[Talk-us] REF tags for State Highways on ways

[Nathan Edgars II]

On 4/8/2011 3:35 PM, Nathan Mills wrote:
> Shouldn't the ref tag be an unambiguous reference to a given road in a
> route network? Clearly, one should not put name=MI XX on a Michigan
> state route (unless there is a road sign reading "MI XX"), but ref=MI XX
> provides said unambiguous reference and can be easily translated into
> the canonical name of the route. A name should go in the name tag,
> anyway. Sometimes the name and ref are identical, sometimes they're not.
>
> Seems to me that the ref tag is much less useful when it's ambiguous.

The UK has two M1 motorways, one heading north from London and the other 
in Northern Ireland. Both are tagged ref=M1.