Searching for destinations is a central function of Waze. Waze searches both internal places in the Waze map and Google Maps places and present the results. In the Waze map the map editors can (and should) link Google Maps places to the Waze places so that they are treated as one. But people add Google Maps places (and duplicates) at a very high pace, making this task difficult to do manually. So Waze now has a bot adding these links. Waze should present "native" Waze map places higher than similarly distant Google Maps places because they are usually of higher quality and because errors in the waze map can be fixed by the editors. When the search term is not exactly matching the place name which is in Waze or Google, I guess a closer match (spelling wise) may be higher on the result list than a nearby place with slightly different spelling etc. If search results are really off, say you search for "Tiffany's" and the highest result is in New York and not a local venue - this could qualify as a bug report more than a request?

Absolutely critically needed. I don't understand WHY that is not already a default listing order. Having to scroll down through a lengthy list of "Whatever" is ridiculous when it jumps from 500 miles away to 50 miles then back to 600 miles and I never find the "Whatever" I need to find within just a FEW MILES of where I currently am. I have closed WAZE and opened Google Maps of Apple Maps and find it on one of those map apps quickly. Makes me wonder if I should "Waste my time" using WAZE.

This is a must! I genuinely have to use another app to search the closest place to me, then input it/scroll for that particular place because Waze does not do it!
If you are on route, maybe it orders by what limits the least amount of time off the route but something is needed.

When looking for a specific store location like Target, for instance, could you please make the search result list from shortest to farthest? Right now, the list is completely random on Android Auto.

We need settings to customize search like to search only in the country your living in, x miles away from your current destination, show closest results from your current location in that order.

When searching for stores for example, I get results hundreds of miles away. This is really bad when in the car and searching via voice returns a list of locations that I need to scroll through to find the actual closest one.

Using the city name doesn't always return the closest if there are multiple locations in a city or if I'm in an unknown city or on the highway. Search results should be sorted based on distance, not some random result.

All of the dedicated Sat Navs that I have owned (Garmin, TomTom) all list the CLOSEST destination first (at the top of the list) after doing a search. However Waze seems to mix them all up which makes choosing difficult and time consuming. I would like to see this improved.

The algorithm for finding things with searches needs to be improved dramatically. Currently, when searching, for something like a restaurant, a rest area, or any other category. The search results include destinations that are thousands of miles away, instead of showing the nearby ones at the top of the list And sorting from shortest distance to longest.

Please consider having search parameters improved in such a way that destinations from searches or search results reflect what is closest in on or near the existing route if one is in play.

For instance, if I search for a restaurant I do not want to see one that is in Florida when I am traveling in Ohio …
You might actually get more ad revenue if the searches were more user-friendly. If I search for a truckstop, a rest area I mean to find one that’s on the route ahead.

Although annoying, I found that if you type the full name of the desired location and press search it will populate the closest locations. I think Waze pushes you towards promoted places.

Search should list closest locations at the top by distance.

For example my wife searched for "New Balance" stores in Waze and the first location was in Woburn, MA... we live South of Providence, RI. There is a New Balance store further down on the list half the distance closer in the Wrentham, MA Outlets.

When typing in an address the options list should pertain to the area your in, for example if i’m in Venice Beach CA when I type in Broad Street, the Broad Street in New York City should not be listed first. It should go off the location you are in at the time.

Why is it if I try to look a place (for example, WalMart) Waze will not display results in order of proximity? Instead, Walmart's 1000's of miles away often come up first. The google algorithm is much better. If I want to search for a nearby store, I never use Waze.

When I search, it still defaults to either Connecticut or California for some reason. I'm in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I would like it to search other countries if I specify another country in the search, otherwise it shouldn't!

When I search I don't really want streets from other countries.