[Tagging] Destination tagging of motorway links

[Dave Swarthout]

Thanks all for the feedback,

To reiterate my position — I can alter my compilation code for my Garmin-
compatible maps to prefer destination:ref over the plain ref tag. That's
not the issue here. I don't believe it's correct to add a ref tag to an
unsigned way, especially a freeway exit ramp. Logan airport service roads
may indeed have legitimate refs and that's perfectly fine. These are exit
ramps for Exit 49 — they do not have standalone refs either signed or
unsigned.

Also, it isn't just my routing code that's misunderstanding the tagging of
this interchange. OSMAnd displays the identical message when approaching
Exit 49. Do you think it's a good idea to request that both me and OSMAnd
make special allowances for this tagging scenario?

I want to remove the references but I anticipate some blowback from the
original mapper. That's the reason I put it out for other mappers to
consider.

On Mon, Jun 2, 2025 at 8:08 AM Greg Troxel <gdt at lexort.com> wrote:

> António Madeira via Tagging <tagging at openstreetmap.org> writes:
>
> > What I meant is that even if that "ref=49" is wrongly associated to
>
> It does seem like someone is adding incorrect refs based on a
> misunderstanding, and it would be good to have that resolved.  People
> with strong opinions doing wrong things and the db ending up that way is
> an unfortunate part of OSM, but comes with the good parts of evolving
> tagging.
>
> > that ramp, the GPS shouldn't have confounded that with the correct
> > one, which is "destination:ref=NY 78". After all, there may be the
> > case in some country or jurisdiction where ramps do have references.
>
> That's a good point.  At Boston's Logan airport, there are a vast number
> of connecting roads which are sort of like link, and they have refs,
> with signs with letters on concrete barriers.  I am pretty sure the
> purpose is not for motorists, but for fire/police etc. to be able to
> locate specific places where help is needed.  I don't know if these are
> tagged, but if so and a router is confused, that's a router bug.
>
>
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-- 
Dave Swarthout
Homer, Alaska
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Travel Blog: http://dswarthout.blogspot.com
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/184600884@N06
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