[Talk-us] State ref tags on ways: Use of unique ISO/ANSI/USPS 2-letter state codes in RELATIONS as well as WAYS?

Minh Nguyen minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us
Fri Mar 14 08:01:09 UTC 2014


On 07:21 2014-03-13, David ``Smith'' wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 6:34 AM, Minh Nguyen
>> That said, I don't find a particularly strong case for leaving bare numbers
>> in ways' ref tags.
>
> How about when the actual route marker is generic?  A few states here
> and there use the plain circle for their state routes.  A few New
> England states use a plain square or rectangle.  To me this is a clear
> parallel with Europe, which tends to use rectangles, and whatever's
> written in the rectangle gets put in the ref tag as-is.  I wouldn't
> object to this practice, as long as it's only used for states where
> the official route marker is a plain circle/oval or square/rectangle
> with no clear state identifier on it.

Although `ref` on ways has been useful for choosing shields to display, 
it's better understood as a way to encode the "road designation", as 
Wikipedia terms it. [1] The plain shields in Europe all have a 1-3 
letter prefix before the route number. While alphanumeric designations 
typically aren't used on shields in the U.S., many states use them in 
plain text situations, such as on variable message boards, webpages, and 
straight-line diagrams.

Kentucky's state highways, for example, use an unadorned white circle 
(or elongated circle) containing just a number, but the state is very 
consistent in using "KY 123"-style designations. [2] Businesses located 
along these routes often use abbreviations like "KY 123" as part of 
their full address.

As I see it, for ways' ref tags, the "map what's on the ground" rule 
would strongly favor SR 123 in Ohio, KY 123 in Kentucky, SH 123 in 
Texas, M-123 in Michigan, etc. Reality is inconsistent!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_designation_or_abbreviation
[2] http://511.ky.gov/kylb/roadreports/allhighways.jsf

-- 
minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us




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