[Talk-us] State highway refs (was Re: New I.D Feature)

[Minh Nguyen]

On 2014-12-03 06:49, Tod Fitch wrote:
> Shouldn't the wording on the "blade sign" be tagged by name=*? rather than being in the ref tag at all?

These signs aren't always used for street names. In the example I gave, 
the street is named Grand Parkway. I suppose one could tag it 
`alt_name=State Highway 99` or `reg_name=State Highway 99` (respecting 
our rule against abbreviations in name tags). But I'd imagine that any 
"Time To..." variable message signs would still say "SH 99" for lack of 
space. Where's the line between short_reg_name and ref?

> Around here it is possible for one numbered highway to by different names in different places. In rural areas and small towns the signs at intersections might have "HWY 49" on them and the addresses be of the form "1234 North Highway 49" while in bigger towns that same numbered route might have a different name like "Center Street" (all made up examples).

Sure, but I think these are examples of actual street names. Consider a 
road named/signposted/known as "West U.S. 22 & 3". I wouldn't argue for 
tagging it with `ref=US 22;3`, because locals/government/media all use 
"U.S. 22 & 3" as a name and "US 22" or "SR 3" as shorthand, both in 
speech and in writing. In town, the same road is called Pike St. or 
Montgomery Rd., and elsewhere it's unnamed. So I've tagged the road this 
way:

name=West United States 22 and 3
short_name=W. U.S. 22 & 3
ref=US 22;SR 3
----
name=West Pike Street
ref=US 22;SR 3
----
name=Montgomery Road
ref=US 22;SR 3
----
ref=US 22;SR 3

This simple tagging scheme -- obvious to non-armchair mappers and local 
users alike -- captures all the essential information except the state 
it's in. Hooray for relations.

> I hope that the GPS would use the value in the name tag rather than the ref tag as the primary way of displaying directions, or like OsmAnd, give something like "CA 49 - Center Street" by concatenating the value in the ref and name tags.

You're right, it's common for a router to give both the ref and the 
name. So this particular concern of mine was unfounded.

> For what it is worth, California has a policy of avoiding duplicate highway numbers between the state, US and Interstate highway systems. As I understand it, that policy and the renumbering that accompanied it occurred in the 1960s. So if highway 50 is specified there is no ambiguity, it will be US 50 as there is no CA50. There are some weird but understandable exceptions like the eastern most section of "The 210" freeway in the greater LA metro area which apparently has not been accepted into the Interstate system. So it is labeled as CA210 but is otherwise indistinguishable from the much longer western portion labeled as I-210. Near as I can tell, for the locals and possibly for CalTrans too it is all simply "The 210".

I can just see the `ref=The 101`s popping up all over now. ;-)

I recognize that there are entire regions where none of my reasoning 
applies. But I just think there's a good explanation for why mappers in 
some states have gravitated towards things other than postal abbreviations.

-- 
minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us