[Tagging] Road classification

Daniel Koć daniel at xn--ko-wla.pl
Tue Sep 1 15:07:49 UTC 2015


W dniu 01.09.2015 14:55, Volker Schmidt napisał(a):
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dmotorway [1] section
> "International equivalence" seems to address the point in question for
> "motorway"
> 
> Similar equivalence sections are present in the wiki pages for trunk
> and primary, tertiary (but only for two countries)

I am interested in international equivalence, because I think at lower 
zoom levels we should render a grid of international roads passing 
through some important points like capitals (cities lying in the 
mountains with only one way connecting it with the rest of the world or 
something like that would be exceptions, of course).

Sounds plain and easy, but I doubt it really is. The main problem seems 
to be if we're using functional or technical definition. Another one is 
if everybody is following this definition.

Let's look on the primary:

"A major highway linking large towns, in developed countries normally 
with 2 lanes. In areas with worse infrastructure road quality may be far 
worse. The traffic for both directions is usually not separated by a 
central barrier."

I read it like "it's a basic road linking the most important nodes at 
country/international level" with some technical distinctions making it 
easier to recognize, but not being definition itself, rather hints for 
the mappers. Motorway and trunk are more about the technical side - they 
may not connect any dots, but they could also be a part of the main 
roads network instead of primary.

Do we really use this functional paradigm all over the world, or maybe 
technical details spoiled it too much to show a coherent international 
road network using at least primaries?

-- 
"The train is always on time / The trick is to be ready to put your bags 
down" [A. Cohen]



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