Israel – Country Specific Rating Guidelines

1. Address Components in the Rating Interface

The table below should be used to check the required address components for results in Search & AC:

Legend:

Clarification for optional components:

Unit/Apt: Entrance number and apartment number are never required to be returned even if they appear in query and in official address of POI/Business, therefore if they are missing from full address, Address Accuracy should not be demoted.

Neighbourhood: Neighbourhoods are never required (unless the result is a neighbourhood) however sometimes they do appear in address components. In case that a neighbourhood does appear, it cannot replace other address components, unless the result is a POI without an expected address which does not have an official address, in which case a locality will still be required.

Neighbourhoods must be correct when they do appear, otherwise Address Accuracy should be rated Incorrect- Use Sub-Locality Checkbox when present to report issues regarding Sub-Localities. If checkbox is not present, continue using “Country specific issue”.

Postal Code: If returned, postal code must be complete (7 digits) and correct. See section 3.1 Postal Code.

Region: Regions are never required (unless the result is a region) however sometimes they do appear in address components.

Regions never replace other address components, unless the result is a POI without an expected address that does not have an official address, in which case a Region can appear without a Locality. Regions must be correct when they do appear, otherwise Address Accuracy should be rated Incorrect – Region.

Country: Country is considered essential if result is outside of Israel.

2.1 Examples of Expected/ Minimum Address Requirement in Israel

* Country is not expected in AC where the result is a POI in Israel.

In general, in the Israeli market there are two main official sources for address verification- the Israeli Post Service and the Israeli Government Map. Both sources are regarded as official sources for address verification, including whether the address exists (see section 6.2.1 Address Doesn’t Exist) and correct spelling of address components. These sources should be used when rating Address

Accuracy. In cases where there are discrepancies between these sources- if either source matches the result address, rate Address Accuracy – Correct.

In Israel, there was a 5-digit postal code that changed in the beginning of 2013 to a 7-digit number.

A single postal code may be assigned to a specific entrance to a building, a single structure, a group of buildings or a small locality. Postal codes are never a required address component.

Since it is possible to locate a result without having the postal code, we will not penalize results in Search or AC for not having the postal code, but when the postal code is present, it must be full (7-digit) and correct.

In buildings which have more than one entrance, there could be a specific postal code for each one of the entrances. If a postal code is returned in this case, it must be either the postal code assigned to the entire building, or the postal code assigned to the specific entrance. If the returned postal code belongs to another entrance, Address Accuracy should be rated Wrong – Postal Code.

There are many diacritics in the Hebrew language but they do not always appear in Maps. For example:

In case the business or the POI name in the result does not have the appropriate diacritics rating should be: Name Accuracy –

Partially correct.

The spelling of the result of address components should match the official spelling which can be found in official governmental sources and the Israeli Post Service. When an address component in the result does not have the appropriate diacritics, rating of Address Accuracy should be: Address Accuracy – Incorrect – Other Issue

There are several street types in Israel, including but not limited to רחוב, שדרה, דרך, סמטה (alley, road, boulevard, street). The official street type can be found on the websites of the Israeli Post Service and the Israeli Government Map, or on street signs. Generally, the word רחוב (street) is not essential and a street name can be correct either with or without it. However, the other street types are considered essential, therefore in these cases, if the returned street type is incorrect or is missing from the street name, Address Accuracy should be demoted. In cases where there are discrepancies between these sources regarding the street type- if either source matches the result address, rate Address Accuracy – Correct.

The same rule applies to roads and highways that have a number in their name (ie. 6 כביש)- if the name of the road does not include the word כביש it is considered incorrect and rating should be Address Accuracy – Incorrect – Street Name.

Many streets in Israel are named after historical figures, and their official names consist of both first name and surname. Street names can occasionally include only the surname of the historical figure, but not always. The accuracy of the street name should be determined either by what appears in official sources or on street signs. If the returned street name matches any of these sources, rating should be: Address Accuracy – Correct.

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In most cases, the official format of this type of street names is Surname, First name. However, as long as all required street name components are present according to the table above, even if the order of the components is reversed Address Accuracy should not be demoted.

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The checkbox of “Result name/title is in unexpected language or script” should not be automatically selected when the result name or parts of it appear in English. If research proves that the returned result name is recognizable in the Israeli market, this box should not be selected. This includes businesses that use only or mostly an English name, despite being located in Israel.

Ratings should be as follows:

When coordinate results are returned for address, business or POI queries, the ratings should be as follows: Relevance: Bad ; Name Accuracy: Can’t Verify ; Address Accuracy: Can’t Verify ; Pin Accuracy: Can’t Verify.

5. POI/Business is Closed or Does Not Exist vs. Can’t Verify Data

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When coming to rate a result as “POI or Business is Closed or Does Not Exist” it is important to be able to prove that it is indeed closed/doesn’t exist. If there are no official recourses indicating that the POI/business is closed or does not exist and there are also no official sources which indicate that the POI/business exists at all, rate Relevance as if the result business/POI existed, and data as

instruction in section 6: Research Expectations. If the business could exist but is a Home Business, Back Office or has no physical location, Relevance should be rated Bad, as per global guidelines section 10.6.4: Back Offices and Businesses with no Physical Location.

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Official Website: The first stop for checking result details should be the official website of the result business/POI.

Official Social Media Pages (Recent): An official social media page is as reliable as an official website as long as it has been updated in the past 6 months, or contains user reviews from the past 6 months. Note: If the social media page shows evidence that the business has been closed, there is no requirement for recent activity.

Israeli Corporations Authority: If both these resources cannot be found or do not contain the needed details, it is possible to check businesses only on the Israeli Corporations Authority registry, where official details such as name and address can be verified.

Other Reliable Resources: If we cannot find any of these official resources, it is possible to look for information in other reliable sources using web search. According to section 8.1.1 in the global guidelines, reliable resources include articles in primary publications and crowdsourced user review sites with verbal reviews from the past 6 months. Consensus between 2 such reliable sources can be used for data verification. Resources such as data aggregators, spammy directory resources, and other resources which can seem reliable but in fact use unofficial sources in managing their records (such as phone number and business directories)- are all unreliable. Consensus between unreliable resources should be disregarded.

Clear Street Level Imagery (Recent): If it is impossible to find reliable information in any of the sources mentioned above, it is possible to carefully use recent street level imagery. Please be aware that most street level imagery available in Israel is very old and outdated and should not be trusted. However, if street level imagery is recent (from the past 6 years) and strongly supports or refutes result data it can be used thusly: Never decide whether a business/POI is closed or doesn’t exist based on street level imagery. Business/POI name and address can be verified using street level imagery only when there is another reliable source that provides the same details, and when the details shown on street level imagery are absolutely clear. Pin Location can be verified by street level imagery when the business/POI is clearly visible in street level imagery.

Occasionally, a result address would not appear on one of the official sources mentioned in section 3: Specific Issues for Address Components and Business Names. In this case- as long as the result address appears in one of the official sources, it should be rated as usual. However, sometimes the address would not appear in both sources, or would not be verifiable in either sources but would still appear on street level imagery. If there is a clear indication of street name and number in street level imagery which is not older than 10 years- it should be used to verify the address, since street names do not change very often. If there is no clear, new street level imagery but a business claims the result address in its official webpage- the address can be verified using this source. If research does not bring up other sources that points to the existence of the address- rate Address Accuracy Incorrect – Address does not exist.

This does not apply so small locality with no available street level imagery and a single post code. Since in such cases it is hard to find sources pointing to specific streets and addresses in the locality, rate Address Accuracy – Can’t Verify.

In cases where a POI claims an address which differs from the address as it appears in official sources (as laid out in section 3: Specific Issues for Address Components and Business Names), we should first evaluate the result address against the address claimed by the POI. Ifthere is a discrepancy between the claimed address and the returned address, then the result address should be evaluated against the official address sources. If the returned results address matches either the POI’s claimed address or the official sources address, rate Address Accuracy – Correct.

The main sources for Pin accuracy verification are the Israeli Government Map, street level imagery and official POI maps for campus and associated entities results.

The correct coordinates for an address result should be determined using the Israeli Government Map as the primary source. The map provides several layers, including Streets and Structures and Streets and Structures combined with Satellite imagery. These layers should be used to verify the location of the result address, and only if they are not clear- street level imagery from the past 10 years may be used. When there is a discrepancy between street level imagery and the Israeli Government Map- street level imagery should be used to determine the correct Pin location, since street numbers do not tend to be changed.

The correct coordinated for a business/POI result should be determined using the Israeli Government Map as the primary source. However, occasionally a business would claim an address that does not appear on this map, or would appear on the map but in a different location than what can be seen on street level imagery, or recognized in the satellite layers. In this case, either Pin location should be rated Pin Accuracy – Perfect – whether the pin falls on the correct address in the Israeli Government Map or on the correct business/POI as seen in street level imagery. As long as street level imagery shows the name that the business/POI claims in up to date official sources, it can be trusted for Pin Accuracy verification. If there is a disagreement between the Israeli Government

Map and other compelling evidence, but there is no street level imagery or another way to verify the POI location without a doubt, rating should be Pin Accuracy- Can’t Verify.

In Israel, highway and intercity road junctions and interchanges often have a unique name. Please note that Name Accuracy for Junction and Interchange results should not be rated N/A, since the result is not an Address.

It is not uncommon to find transit stations/stops and businesses in junction and interchanges, which often have the same name as the junction/interchange. If the query is for a specific junction or interchange (such as מחלף בן שמן but not 1 צומת כביש 6\כביש), other POI results may satisfy secondary or unlikely intent as demonstrated below:

Junctions and Interchanges may appear in the address components of a POI, however they are not required.

If the user is looking for a beach and the returned result is a POI located at the requested beach, rating should be Relevance – Bad – User Intent Issue. Beaches can appear in the address components of POIs and businesses, only if they appear in the official address of the result, and they should never replace other required components.

In Tel Aviv, many beaches are named after the streets which lead to them. In Search- if the query is for the street name only, without the words “Beach” (for example “גורדון”), rating of beach results (“חוף גורדון”) should be Relevance – Bad – User Intent Issue. This demotion does not apply in AC, and beach suggestions for street name queries should be demoted for distance only (unless the query string includes the word “Street”).

In Israel, some Israel Railways train stations have unique names and others are named after the locality or neighborhood in which they are located, and are often the only train station in that location. As a result, train station queries can often refer to both a Navigational train station or to train stations with a location modifier. Since we cannot determine the exact user intent in many train station queries, we should be lenient in our Relevance rating. Therefore, train stations in Israel should be demoted by distance only, and not as described in the global GL section 5.16.1: Transit Queries. Note: The demotion is based on distance, and not on the location of the train station on the line. See table below for examples.

In August 2015 the construction for the light rail in Tel Aviv has begun under the supervision of the government company NTA. The construction is planned to continue in 2022/2023 and will cause significant changes to traffic conditions in five cities: Tel Aviv – Jaffa, Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Bat Yam.

Due to these changes, while rating queries for Routing, we need to make sure the route is possible under the new traffic arrangements. The information for these changes can be found in NTA website or Tel Aviv Jaffa municipality website.

In cases where our route is not possible due the rail work we will rate it as MNE – Physically impossible and leave in the comments details about the specific step with a link to the NTA website or Tel Aviv Jaffa municipality website.

According to the new law which can be read on the website of the National Authority for Road Safety, whenever there is a traffic sign or another signal that dictates driving in a specific direction which is not a left turn or a U-turn, it is to be regarded as a signal prohibiting U-turns. Therefore, if a route instructs the user to make a U-turn where there is no left turn lane, or there is a sign dictating the driving direction which is not a left turn or a U-turn, rating should be MNE – Illegal U-Turn.

In order to rate Routing results, both satellite and street level imagery should be utilized. Since most street level imagery available in Israel is outdated, in some cases satellite imagery would present a different situation than seen in street level imagery. As a general rule, the best quality and most recent satellite view for Israel can be found on the Israeli Government Map, therefore the Israeli Government map should be used alongside street level imagery in determining road misalignments, physically impossible routes, and turn restrictions (physically impossible). In cases where the satellite layer in the Israeli Government Map shows a different picture than street level imagery which is more than one year old- the Israeli Government Map should be used for determining MNEs.

In Israel, the address format is Street Name followed by Street Number, therefore specific street address suggestions could be relevant for the user. Depending on the distance from the location intent, rating for specific address suggestions should be Relevance – Acceptable – User Intent.

However, address ranges are not used in the market, therefore the rating of such suggestions should be Relevance – Bad – User Intent. See examples below.

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