Lowest-numbered route you haven't been on

[dlsterner]

OK, so I couldn't help myself and needed to get this implemented.  It's just on TM's development server for now:

https://tmdevel.teresco.org/user/routesbynumber.php?units=miles&u=terescoj

Send along any suggestions and report any bugs, and once it is in good shape, I'll get it on the main site and link it from the user page.

Also, I can now update my number for this thread to 184.  Turns out I've been on 2 of what I thought was my lowest missing number, as I-78 leading to the Holland Tunnel is also NJ 139, and US 36 has a concurrency with MO 139.

This is very nice!  About two years ago I wrote a program to parse my *.log file and produce a similar list.  Worked fine, but a couple of drawbacks:

• It read the log file instead of accessing the database itself (as I have no knowledge of, or access to, the DB structure), and I am at the mercy of the current format of the log file, which Jim can potentially change at any time (and be well within his rights to do so).  Such changes could break my program.
  (I read the log file rather than my source file in order to ensure that I got all concurrencies).
• I wrote it in Objective-C using the macOS Cocoa frameworks, which makes it of little use to anyone besides me, or anyone else who runs macOS (which is likely a minority of this community).  It is at least command line I/O rather than a GUI.
  My plan was to convert it to Python or Java so it could potentially be distributed and used by everyone.  Although - to be honest - it might be easiest to use Jim's solution.

Interesting discovery using these programs - I do indeed have a 218.  About a mile of IN 218 is concurrent with US 31 in Indiana.  No way would I have realized this otherwise.

I'm wondering if this following idea could be easily implemented as well:  Given a number, find all the routes in the DB that have that number.  For example - my lowest number needed (as of now) is 167.  It would be nice to see which 167's are closest to me for planning.  (It's probably the one near Roanoke VA).

For those who say "Just look at the Wikipedia page for 'Route 167'" - those Wikipedia pages are sometimes incomplete.

[Rothman]

There's always searching for routes manually in Google Maps.

[JayhawkCO]

OK, so I couldn't help myself and needed to get this implemented.  It's just on TM's development server for now:

https://tmdevel.teresco.org/user/routesbynumber.php?units=miles&u=terescoj

Send along any suggestions and report any bugs, and once it is in good shape, I'll get it on the main site and link it from the user page.

Also, I can now update my number for this thread to 184.  Turns out I've been on 2 of what I thought was my lowest missing number, as I-78 leading to the Holland Tunnel is also NJ 139, and US 36 has a concurrency with MO 139.

Thanks for doing this Jim.  My number in this thread is 361, and your tool shows I don't have the following:

198 - I've been on MS198 which isn't in TM yet
233 - I clinched CO233 when it wasn't signed but was listed on the CDOT website
263 - I clinched CO263 when it was signed and listed on the CDOT website
282 - I've clinched NM282 but it's unsigned so therefore not on TM

Also, would it be a ton of extra coding if the highways listed for each number then linked to their page in the highway browser?

[Rothman]

Counting unsigned routes is another circle of sissy.

[JayhawkCO]

Counting unsigned routes is another circle of sissy.

If it exists, it exists. I fight the same argument on the TM forum.



Also, my lowest route number to only have been travelled in one state/province/country is 48, and I've only really been on MN48 when visiting an ice cream shop (Toby's) in Hinckley, MN where we used to meet some family when I was going up to Duluth in the summer.

[JayhawkCO]

The list generated by Jim's code indicates I've traveled a lot of route 0s, but mine are all unnumbered routes in TM's database. Jim, is there a way to narrow the "route 0" list to routes that are actually numbered 0?  There seem to be some motorways in Europe numbered 0, none of which I've been on.

Woo!  I've gotten one number that Oscar doesn't have as I've been on R0 in Belgium.

[formulanone]

Zeros aren't counted, as per the initial post:

Positive integers, obviously.

[JayhawkCO]

Zeros aren't counted, as per the initial post:

Positive integers, obviously.

Don't care.  When "fighting against" Oscar, you gotta pull out all the stops.  I prefer to read that as "non-negative". 

[US 89]

Counting unsigned routes is another circle of sissy.

If it exists, it exists. I fight the same argument on the TM forum.

Finally, someone who agrees with me on this. If I'm clinching state highways, I'm clinching state highways, not just the ones the DOT thinks are important. I'm not going to ignore routes that definitely exist simply because the DOT is too lazy to post a couple signs, or they post signs that aren't in the TM approved format (for whatever reason street blades and enhanced mile markers don't count over there). Plus you get things like SR 519 in Washington where signs might disappear for a bit during construction and then come back after.

Most relevant in southeastern states where US highways have an unsigned state route underlay. Except Georgia where they are all signed anyway.

[JayhawkCO]

Counting unsigned routes is another circle of sissy.

If it exists, it exists. I fight the same argument on the TM forum.

Finally, someone who agrees with me on this. If I'm clinching state highways, I'm clinching state highways, not just the ones the DOT thinks are important. I'm not going to ignore routes that definitely exist simply because the DOT is too lazy to post a couple signs, or they post signs that aren't in the TM approved format (for whatever reason street blades and enhanced mile markers don't count over there). Plus you get things like SR 519 in Washington where signs might disappear for a bit during construction and then come back after.

Most relevant in southeastern states where US highways have an unsigned state route underlay. Except Georgia where they are all signed anyway.

I just know if I had set out to clinch all of Colorado's state highways, as I did, and I just skipped some that were on the books because of a technicality, I would always know I wasn't actually done.

[Jim]

I'm wondering if this following idea could be easily implemented as well:  Given a number, find all the routes in the DB that have that number.  For example - my lowest number needed (as of now) is 167.  It would be nice to see which 167's are closest to me for planning.  (It's probably the one near Roanoke VA).

Probably something more likely for a program operating on the data outside of the TM web front end but a fun problem to think about.  I've got loads of ideas like this waiting for someone to take a shot at them.

[yakra]

For example - my lowest number needed (as of now) is 167.  It would be nice to see which 167's are closest to me for planning.

Probably something more likely for a program operating on the data outside of the TM web front end but a fun problem to think about.  I've got loads of ideas like this waiting for someone to take a shot at them.

The web front-end can track a user's location.
As far as comparing that against all the routes/waypoints to find a result, well...

[Jim]

For example - my lowest number needed (as of now) is 167.  It would be nice to see which 167's are closest to me for planning.

Probably something more likely for a program operating on the data outside of the TM web front end but a fun problem to think about.  I've got loads of ideas like this waiting for someone to take a shot at them.

The web front-end can track a user's location.
As far as comparing that against all the routes/waypoints to find a result, well...

Run Dijkstra's algorithm starting at the TM waypoint closest to you, adding edges to the spanning tree until you've traversed an edge that has a 167 as part of the edge label.  Work your way back in the tree and you have a shortest all-TM route to get there.  Not saying it would be necessarily super fast, but Dijkstra's is pretty efficient.

Yes, this needs to be in HDX. (https://github.com/TravelMapping/EduTools/issues/397)

[dlsterner]

I'm wondering if this following idea could be easily implemented as well:  Given a number, find all the routes in the DB that have that number.  For example - my lowest number needed (as of now) is 167.  It would be nice to see which 167's are closest to me for planning.  (It's probably the one near Roanoke VA).

Probably something more likely for a program operating on the data outside of the TM web front end but a fun problem to think about.  I've got loads of ideas like this waiting for someone to take a shot at them.

Just to be clear - I was only asking for a list of all the routes numbered <whatever> - not necessarily sorted in distance order from me.  I can manually inspect the list to find the closest.

My one "solution" (LOL) - since anybody's input file can be seen, I just downloaded oscar's input file and did a grep for 167 (or whatever number).  I figure he's been on virtually every road in the continent by now.   

[Scott5114]

I'm wondering if this following idea could be easily implemented as well:  Given a number, find all the routes in the DB that have that number.  For example - my lowest number needed (as of now) is 167.  It would be nice to see which 167's are closest to me for planning.  (It's probably the one near Roanoke VA).

Probably something more likely for a program operating on the data outside of the TM web front end but a fun problem to think about.  I've got loads of ideas like this waiting for someone to take a shot at them.

Just to be clear - I was only asking for a list of all the routes numbered <whatever> - not necessarily sorted in distance order from me.  I can manually inspect the list to find the closest.

Yes, but the thing is, once you mention an interesting problem to a programmer, their mind starts spinning on how to solve it by programming, even if the solution can be found manually with less effort.

[dlsterner]

I'm wondering if this following idea could be easily implemented as well:  Given a number, find all the routes in the DB that have that number.  For example - my lowest number needed (as of now) is 167.  It would be nice to see which 167's are closest to me for planning.  (It's probably the one near Roanoke VA).

Probably something more likely for a program operating on the data outside of the TM web front end but a fun problem to think about.  I've got loads of ideas like this waiting for someone to take a shot at them.

Just to be clear - I was only asking for a list of all the routes numbered <whatever> - not necessarily sorted in distance order from me.  I can manually inspect the list to find the closest.

Yes, but the thing is, once you mention an interesting problem to a programmer, their mind starts spinning on how to solve it by programming, even if the solution can be found manually with less effort.

Preaching to the choir   Programming for the last 40+ years myself, I know what you mean!

[jlam]

I've been on US 54 in downtown Stratford 2 years ago. Now it seems to be 67.

I-55 from STL to north of Jackson, MS
CO 56 (clinched)
CA 57 (Southern terminus to Yorba Linda)
CO 58 (clinched)
I-59 (Meridian-Birmingham)
US 60 in downtown Phoenix
US 61 (Avenue of the Saints)
US 62 (I-55)
US 63 (Macon, MO)
I-64 (STL)
MN 65 (US 169 - Mora)
CO 66 (clinched)
No 67

[corco]

I clinched PA 329 this weekend, moving me up to...333 

[cl94]

I clinched PA 329 this weekend, moving me up to...333 

Pennsyltucky beckons! PA 333 is an alternate to US 22 along the Juniata River that I've been meaning to drive more of.

[formulanone]

Looks like mapcat from TM would be at 525.

My lowest one-and-only route would be 186 (in Connecticut).

[oscar]

Looks like mapcat from TM would be at 525.

Moreover, once he snags 525, his lowest untraveled route number would be 673.

[yakra]

Run Dijkstra's algorithm starting at the TM waypoint closest to you, adding edges to the spanning tree until you've traversed an edge that has a 167 as part of the edge label.  Work your way back in the tree and you have a shortest all-TM route to get there.  Not saying it would be necessarily super fast, but Dijkstra's is pretty efficient.

Yes, this needs to be in HDX. (https://github.com/TravelMapping/EduTools/issues/397)

I'm thinking, an as-the-crow-flies approach, to capture routes disconnected from the rest of the road network. Like if I live in Saint Ignace and am missing a 185.

Just to be clear - I was only asking for a list of all the routes numbered <whatever> - not necessarily sorted in distance order from me.  I can manually inspect the list to find the closest.

My one "solution" (LOL) - since anybody's input file can be seen, I just downloaded oscar's input file and did a grep for 167 (or whatever number).  I figure he's been on virtually every road in the continent by now.   

Here's what I did to find the nearest route 48:
cd tm/HighwayData/hwy_data/_systems/
systems=`ls usa* | grep -v _` #only worry about US systems; only look at "chopped routes" CSV files
cat $systems | egrep '.*;.*;[A-Z]+48;.*;.*;.*;.*;.*'
...and then manually inspected the results. Looks like a toss-up between NY, NJ & DE.

Yes, but the thing is, once you mention an interesting problem to a programmer, their mind starts spinning on how to solve it by programming, even if the solution can be found manually with less effort.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Looks like mapcat from TM would be at 525.

Moreover, once he snags 525, his lowest untraveled route number would be 673.

Ironically, there is no 525 in Ohio (or Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and West Virginia), so Dave will have to go digging in Kentucky for it.

[CoolAngrybirdsrio4]

I would have to say route 2 anywhere for any signed routes, since I have been on Michigan Highway 1 and 3.

[oscar]

Looks like mapcat from TM would be at 525.

Moreover, once he snags 525, his lowest untraveled route number would be 673.

Ironically, there is no 525 in Ohio (or Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and West Virginia), so Dave will have to go digging in Kentucky for it.

Yeah, he's spotted it, but it's not in a convenient part of the state. There's also one in Louisiana (my go-to for high-numbered routes), but apparently not in Pennsylvania, Mississippi, or Florida (also home to many high-numbered routes). I traveled one about a decade and a half ago in western Washington state, and there's a secondary route 525 in a remote area of western Ontario.

Wikipedia's list of routes numbered 525 looks seriously incomplete.