[talk-au] Naming Ramps in Australia

Andrew Harvey andrew.harvey4 at gmail.com
Mon Nov 16 20:52:08 UTC 2020


On Tue, 17 Nov 2020 at 00:04, Aleksandar Matejevic (E-Search) via Talk-au <
talk-au at openstreetmap.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
> I have noticed that the majority of ramps in Australia tend to have
> descriptive names and that naming format/system is not unique. Also, it is
> 50-50 between named and unnamed ramps.
>
> I have researched ramps across all Australia, looked at Mapillary, OSC,
> government data, OSM history. On street level imagery I could not find any
> named ramp. In some cases there was an exit number, and it was tagged as
> junction:ref because it is not a name of the exit, but all I could find
> were just destination signs.  However, on OSM, ramps had names which in
> some cases contained information for destinations (John Willcock Link
> (Eastbound) to Brand Highway) or their function (Pacific Highway
> On/Offramp). Government data was descriptive in some cases, there was no
> name in others so no consistency there also.
>
> I think that ramps do not have names and therefore should not contain a
> name key in OSM (only if there is a specific name for it, then it should
> have a name key). Exit numbers should be added as junction:ref and
> signposts data should be added either as destination relation or
> destination key on the way so routing algorithms could pick that info and
> give instructions like: "Take the exit toward X,Y,Z". If there is a name,
> instructions will be like: "Take left to X,Y,Z onramp/offramp”.
>
> I am raising this question in hope to get some kind of consensus how to
> treat these cases across Australia, so all the ramps have the same format
> (conclusion could be added to Australian Tagging Guidelines on wiki page
> for all editors to have as instruction).
>
> What is your opinion on this?
>

Great question, I agree with you that most offramps don't have names and
shouldn't have a name tag in OSM. Something like "Princes Highway Offramp"
unless signposted as that shouldn't be used in my opinion. Instead we
should map the destination sign relation (so routers can give correct
instructions like "Take exit N towards X" which match the signage) and omit
the name tag.

Not every road way needs a name.

On Tue, 17 Nov 2020 at 07:28, Ian Bennett <ibennett at tpg.com.au> wrote:

> As a user, I would prefer to hear what I'm looking at. In other words, the
> sat nav is saying what
> the signage is showing.
>

In this case it's best we omit the name tag in OSM where we've mapped a
descriptive non-signed name so that routers don't waste time telling you
the descriptive name like "Princes Highway Offramp" and instead can focus
on what is usually signed, the destination and optionally exit number.
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