Road-Geeky Things Of The Past That You Miss...

[kphoger]

I miss some of the nonstandard County Route signs in New Jersey that have been taken down. Examples are signs that read out ALTERNATE instead of ALT (although some signs that fully read out ALTERNATE still exist).

Amusingly, ALTERNATE is still used as the banner for Alt. US 72 here in Alabama.

It isn't nonstandard.

[roadman65]

I miss NY using text guides on I-84 and Route x on the Thruway.

I miss the old traffic circles on NJ 23 despite the safety concerns. There used to be only one stoplight NB from Packanack Lake in Wayne to CR 511 in Butler.

Only two stoplights on the two lane NJ 23 in Sussex County. One in Hamburg and the other in Sussex.

NJ 94 had no stoplights west of Newton into Columbia.  No stoplights either from NJ 23 to the New York State Line I remember well. The CR 515 intersection in Vernon had a flasher with NJ 94 stopping for CR 515.
McAffee at CR 517 had no flasher even, but SB 94 stopped at CR 517 where the light is now.

[Scott5114]

Looking at a road map, and being able to tell which roads were freeways [...] according to color.

*cough*

[TheStranger]

Looking at a road map, and being able to tell which roads were freeways [...] according to color.

*cough*

I am...

Extremely impressed, especially after being used to the standard OpenStreetMap where route shields aren't a thing.  This is particularly notable when I check the Philippines using AARoads Maps and easily identify Manila's emerging toll expressway system from there!

(I also wonder what determines which little stubs get to be "freeway" marked vs. marked as expressway in here, I'm thinking of how Route 1 in SF between Font and I-280 is not shown as freeway, and neither is former US 101 (Pacific Highway) near San Diego International Airport, or former US 395/I-15 at Miramar...but then the former Route 134/US 6/US 99 stub off I-5 in Glendale is given the blue mark, as is the teeny Route 77 freeway in Oakland)

--

Also really enjoying the historic US route shields that show up (i.e. US 80 and US 66!)  I wonder how far mapping that will go, i.e. I noticed the Colorado Freeway near Pasadena is not given a Historic US 66A shield for instance, and I-110 isn't co-labeled with Historic US 6 (though Figueroa nearby is).

[Rothman]

Looking at a road map, and being able to tell which roads were freeways [...] according to color.

*cough*

How, after all these years, did I not know that existed?

[kphoger]

Toll designations don't seem to be reliable in Mexico on that map, unfortunately.

[Max Rockatansky]

Then again who really does have a good and fully accurate account of what is going with Mexican Federal Highway?  I have to look at actual logs from Secretary of Transportation to interpret what is going on.

[kphoger]

Then again who really does have a good and fully accurate account of what is going with Mexican Federal Highway?  I have to look at actual logs from Secretary of Transportation to interpret what is going on.

To be fair, it's mostly accurate from what I'm seeing.

↓  But how in the world did the portion highlighted in yellow (western start here) end up designated as a toll road?  ↓



↓  Or then there's stuff like this, where a random stretch of toll road with no exits gets designated as non-tolled.  wtf?  ↓

[ElishaGOtis]

Looking at a road map, and being able to tell which roads were freeways [...] according to color.

*cough*

This is neat!

Waze also does something similar. In the app, if you have "map editor" colors enabled, different roads not only match with what is/isn't a freeway, but are supposed to match with the official FHWA Functional Classification. "Road types" tend to follow such official maps for FC more strictly than OSM does. Also, you do not have to be a map editor to see the colors in the app. Waze's Live map online also lets you differentiate these road types, but not to the extent that the app or editor tools show.

If you're curious, take a look at this: https://www.waze.com//wiki/USA/Road_types

[TheStranger]

Looking at a road map, and being able to tell which roads were freeways [...] according to color.

*cough*

This is neat!

Waze also does something similar. In the app, if you have "map editor" colors enabled, different roads not only match with what is/isn't a freeway, but are supposed to match with the official FHWA Functional Classification. "Road types" tend to follow such official maps for FC more strictly than OSM does. Also, you do not have to be a map editor to see the colors in the app. Waze's Live map online also lets you differentiate these road types, but not to the extent that the app or editor tools show.

If you're curious, take a look at this: https://www.waze.com//wiki/USA/Road_types

Interestingly I checked out Waze's map to see these color delineations (not bad!) and looked at Manila and they already had an under-construction freeway marked as open, even though it is months away from being operational (the last mile section of the NLEX Connector between the Pandacan district and Magsaysay Boulevard).

It is nice to see that they, like the AAroads map, have the new ramp from Tramo Street (Aurora Boulevard) to NAIAX in Pasay that just opened up a few days ago.

---

Interestingly the Waze map shows that section of Route 1 between I-280 and Font Boulevard as full freeway (which AAroads map doesn't yet), but doesn't show the section of Route 35/Skyline Boulevard between Eastmoor Avenue in Daly City and Hickey Boulevard in Pacifica as freeway even though it is officially one according to signage in the area.

In Houston, Memorial Drive is shown as freeway on Waze but not on AAroads map.

Neither service shows the former I-15/US 395 alignment in Miramar as a freeway, or former US 101 (Pacific Highway) near San Diego International Airport.

[Scott5114]

Looking at a road map, and being able to tell which roads were freeways [...] according to color.

*cough*

How, after all these years, did I not know that existed?

The wiki folks made it as part of their coming over from Wikipedia, since the Wikipedia maps always annoyed them. (Shout out to Minh Nguyễn, our friend in the OSM community, who did most of the heavy lifting.)

Toll designations don't seem to be reliable in Mexico on that map, unfortunately.

It uses the data from OpenStreetMap, so any changes made to OSM will propagate to this map eventually. (I forget how long the refresh cycle is.)

[kphoger]

Toll designations don't seem to be reliable in Mexico on that map, unfortunately.

Then again who really does have a good and fully accurate account of what is going with Mexican Federal Highway?  I have to look at actual logs from Secretary of Transportation to interpret what is going on.

To be fair, it's mostly accurate from what I'm seeing.

↓  But how in the world did the portion highlighted in yellow (western start here) end up designated as a toll road?  ↓



↓  Or then there's stuff like this, where a random stretch of toll road with no exits gets designated as non-tolled.  wtf?  ↓

It uses the data from OpenStreetMap, so any changes made to OSM will propagate to this map eventually. (I forget how long the refresh cycle is.)

Neither of the two examples I provided show up incorrectly on the OSM map.  I seriously doubt that the OSM data for both examples have (1) changed since AARoads Maps launched and (2) not yet propagated over to AARoads Maps.

[Scott5114]

That's because the OSM default renderer doesn't actually use the "toll=yes" flag to make any decisions on how to render a road visually. One thing that has been interesting about putting this map style together is how many OSM data errors it exposes, because we asked for it to render things that aren't normally rendered. (The OSM folks have found the project pretty fascinating because of that.)

[vdeane]

I've noticed a few inconsistencies in what is marked as a US or state route around here.  Reference routes seem kinda random (Washington Ave Ext. is marked as a state route, Wolf Road is not), but numbered routes can be too (parts of US 9/20 around the Dunn are not marked, for instance, while a couple county roads near Troy are).

[Rothman]

Looking at a road map, and being able to tell which roads were freeways [...] according to color.

*cough*

How, after all these years, did I not know that existed?

The wiki folks made it as part of their coming over from Wikipedia, since the Wikipedia maps always annoyed them. (Shout out to Minh Nguyễn, our friend in the OSM community, who did most of the heavy lifting.)

Most excellent.  Haven't checked if the one way tolling marked on the GSP is accurate (i.e., when its marked as toll in only one direction).

[hbelkins]

I'd think the way a lot of people talk about Calrog would be enough to knock MTR down a couple pegs.

Right. That's exactly why moderation is a good thing. Imagine Poi Poi being able to post about whatever he wanted without any sanction. Not fun.

That's what killfiles are for. Plonk and forget.

[Scott5114]

I'd think the way a lot of people talk about Calrog would be enough to knock MTR down a couple pegs.

Right. That's exactly why moderation is a good thing. Imagine Poi Poi being able to post about whatever he wanted without any sanction. Not fun.

That's what killfiles are for. Plonk and forget.

Problem with that is that not everyone had a means to access Usenet that provided a killfile. If you accessed it through Google Groups, for instance, there was no such facility. And MTR never meant enough to me, personally, to justify paying for a service solely for the privilege of hiding Carl logs.  (And my understanding is that plonking did no good if someone else decided they'd like to feed the troll.)

[1995hoo]

I'd think the way a lot of people talk about Calrog would be enough to knock MTR down a couple pegs.

Right. That's exactly why moderation is a good thing. Imagine Poi Poi being able to post about whatever he wanted without any sanction. Not fun.

That's what killfiles are for. Plonk and forget.

Problem with that is that not everyone had a means to access Usenet that provided a killfile. If you accessed it through Google Groups, for instance, there was no such facility. And MTR never meant enough to me, personally, to justify paying for a service solely for the privilege of hiding Carl logs. (And my understanding is that plonking did no good if someone else decided they'd like to feed the troll.)

The boldfaced is a major reason why the "Ignore" function on a forum like this one is imperfect—when someone else quotes the ignored user's comment, you see it. Quoting is rather easier to read here than it was on any USENET reader I ever used, of course, but the principle is largely the same.

[vdeane]

I'd think the way a lot of people talk about Calrog would be enough to knock MTR down a couple pegs.

Right. That's exactly why moderation is a good thing. Imagine Poi Poi being able to post about whatever he wanted without any sanction. Not fun.

That's what killfiles are for. Plonk and forget.

Problem with that is that not everyone had a means to access Usenet that provided a killfile. If you accessed it through Google Groups, for instance, there was no such facility. And MTR never meant enough to me, personally, to justify paying for a service solely for the privilege of hiding Carl logs. (And my understanding is that plonking did no good if someone else decided they'd like to feed the troll.)

The boldfaced is a major reason why the "Ignore" function on a forum like this one is imperfect—when someone else quotes the ignored user's comment, you see it. Quoting is rather easier to read here than it was on any USENET reader I ever used, of course, but the principle is largely the same.

Not to mention that most of the problem with PoiPoi wasn't the man himself, it was the 20+ people responding to him every time he made an inane post.  It's one thing if someone posts something inane and then fades into the ether; it's another to have it trigger "discussions" that proceed to clog up half the forum.

[Rothman]

I'd think the way a lot of people talk about Calrog would be enough to knock MTR down a couple pegs.

Right. That's exactly why moderation is a good thing. Imagine Poi Poi being able to post about whatever he wanted without any sanction. Not fun.

That's what killfiles are for. Plonk and forget.

Problem with that is that not everyone had a means to access Usenet that provided a killfile. If you accessed it through Google Groups, for instance, there was no such facility. And MTR never meant enough to me, personally, to justify paying for a service solely for the privilege of hiding Carl logs. (And my understanding is that plonking did no good if someone else decided they'd like to feed the troll.)

The boldfaced is a major reason why the "Ignore" function on a forum like this one is imperfect—when someone else quotes the ignored user's comment, you see it. Quoting is rather easier to read here than it was on any USENET reader I ever used, of course, but the principle is largely the same.

Not to mention that most of the problem with PoiPoi wasn't the man himself, it was the 20+ people responding to him every time he made an inane post.  It's one thing if someone posts something inane and then fades into the ether; it's another to have it trigger "discussions" that proceed to clog up half the forum.

^This.  Troll feeders abound and just exacerbate the problem.  I also think continuing to bring P13 up shows that he won in the end.

[kphoger]

I also think continuing to bring P13 up shows that he won in the end.

Sharing a commonly hated person among members of a community seems to serve as a bond between them.  So, in a sense, I suppose he won by bringing us all closer together.

[freebrickproductions]

I also think continuing to bring P13 up shows that he won in the end.

Sharing a commonly hated person among members of a community seems to serve as a bond between them.  So, in a sense, I suppose he won by bringing us all closer together.

Maybe the real Poiponen13 was the friends we made along the way...

[kphoger]

I also think continuing to bring P13 up shows that he won in the end.

Sharing a commonly hated person among members of a community seems to serve as a bond between them.  So, in a sense, I suppose he won by bringing us all closer together.

Maybe the real Poiponen13 was the friends we made along the way...

There's a little bit of the Finn inside each of us! ™

[vdeane]

There's a little bit of the Finn inside each of us! ™

Now I'm imagining a demonic fish.

[ran4sh]

Looking at a road map, and being able to tell which roads were freeways [...] according to color.

*cough*

This is neat!

Waze also does something similar. In the app, if you have "map editor" colors enabled, different roads not only match with what is/isn't a freeway, but are supposed to match with the official FHWA Functional Classification. "Road types" tend to follow such official maps for FC more strictly than OSM does. Also, you do not have to be a map editor to see the colors in the app. Waze's Live map online also lets you differentiate these road types, but not to the extent that the app or editor tools show.

If you're curious, take a look at this: https://www.waze.com//wiki/USA/Road_types

I've used Waze Map Editor colors, but the main issue I have with them is that the red/orange used for functional classification are similar to the red/orange used to indicate congestion. Since the latter feature is more important to me, I end up not using Map Editor colors in the waze app