On Mon, 12 Aug 2019 at 14:07, Martin Koppenhoefer <dieterdre...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > if I don’t interpret this wrong, in Germany and Italy we are using the > motorroad=yes qualifier for what appears to be called autovia in Spain > (motorway like access restrictions). Sounds about right. Wikipedia's generic term for motorways/freeways/autobahns etc. is "Controlled access highway". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled-access_highway > We are further using highway=trunk for all roads that are similar to > motorways (no grade level intersections, ramps) but are not legally > motorways. trunk and motorroad are orthogonal properties/classes. > Having looked further into it, the Spanish autovias most often resemble what we in the UK call "dual carriageways" in construction and legal constraints. Dual carriageways are usually trunk roads here. When it comes to lesser roads, the distinction between primary and secondary isn't solely about width, straightness, number of junctions, etc. but also depends upon other considerations such as whether or not there are alternative routes, the size of the places they connect, etc. The way in which those factors are balanced by bureaucrats is somewhat opaque. There may be secondary roads connecting unimportant locations that are as good as, or even better than, some primary roads. Where a country-wide classification exists, it is usual for this to be reflected in the numbering scheme and the signage. In the UK it may not be readily apparent whether a road is a trunk or a primary since they'll both be "A" roads with the same style of signage, but there's an obvious difference in signage between A roads and B roads, and between either of those and motorways. It's not just the letter designating them, but also the colour and shape of signs that distinguishes them. In a country where the government has classified roads in this way, it doesn't seem like a good idea for mappers to use their own subjective judgement to decide which road is a primary and a secondary. The bureaucrats have traffic statistics that we do not. And even if the bureaucrats are wrong (by some objective standard), the fact is that all the signage reflects what the bureaucrats say and not what one of us happens to think. A tagging scheme that doesn't reflect the signage seems to me to be somewhat sub-optimal. Especially when we can add tags for number of lanes, speed limits, etc. that allow routers to make more refined decisions than relying only on the road classification. -- Paul
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