[Talk-GB] highway_authority_ref vs official_ref

[Nathan Case]

Great - just what I was missing. Thank you. 

So - to check I've got this right - there is a desire to have a non-rendered reference tag because C (and U) references are rarely signed in the UK and may be re-used across different highway authorities? Makes sense.

As far as I can tell, the current situation is:

official_ref=* -- "not generally intended for public display or use". ~17k uses, global use (but limited). Currently the recommended tag for roads with no signed reference on the UK roads tagging wiki page (https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Roads_in_the_United_Kingdom#Tagging_road_numbers)

unsigned_ref=* -- "...indicate the route number when the route number is not prominently signposted". ~183k uses, mostly Europe and North America.

highway_authority_ref=* -- seems essentially the same as both official_ref and unsigned_ref. ~42k uses, almost exclusively UK usage and very UK centred terminology.

Should we consider retiring highway_authority_ref and replacing with one of the more globally accepted tags? 

Thanks.




-----Original Message-----
From: Dave F <davefoxfac63 at btinternet.com> 
Sent: 08 April 2022 15:30
To: Nathan Case <nathancase at outlook.com>; talk-gb at openstreetmap.org
Subject: Re: [Talk-GB] highway_authority_ref vs official_ref

Hi

This is the background to most of the amendments:

https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-gb/2018-August/021690.html

Some of the Overpass routines may return outdated data.

Briefly referenced in this wiki page:
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:unsigned_ref

DaveF


On 08/04/2022 09:48, Nathan Case wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I've been looking through some of the UK's "frequently used tags 
> without a wiki page"
> (https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org.uk/reports/frequently_used_keys_wit
> hout_wiki_page) with the aim of documenting some and the tag 
> "highway_authority_ref=*"
> has popped up.
>
> It's used almost exclusively in the UK (99.5%) and it looks like most 
> values were part of some import in 2019 
> (https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/highway_authority_ref#chronology).
> The values indicate that it is used on C and U class roads in the UK.
>
> I was wondering if it is functionally the same as official_ref? This 
> is documented (https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:official_ref)
> as being for the "C-road network" and is used more globally, but does 
> have significantly fewer uses overall (~17k vs ~42k).
>
> Is there some history here, or just the classic two tags developed 
> separately of each other? Do we have a preference for which to use - 
> if they are indeed for the same thing?
>
> This will help inform what I document on the wiki for this tag.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>
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