[OSM-talk] Observed vs. official designation [was: Oxford High Street classification (Was: Bus sluice/gate)]

[David Earl]

On 06/12/2007 20:26, Gervase Markham wrote:
> David Earl wrote:
>> (2) It is very hard to get the "official" information. Most of us only 
>> have what we see in front of us to work from. It is impractical.
> 
> Official information is on every road sign. If my road is the B1250, 
> then it's a B-road, and should be graded secondary. But I then might add 
> speed limit, width restriction or other tags to indicate navigational 
> complexities.

No it isn't - that's the whole problem.

(a) that's a very UK-centric view of the world

(b) it isn't true even in the UK. This whole discussion arose out of the 
  A120 through Oxford where the signs disagree with the official 
designation. If the signs always showed the designation, we wouldn't be 
having this discussion.

(c) In the UK, tertiary roads ("C roads") aren't signposted to 
distinguish them for unclassified roads. (It is helpful both in the 
urban and rural areas to distinguish unnumbered "through" roads from 
other streets. Yes that's a matter of judgement, but it makes for a much 
more useful map for display and routing. I'll show some examples if you 
like).

David