[talk-au] Mapping in Sydney..

[Ian Sergeant]

b.easton at uws.edu.au wrote:

> Like it or not, the F3/F6 names seem to be officially dead, though
> still in common usage. The F6 is now only signposted as National
> Route 1, I'm not sure that is actually named. No F6 signs remain and
> I have spotted one new sign with it marked as the M1 using the new
> yellow on green alphanumeric numbering! The Princes Highway is still
> the road through Helensburgh which is now State Route 60 - I just
> finished mapping it the other day.
>
> The answer is - I'm not sure!

Me neither.  Although note that now at the start of the F6(!) heading south
at Waterfall it signposts the freeway as "Princes Hwy", and the non-freeway
route as "Old Princes Hwy".

If you were navigating that route with OSM data as it is currently you may
get lost.

No doubt in the new alphanumeric numbering scheme it will be "Princes Hwy
(Fwy?)", "M1".  I think this makes it clear what we should do with the F6.

highway=motorway
name=Princes Hwy
ref=NR1

until it officially becomes the M1.

Calling it the M1 now will just confuse people, I think.

But at least it has a name - the M4 - if you believe the road signs - is
just called "Motorway".  Who thought of that?  Putting Motorway as the name
into OSM would seem very odd.  Maybe

highway=motorway
name=M4
ref=MR4

seems odd also.

The M5 - is called "M5 Motorway" - on the signs.

Still, the M5 could be

highway=motorway
name=M5
ref=MR5

I noticed that someone had renamed the M5 East to the F5 the other day.  I
changed it back, as I have never heard it ever called the F5.  I know what
they were getting at though - trying to indicate the "free" section of the
freeway (that is free as in beer).

> For example, I am completely confused as to what to classify the
> Illawara Highway from Moss Vale to Albion Park.

>  Is it a trunk road because it is National Route 48 with a blank on
> White shield emblem?
>  Is it a primary road because it a not very important road?
>  Is it a secondary road because parts of it is a narrow winding 2 lane
road?

I wouldn't think it should be a trunk road just because it is a National
Route.  IMO National Highways should be trunk, but not National Routes -
some of them will only be "B" roads in the new alphanumeric naming scheme
(although this one will be the A48, apparently).  It isn't the main route
from any major centre (Sydney or Wollongong) to the south west.  It is the
sort of route you would generally avoid if you wanted to get anywhere fast,
and if I were mapping it I guess I would make it a primary (mainly based on
the fact it will be the A48).

Ian.