert, receive number of thumbs up by users, get image of irregularity 

2.9

August 2022

Adjust to PartnerHub new platform

3.0

April 2023

Added openLR information, new URL format, online documentation

Overview

This article details the structure and content of the Waze real-time traffic data feed.

Waze maps provide information about specific routes to assist motorists in avoiding traffic jams. Our maps and traffic are dynamically updated by a continually expanding network of drivers worldwide.

We provide information about traffic jams and events that affect road conditions, either from drivers using Waze, a.k.a. Wazers, or from external sources. Wazers may issue reports from the location at which they are currently located or, if no longer at the location, within 30 minutes after the event occurred. We are also able to provide automatic alerts for what we call Unusual Traffic (or Irregularities) - incidents that affect a large number of users and fall outside the normal traffic patterns for a given day and time.

Retrieving Waze traffic-data

Waze provides Waze for Cities partners with a GeoRSS API to retrieve traffic data in the form of an XML/JSON file containing all the data approved for sharing, as per the partner agreement. 

  • Feed content per managed area: The feed will include all available data per managed area the partner was approved for. To check the partner's current approved managed areas or to request another/change an existing one, use the Settings section on the PartnerHub. 
  • Base URL for each managed area: To get the URL for the feed associated with a managed area, go to the Toolbox section, then choose Waze Data Feed, and then check the Feed Links section on the table. Choose JSON/XML format to get the URL and current feed content. The base URL will have this structure:
    https://www.waze.com/partnerhub-api/partners/<partner-id>/waze-feeds/<unique-token>?format=<format>
  • Adjustments to the feed content: after getting the base feed URL, you will be able to customize it by adding additional parameters. These are the additional parameters available:
 

Parameter

Possible values

Details and example

format

1/2

A value of 1 generates a response in JSON format, and a value of 2 in XML. This parameter is already included in the links displayed in Partner Hub.

types

alerts/

irregularities/

traffic

Filter the type of information. The default is to fetch all types. Adding this filter will decrease response size and will make server response faster. Multiple types can be specified as comma-separated values. For example: 

https://www.waze.com/partnerhub-api/partners/<partner-id>/waze-feeds/<unique-token>?format=<format>&types=alerts,traffic

acotu

false/true

If true adds a field “nThumbsUp” to alerts that havebeen “thumbed up” by Wazers. Default to false. Setting to true makes server response slower. For example: 

https://www.waze.com/partnerhub-api/partners/<partner-id>/waze-feeds/<unique-token>?format=<format>&acotu=true

atf

Alert types:
See here 

Filters specific alert types. Example:

https://www.waze.com/partnerhub-api/partners/<partner-id>/waze-feeds/<unique-token>?format=<format>&atf=ROAD_CLOSED,ACCIDENT

fa

false/true

If true includes alerts that have been reported by a partner feed, in addition to alerts reported by Wazers. If false, the output includes only alerts reported by users. Default to true. Example:

https://www.waze.com/partnerhub-api/partners/<partner-id>/waze-feeds/<unique-token>?format=<format>&fa=true

ofa

false/true

If true includes only alerts which have been reported via partner feed. If false includes alerts which have been reported by partner feed and Wazers via the application. Default to false. Example:

https://www.waze.com/partnerhub-api/partners/<partner-id>/waze-feeds/<unique-token>?format=<format>&ofa=true

olri

false/true

If true, includes alert segment openLR info - info on the segment the alert is on, such as coordinate and azimuth of start and end points of the segment, and the distance between them.

Supported only in XML format currently.

dfp

String (date time pattern)

Date format pattern to use in date time fields.

Using Waze traffic data

Waze traffic data consists of the following information:

  1. General information: time-stamp of the file, geographic area from which the data was retrieved, etc.
  2. Traffic alerts: traffic incidents reported by users.
  3. Traffic jams: traffic slowdown information generated by the service based on a user’s location and speed.
  4. Unusual Traffic (Irregularities): alerts and traffic jams that affect an exceptionally large number of users. 

Traffic alerts

The ‘Alerts’ section includes all traffic data reported by Waze users through the Waze mobile application.  

Reliability and Confidence scores

Reliability

Each alert gets a reliability score based on other user reactions (‘Thumbs up’, ‘Not there’ etc.) and the level of the reporter (Wazers gain levels by contributing to the map, starting at level 1 and reaching up to level 6. The higher the level, the more experienced and trustworthy the Wazer.) The score (0-10) indicates how reliable the report is.  

Confidence

Each alert gets a confidence score based on other user reactions (‘Thumbs up’, ‘Not there’). The score ranges between -1 and 5. A higher score indicates more positive feedback from Waze users.

Data Elements

The data include an array of alerts with the following attributes:

XML

Element

Value

Description

pubDate

Time

Publication date

georss:point

Coordinates

Location per report (Lat long)

linqmap:uuid 

String

Unique system ID 

linqmap:magvar

Integer (0-359)

Event direction (Driver heading at report time. 0 degrees at North, according to the driver’s device)

linqmap:type

See alert type table

Event type

linqmap:subtype

See alert sub types table

Event sub type - depends on atof parameter

linqmap:reportDescription

String

Report description (supplied when available)

linqmap:street

String

Street name (as is written in database, no canonical form, may be null)

linqmap:city

String

City and state name [City, State] in case both are available, [State] if not associated with a city. (supplied when available)

linqmap:country

String

(see two letters codes in  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1

linqmap:roadType

Integer

Road type (see road types )

linqmap:reportRating

Integer

User rank between 1-6 ( 6 = high ranked user)

linqmap:jamUuid

string

If the alert is connected to a jam - jam ID

linqmap:Reliability

0-10

Reliability score based on user reactions and reporter level

confidence

0-10

Confidence score based on user reactions

linqmap:reportByMunicipalityUser

Boolean

True if the alert was reported by a municipality user (partner). Optional - added only on demand (if appeared in the url params).

linqmap:nThumbsUp

integer

Number of thumbs up by users

openlrinfo

Contain 2 “reference_point” objects

OpenLR Segment information the alert is located on. Each “reference_point” (start and end point) contains latitude, longitude, bearing_deg (azimuth) and a distance between the points.

JSON

Element

Value

Description

pubMillis

Timestamp

Publication date (Unix time – milliseconds since epoch)

location

Coordinates

Location per report (X Y - Long-lat)

uuid 

String

Unique system ID 

magvar

Integer (0-359)

Event direction (Driver heading at report time. 0 degrees at North, according to the driver’s device)

type

See alert type table

Event type

subtype

See alert sub types table

Event sub type - depends on atof parameter

reportDescription

String

Report description (supplied when available)

street

String

Street name (as is written in database, no canonical form, may be null)

city

String

City and state name [City, State] in case both are available, [State] if not associated with a city. (supplied when available)

country

String

(see two letters codes in  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1

roadType

Integer

Road type (see road types)

reportRating

Integer

User rank between 1-6 ( 6 = high ranked user)

jamUuid

string

If the alert is connected to a jam - jam ID

Reliability 

0-10

Reliability score based on user reactions and reporter level

confidence

0-10

Confidence score based on user reactions

reportByMunicipalityUser

Boolean

Alert reported by municipality user (partner) Optional.

nThumbsUp

integer

Number of thumbs up by users

Traffic Alerts examples

XML format

<item>

<pubDate>Thu Nov 26 14:02:29 +0000 2015</pubDate>

<georss:point>45.02395420471421 7.670893079148089</georss:point>

<linqmap:uuid>9fd1ee98-7b56-37e9-a2d4-72e9478dd838</linqmap:uuid>

<linqmap:magvar>6</linqmap:magvar&gt;

<linqmap:type>WEATHERHAZARD</linqmap:type>

<linqmap:subtype>HAZARD_ON_ROAD_CONSTRUCTION</linqmap:subtype>

<linqmap:reportDescription>

scambio di carreggiata causa lavori dalle 00:00 del 16 novembre 2015 alle 23:59 del 21 gennaio 2016

</linqmap:reportDescription>

<linqmap:city>Torino</linqmap:city>

<linqmap:country>IT</linqmap:country>

<linqmap:roadType>4</linqmap:roadType>

<linqmap:reportRating>0</linqmap:reportRating>

<linqmap:reliability>10</linqmap:reliability>

</item>

<item>

<pubDate>Thu Nov 26 14:02:26 +0000 2015</pubDate>

<georss:point>45.02395420471421 7.670893079148089</georss:point>

<linqmap:uuid>ed06a695-53ee-347c-a6eb-133bf8746880</linqmap:uuid>

<linqmap:magvar>6</linqmap:magvar>

<linqmap:type>WEATHERHAZARD</linqmap:type>

<linqmap:subtype>HAZARD_ON_ROAD_CONSTRUCTION</linqmap:subtype>

<linqmap:reportDescription>

chiusura notturna causa lavori di manutenzione dalle 23:00 alle 05:30, solo nei giorni feriali dalle 23:00 del 9 novembre 2015 alle 05:30 del 5 dicembre 2015

</linqmap:reportDescription>

<linqmap:city>Torino</linqmap:city>

<linqmap:country>IT</linqmap:country>

<linqmap:roadType>4</linqmap:roadType>

<linqmap:reportRating>0</linqmap:reportRating>

<linqmap:reliability>7</linqmap:reliability>

</item>

JSON format

{"country":"IT","roadType":1,"magvar":258,"subtype":"","reportRating":0,"reliability":6,"reportDescription":"blocco del traffico per alcuni veicoli nella ZTL (Zona Traffico Limitato)   Non possono circolare  Veicoli per il trasporto persone Dal lunedì al venerdì, dalle ore 8 alle ore 19 - veicoli benzina Eur","location":{"x":7.6800935614336545,"y":44.9991565694201},"type":"WEATHERHAZARD","uuid":"39d9dc07-bd74-3b35-ba6b-833f5cbd1ce1","pubMillis":1448546704610},{"country":"IT","magvar":0,"subtype":"ROAD_CLOSED_EVENT","city":"Nichelino","street":"Via Fenestrelle","reportRating":0,"reliability":9,"reportDescription":"lavori","location":{"x":7.627331910061528,"y":45.00419885851123},"type":"ROAD_CLOSED","uuid":"1064e72c-0d3b-332d-95c6-1dcab524aa5c","pubMillis":1446918728242},

Traffic Jams

The jams section includes data gathered in real time about traffic slowdowns on specific road segments. 

The URL includes an array of jams and the start time and date of the report. Each jam includes the parameters detailed below. 

Waze generates traffic jam information by processing the following data sources:

  • GPS location-points sent from user phones (users who drive while using the app) and calculations of the current average speed vs. free-flow speed (maximum speed measured on the road-segment). For Unusual traffic (irregularities) Waze uses historic average speeds (on 30 minute time-slots).
  • User generated reports - reports shared by Waze users who encounter traffic jams. These appear as regular alerts, and also affect the way we identify and present traffic jams.

Data Elements

The data include an array of jams with the following attributes:

XML

Element

Value

Description

pubDate

Time

Publication date

linqmap:type

String

TRAFFIC_JAM 

georss:line

List of Longitude and Latitude coordinates

Traffic jam line string (supplied when available)

linqmap:speed

Float

Current average speed on jammed segments in meters/seconds

linqmap:speedKPH

Float

Current average speed on jammed segments in KM/h

linqmap:length

Integer

Jam length in meters

linqmap:delay

Integer

Delay of jam compared to free flow speed, in seconds (in case of block, -1)

linqmap:street

String

Street name (as is written in database, no canonical form. (supplied when available)

linqmap:city

String

City and state name [City, State] in case both are available, [State] if not associated with a city (supplied when available)

linqmap:country

String

available on EU (world) server (see two letters codes in  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1)

linqmap:roadType

Integer

Road type (see road types)

linqmap:startNode

String

Nearest Junction/street/city to jam start (supplied when available)

linqmap:endNode

String

Nearest Junction/street/city to jam end (supplied when available)

linqmap:level

0 - 5

Traffic congestion level (0 = free flow 5 = blocked).

linqmap:uuid

Long integer

Unique jam ID

linqmap:turnLine

Coordinates

A set of coordinates of a turn - only when the jam is in a turn (supplied when available)

linqmap:turnType

String

What kind of turn is it - left, right, exit R or L, continue straight or NONE (no info) (supplied when available)

linqmap:blockingAlertUuid

string

UUID of the corresponding road closure alert for a jam that represents blocked traffic due to a road closure

JSON

Element

Value

Description

pubMillis

Timestamp

Publication date (Unix time – milliseconds since epoch)

type

String

TRAFFIC_JAM 

line

List of Longitude and Latitude coordinates

Traffic jam line string (supplied when available)

speed

Float

Current average speed on jammed segments in meters/seconds

speedKPH

Float

Current average speed on jammed segments in Km/h

length

Integer

Jam length in meters

delay

Integer

Delay of jam compared to free flow speed, in seconds (in case of block, -1)

street

String

Street name (as is written in database, no canonical form. (supplied when available)

city

String

City and state name [City, State] in case both are available, [State] if not associated with a city. (supplied when available)

country

String

available on EU (world) server (see two letters codes in  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1)

roadType

Integer

Road type (see road types )

startNode

String

Nearest Junction/steet/city to jam start (supplied when available)

endNode

String

Nearest Junction/steet/city to jam end (supplied when available)

level

0 - 5

Traffic congestion level (0 = free flow 5 = blocked).

uuid

Long integer

Unique jam ID

turnLine

Coordinates

A set of coordinates of a turn - only when the jam is in a turn (supplied when available)

turnType

String

What kind of turn is it - left, right, exit R or L, continue straight or NONE (no info) (supplied when available)

blockingAlertUuid

string

if the jam is connected to a block (see alerts) 

Traffic jam examples

XML Format

<item>

<title>jam</title>

<pubDate>Mon Aug 8 06:10:26 +0000 2022</pubDate>

<linqmap:id>1320005294</linqmap:id>

<linqmap:uuid>1320005294</linqmap:uuid>

<linqmap:type>NONE</linqmap:type>

<georss:line>40.885657 -73.980907 40.885302 -73.9803</georss:line>

<linqmap:speed>0.0</linqmap:speed>

<linqmap:speedKMH>0.0</linqmap:speedKMH>

<linqmap:length>65</linqmap:length>

<linqmap:delay>-1</linqmap:delay>

<linqmap:endNode>S Dean St</linqmap:endNode>

<linqmap:street>E Forest Ave</linqmap:street>

<linqmap:city>Englewood, NJ</linqmap:city>

<linqmap:country>US</linqmap:country>

<linqmap:roadType>7</linqmap:roadType>

<linqmap:level>5</linqmap:level>

<linqmap:turnType>NONE</linqmap:turnType>

<linqmap:blockingAlertUuid>9fd8bf93-0e69-46c3-8447-270181a98b93</linqmap:blockingAlertUuid>

</item>

JSON Format

{"jams":[{"country":"US","city":"Englewood, NJ","level":5,"line":[{"x":-73.980907,"y":40.885657},{"x":-73.9803,"y":40.885302}],"speedKMH":0,"length":65,"turnType":"NONE","type":"NONE","uuid":1320005294,"endNode":"S Dean St","speed":0,"segments":[{}],"blockingAlertUuid":"9fd8bf93-0e69-46c3-8447-270181a98b93","roadType":7,"delay":-1,"street":"E Forest Ave","id":1320005294,"pubMillis":1659939026804}]}

Unusual traffic (Irregularities)

These are traffic jams identified by the system as irregular by taking into account historical speed data. 

Data Elements

The data include an array of irregularities with the following attributes:

XML

Element

Value

Description

linqmap:id

Long integer

Irregularity Identifier 

detectionDate

Date timestamp

Date of irregularity

detectionDateMillis 

Unix date in milliseconds

Date of irregularity

updateDate

Date timestamp

Last update

updateDateMillis

Unix date in milliseconds

Last update

georss:line

List of Longitude and Latitude coordinates

Traffic jam line string (supplied when available)

linqmap:type

String

Irregularity type - NONE(0, "NONE"), 

SMALL(1, "Small"), 

MEDIUM(2, "Medium"), 

LARGE(3, "Large"),

HUGE(4, "Huge");

linqmap:speed

Float number

Traffic speed in irregularity

linqmap:regularSpeed

Float number

Historical regular speed in segment

linqmap:delaySeconds

Number

Delay in seconds from regular speed 

linqmap:seconds

Number

Current traffic speed

linqmap:length

Number

Irregularity length

linqmap:trend

Number 

-1 improving, 0 constant, 1 getting worse

linqmap:street

String

Street name

linqmap:city

String

City name

JSON

Element

Value

Description

id

Long integer

Irregularity Identifier 

detectionDate

Date timestamp

Date of irregularity

detectionDateMillis 

Unix date in milliseconds

Date of irregularity

updateDate

Date timestamp

Last update

updateDateMillis

Unix date in milliseconds

Last update

line

List of Longitude and Latitude coordinates

Traffic jam line string (supplied when available)

type

String

Irregularity type - NONE(0, "NONE"), 

SMALL(1, "Small"), 

MEDIUM(2, "Medium"), 

LARGE(3, "Large"),

HUGE(4, "Huge");

speed

Float number

Traffic speed in irregularity

regularSpeed

Float number

Historical regular speed in segment

delaySeconds

Number

Delay in seconds from regular speed 

seconds

Number

Current traffic speed

length

Number

Irregularity length

trend

Number 

-1 improving, 0 constant, 1 getting worse

street

String

Street name

city

String

City name

country

String 

Country name

severity

Float number

Calculated severity of irregularity 0-5 (5 = most severe)

jamLevel

Number

1-4, 4 being worst jam level

driversCount

Number

Number of Wazers in irregularity 

alertsCount

Number

How many alerts from Wazers in irregularity segments

Irregularity example

<item>

<title>irregularity</title>

<description>LineString consists of lat, lon pairs</description>

<guid>urn:uuid:d496f4e3-7fd8-4169-ac6208e36dffa7f0</guid>

<link>http://georss.org/example/simple/point</link>

<author>LinQmap</author>

<linqmap:id>1874175156</linqmap:id>

<detectionDate>Tue Apr 18 11:21:46 +0000 2023</detectionDate>

<detectionDateMillis>1681816906824</detectionDateMillis>

<updateDate>Tue Apr 18 12:16:39 +0000 2023</updateDate>

<updateDateMillis>1681820199470</updateDateMillis>

<georss:line>26.637526 -82.015391 26.637676 -82.011215 26.637694 -82.01099 26.637772 -82.010316 26.637821 -82.00999 26.637893 -82.009646 26.638041 -82.009055 26.638174 -82.008521 26.6385 -82.007214 26.638535 -82.007075</georss:line>

<linqmap:type>SMALL</linqmap:type>

<linqmap:speed>8.5</linqmap:speed>

<linqmap:regularSpeed>27.08</linqmap:regularSpeed>

<linqmap:delaySeconds>300</linqmap:delaySeconds>

<linqmap:seconds>355</linqmap:seconds>

<linqmap:length>839</linqmap:length>

<linqmap:trend>0</linqmap:trend>

<linqmap:endNode>Chiquita Blvd</linqmap:endNode>

<linqmap:street>SW Pine Island Rd</linqmap:street>

<linqmap:city>Cape Coral, FL</linqmap:city>

<linqmap:country>US</linqmap:country>

<linqmap:severity>5.0</linqmap:severity>

<linqmap:jamLevel>4</linqmap:jamLevel>

<linqmap:driversCount>20</linqmap:driversCount>

<linqmap:alerts>

<linqmap:alert>

<item>

<title>alert</title>

<pubDate>Tue Apr 18 12:03:58 +0000 2023</pubDate>

<georss:point>26.638075 -82.008922</georss:point>

<linqmap:uuid>56e58267-0937-43da-a7d3-ec01a24bdbf3</linqmap:uuid>

<linqmap:magvar>74</linqmap:magvar>

<linqmap:type>JAM</linqmap:type>

<linqmap:subtype>JAM_STAND_STILL_TRAFFIC</linqmap:subtype>

<linqmap:street>FL</linqmap:street>

<linqmap:city>Cape Coral</linqmap:city>

<linqmap:country>US</linqmap:country>

<linqmap:reportByMunicipalityUser>false</linqmap:reportByMunicipalityUser>

<linqmap:roadType>6</linqmap:roadType>

<linqmap:reportRating>4</linqmap:reportRating>

<confidence>0</confidence>

<linqmap:reliability>5</linqmap:reliability>

</item>

</linqmap:alert>

</linqmap:alerts>

<linqmap:alertsCount>1</linqmap:alertsCount>

<linqmap:nComments>0</linqmap:nComments>

<linqmap:nImages>1</linqmap:nImages>

<linqmap:nThumbsUp>0</linqmap:nThumbsUp>

<linqmap:highway>true</linqmap:highway>

</item>

Alert types

Waze currently supports the following types and subtypes of user-generated alerts:

Note: for historical reasons, HAZARD and WEATHERHAZARD types are used interchangeably. The nature of such alerts should be determined using the subtype.

Alert type

Alert Subtype

ACCIDENT

  • ACCIDENT_MINOR
  • ACCIDENT_MAJOR
  • NO_SUBTYPE

JAM

  • JAM_MODERATE_TRAFFIC
  • JAM_HEAVY_TRAFFIC
  • JAM_STAND_STILL_TRAFFIC
  • JAM_LIGHT_TRAFFIC
  • NO_SUBTYPE

WEATHERHAZARD / HAZARD

  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD
  • HAZARD_ON_SHOULDER
  • HAZARD_WEATHER
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_OBJECT
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_POT_HOLE
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_ROAD_KILL
  • HAZARD_ON_SHOULDER_CAR_STOPPED
  • HAZARD_ON_SHOULDER_ANIMALS
  • HAZARD_ON_SHOULDER_MISSING_SIGN
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_FOG
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_HAIL
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_HEAVY_RAIN
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_HEAVY_SNOW
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_FLOOD
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_MONSOON
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_TORNADO
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_HEAT_WAVE
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_HURRICANE
  • HAZARD_WEATHER_FREEZING_RAIN
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_LANE_CLOSED
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_OIL
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_ICE
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_CONSTRUCTION
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_CAR_STOPPED
  • HAZARD_ON_ROAD_TRAFFIC_LIGHT_FAULT
  • NO_SUBTYPE

MISC

  • NO_SUBTYPE

CONSTRUCTION

  • NO_SUBTYPE

ROAD_CLOSED

  • ROAD_CLOSED_HAZARD
  • ROAD_CLOSED_CONSTRUCTION
  • ROAD_CLOSED_EVENT
  • NO_SUBTYPE
Road types

Value

Type

1

Streets

2

Primary Street

3

Freeways

4

Ramps

5

Trails

6

Primary

7

Secondary

8, 14

4X4 Trails

15

Ferry crossing

9

Walkway

10

Pedestrian

11

Exit

16

Stairway

17

Private road

18

Railroads

19

Runway/Taxiway

20

Parking lot road

21

Service road

 

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?
Search
Clear search
Close search
Google apps
Main menu