Kok editing a Waze map.
PETALING JAYA: For most of us, the mention of Waze brings to mind the navigation app on your smartphone. But for Paul Kok, a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) technical support professional, Waze means a friendly community of volunteers driven by a love for map editing, one that he has been a part of since 2012.
What is the Waze community? Unknown to many Malaysians, Waze is built and maintained by a global community of volunteer map editors who ensure that the map is updated constantly to reflect current road conditions. Globally, there are 30,000 map editors making updates each month, of which about 300 are Malaysians.
Of the Malaysian map editors, Kok is one of few that have contributed enormously and is considered a Level 6 country manager, one of the top titles for a Waze map editor. On top of his regular map editing, Kok also helps to manage the Malaysian Waze community by managing different communication platforms and setting guidelines to help out other junior level map editors.
Kok (shown in outline box) attending his first Waze gathering in 2014.
“My journey as a Waze map editor started out as an app user,” Kok said. “At that time in 2012, there were many errors on Waze, such as incorrect road names or inaccurate listings for restricted roads. I just wanted to correct those errors, so I tried to edit them and found I could make the corrections.”
This motivated Kok to continue editing and correcting inaccuracies as well as volunteering his time and abilities because he felt that he was able to help other Wazers reach their destinations more effectively. He also found himself enjoying the camaraderie of new map editors by helping and guiding them in map editing.
Through his experience in the Waze community, a lot of doors opened up to Kok as he travelled the region to meet other like-minded map enthusiasts and make lifelong friends.
In 2014, Kok attended his first Waze local meetup to meet his fellow editors face-to-face and learned, to his surprise, that his new-found friends were from all walks of life. Since then, Kok has participated in almost all meetups at the local and regional levels, having visited Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to speak with Waze map editors from other countries.
> If you are interested in becoming a map editor, go to www.waze.com/editor.
Kok was also there in 2018.
