Should Online Mapping Sights Have Accurate State Route Shields?

[1995hoo]

.....

Are there any other states that put their shield (or something similar to their shield) on their state maps instead of ovals?

Virginia has always done that, but then, our state shield is an easy one.

I've always thought the accurate shields in Apple Maps look pretty good.

 

[vdeane]

The oval for state routes doesn't bother me per se, but it would be nice to have the correct shields though. I'm more concerned about certain maps having tolled and non-tolled routes the same color (ahem, Google)

If you zoom in enough on Google Maps, toll roads have a darker outline. (It's not perfect; there are a few places on toll roads where you can get both on and off without paying that Google still marks as having a toll.)

I don't see them.  Some ramps have them, but not the toll roads themselves, and it's very inconsistent.

MapQuest also stopped showing toll roads when they did their redesign.

[Buck87]

.....

Are there any other states that put their shield (or something similar to their shield) on their state maps instead of ovals?

Virginia has always done that, but then, our state shield is an easy one.

I've always thought the accurate shields in Apple Maps look pretty good.

 

Having seen these screenshots and just now looking at Mapquest for the first time in forever, I wish I could change my vote in this thread's poll. State shields can actually work very nicely on electronic maps.

[cpzilliacus]

It does not bother me either way.  Keep in mind that we are getting into a lot of shields when we include the 50 U.S. states, plus the neighbors to the north in  Canada, and to the south in Mexico (though I have not been  enough in Mexico to know if there is much in the way of shields beyond the federal one). 

Then there are county shields and state secondary system shields too.

[1995hoo]

It does not bother me either way.  Keep in mind that we are getting into a lot of shields when we include the 50 U.S. states, plus the neighbors to the north in  Canada, and to the south in Mexico (though I have not been  enough in Mexico to know if there is much in the way of shields beyond the federal one). 

Then there are county shields and state secondary system shields too.

Panning around New Jersey and Florida didn't reveal any county shields.


Edited: Found one panning around north of Venice.




(Edited a second time on Sunday morning to remove a carriage return I hadn't noticed when posting via iPad.)

[bulldog1979]

About the only complaint I have with the marker rendering in Apple Maps concerns county roads. The app uses the blue pentagon for all of Michigan's county roads, even though many counties still use the older squares. I cut them some slack over the complexity to deal with the variation at the county level though.

[hotdogPi]

About the only complaint I have with the marker rendering in Apple Maps concerns county roads. The app uses the blue pentagon for all of Michigan's county roads, even though many counties still use the older squares. I cut them some slack over the complexity to deal with the variation at the county level though.

For Florida, Apple randomly uses either the county pentagon or the state route shield (486, 807, and 809 are listed as state when all of 486 and sections of 807 and 809 should actually be county roads).

[Rothman]

Mapquest uses the state shields, and I love them for it. They have some beautiful rendering for being an online mapping tool. If only their interface (and especially their app) weren't so bulky and cumbersome.

...and their vector set more comprehensive.  Got sick of sending them correction after correction when directions would not go past the intersection for various parks and recreational sites (e.g., Their directions were ridiculous for far too long for Smith Falls State Park in Nebraska (highest falls in the state) or the Mississippi/Missouri Confluence Park, with directions ending miles away from the parks themselves).  When your business is to give directions and you can't do it, forget it.

[ColossalBlocks]

I CAN'T STAND when a business draws a map and has a us route with an interstate shield, state route with a US shield, etc.

Me either. Of course, most non-roadgeeks probably can't tell the difference.

I was talking with someone at work today who pointed to a US highway shield on Google Maps and referred to it as a "county road". I told him to get away from me.

Maybe a county road ran concurrent to it, or the dude is utterly stupid.