[mkgmap-dev] [PATCH] Display road name instead of ref in routing directions

Thu Nov 12 15:13:58 GMT 2009

0> In article <234CD3B7-375C-4DAB-873F-84002B87441A at googlemail.com>,
0> Clinton Gladstone <URL:mailto:clinton.gladstone at googlemail.com> ("Clinton") wrote:

Clinton> That is, when you are outside and looking at the physical signs
Clinton> on the road, the 'ref' number of secondary roads does not usually
Clinton> appear on the signs, however the 'ref' of primary highways is
Clinton> generally printed on the signs (at least in Germany).

In UK, the road number is used down to secondary; tertiary and lower
should not have numbers visible on the signage (yes, exceptions exist,
but I'm quoting the rules).

So I have the following in my 'lines' file:

/--------
| highway=motorway {name '${ref|highway-symbol:hbox} ${name}' | '${ref|highway-symbol:hbox}' | '${name}' }
| highway=trunk {name '${ref|highway-symbol:hbox} ${name}' | '${ref|highway-symbol:hbox}' | '${name}' }
| highway=primary {name '${ref|highway-symbol:box} ${name}' | '${ref|highway-symbol:box}' | '${name}' }
| highway=secondary {name '${ref|highway-symbol:oval} ${name}' | '${ref|highway-symbol:oval}' | '${name}' }
| highway=* {name '${name}' }
\--------

so that lower-class roads are only named, not also numbered.