[Tagging] exit_to on motorway_junction

Paul Williams pjwderby at googlemail.com
Tue Nov 20 22:42:54 GMT 2012


I don't see any reason to deprecate exit_to, it seems to be the simplest 
method of mapping a destination sign on a motorway junction or similar 
exit. I use exit_to fairly frequently and it has been a documented tag 
for a while (although on the motorway junction page rather than it's own 
page) and is also used in JOSM presets.

I feel it is a less ambiguous tag than destination (as a tag on a way) 
as it shows the specific point where a destination is signed, unlike 
destination tagged on a way. If you use destination as a tag on a way 
then I think you'd need to be sure that at every point along that way 
the destination(s) given is the same throughout and if not or you didn't 
know you'd need to split the way. The Taginfo stats also seem to show 
that exit_to is the most popular of the three different ways of mapping 
destinations: a destination relation, exit_to on a junction node, or 
destination as a tag on a way.

A destination relation is also a clear way of mapping a destination as 
the intersection and both the 'from' and 'to' ways are part of the 
relation, and is particularly useful in mapping situations where exit_to 
wouldn't work (like at a crossroads) so I do also use this method. It is 
however more complex (and so is unlikely to be a method that a new 
mapper would be able to use) particularly where there are multiple 
destinations given on a sign which requires a relation for each destination.

Cheers,
Paul Williams
(Paul The Archivist)



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