[Talk-us] Shields are up!

[Minh Nguyen]

On 2013-07-29 11:12 AM, Richard Welty wrote:
> can someone please explain to me where to find documentation on the trick
> that's being used to generate customized SVG files for each of the counties
> based on the pentagonal shields?

There's no trick, unfortunately. I'm just embedding images that I 
created and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and linking the images to the 
templates that the slippy map would likely use.

Luckily for you, roadgeeks have already uploaded a great many New York 
county route shields to Commons:

<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Diagrams_of_New_York_county_route_markers>
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Diagrams_of_wide_county_route_markers_with_county_name>

For those that haven't been uploaded yet:

0. Install the free Roadgeek 2005 Series fonts, which mimic Highway 
Gothic. All the shields I've dealt with use Roadgeek 2005 Series B-D. 
<http://miketheactuary.wordpress.com/roadgeek-fonts/> (The font files 
themselves are licensed for non-commercial use, but their output is an 
exact replica of a U.S. federal government design that's in the public 
domain.)

1. Locate a suitable SVG template at Commons. 
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:County_route_shield_templates> 
(These templates are all freely licensed or in the public domain.)

2. In your favorite SVG editor -- I use Inkscape <http://inkscape.org/>, 
but Illustrator works too -- enter the county name and route number.

3. Commons doesn't have the Roadgeek fonts installed, so text will be 
set in a hideous serif font. To preserve the letterforms, select each 
text box and go to Path > Object to Path (Shift+Ctrl+C).

4. Upload the files to Commons. 
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard> If the shield 
uses the standard blue pentagon design, name it "Anywhere County 123" 
and assign it to the categories "Diagrams of New York county route 
markers" and "Diagrams of county route markers with county name". 
Otherwise, call it "Anywhere County Route 123 NY" and assign it to 
"Diagrams of county route markers with county name". Naming the file 
according to this scheme helps Wikipedia route templates to 
automatically pick it up.

5. Back at the OSM Wiki page, use this linked image syntax:

[[File:Anywhere County Route 123 NY.svg|48x48px|link=File:County Road 
square template green.svg]]

-- 
minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us