[Tagging] Named junctions

[johnw]

> On Nov 8, 2015, at 7:17 PM, tomoya muramoto <muramototomoya at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm a Japanese mapper, and I thank you for your work on Japan/Asia specific problems.
> It's very tough to read and understand a long discussion in English, so maybe I'm lack of full understanding on this issue.

Just trying to solve mapping issues where I am ^_^

> 
> I'm sorry I couldn't grasp this problem at this time.
> *Signals rendering is dependent on zoom level? -> Rendering priority can be increased

rendering priority for signals should be increased, at least to make the map better in Japan. This is the reason a traffic signal is an original emoji icon - for map display (AFAIK). 

> *Multiple signals are shown? ->

> (1)Tagging rule can be changed to map only one signal at the junction,

Cant do that. The need the signal to know when a car encounters a signal

> (2)Rendering rule can be changed not to show signals having same name

that is a possibility, but I think that would require a relation.

> If existing tags are not enough, we need a new tag, like traffic_signals_area

Which is why it was brought up. 

> As for me, signals rendering seems not to be a big problem. Amenities rendering also depends on zoom level. Multiple icon is better than nothing.

If there is one set of signals, I would like one consistent icon. 

If you use a map for driving outside of Tokyo, counting lights is a big part of navigation - both how you tell people where to go. Business' billboards & signs show you   direction via light counting.  Without street names to reference in many places, it is the only reference point to have. 

and in OSM, zooming out a bit to see the route, the lights disappear. 

> I think I'm not understanding this problem because I can *estimate* how Japanese roads are. And I don't drive, so I don't know what informaiton are useful for drivers.

I have driven ~ 400,000 km in the US before moving, and about 100,000 KM in Japan since 2010. I have visited places all over Honshu, from Morioka to Hiroshima. my hobby is photography in the mountains (Gunma/Nagano/Gifu/Niigata Prefectures), so I spend a lot of time on the tollways driving, and going to places where I have not been before by car, and places that usually do not have train access. This means I get a lot of practice navigating Japan via car, and using guides brochures printed for tourists who drive to locations. 

> 
> If you need some opinion from Japanese community, I can post these issue to Japanese ML.

Thanks for the offer! I’m sure the mailing list will use that. 

Javbw