I'm curious, since most of Starowl's Highway Heaven various indexed websites had suffered link rot.
What are good "exit guide"/"exit list" websites that still exist?
I prefer the ones that "simulate" the exit signs, like those made with graphics.
Edit: Also, what happened to Yamamoto?
Your best bet for most states and most freeways is Wikipedia. Their exit lists tend to be very, very good.
The one disadvantage of Wikipedia is that it doesn't display exits the exact way they're signed - how many lines it is, how the shields are centered, what font, etc. I really liked the sites that tried to simulate the exit sign text. It's one reason that I do think independent sites still have a place in roadgeeking - you get a lot more creative freedom and don't have to jump through hoops to verify facts.
Of course, if you want to make your own exit lists, you can just use Google Street View to find everything. It's so much easier than it used to be.
Quote from: getemngo on April 26, 2014, 11:21:35 PM
The one disadvantage of Wikipedia is that it doesn't display exits the exact way they're signed - how many lines it is, how the shields are centered, what font, etc. I really liked the sites that tried to simulate the exit sign text. It's one reason that I do think independent sites still have a place in roadgeeking - you get a lot more creative freedom and don't have to jump through hoops to verify facts.
Those are the sites that I'm looking for. Do you know any that are still alive and has not been a victim to link rot?
WisDOT maintains a current listing of all the exits along Wisconsin freeways: Wisconsin's Exit Numbering (http://www.dot.state.wi.us/travel/road/exits.htm)
Quote from: DaBigE on April 26, 2014, 11:31:33 PM
WisDOT maintains a current listing of all the exits along Wisconsin freeways: Wisconsin's Exit Numbering (http://www.dot.state.wi.us/travel/road/exits.htm)
No offense, but I didn't care for that style of exit listing. Is there any Wisconsin exit lists that try to "simulate" the exit signs (made with graphics).
Quote from: getemngo on April 26, 2014, 11:21:35 PM
The one disadvantage of Wikipedia is that it doesn't display exits the exact way they're signed - how many lines it is, how the shields are centered, what font, etc. I really liked the sites that tried to simulate the exit sign text. It's one reason that I do think independent sites still have a place in roadgeeking - you get a lot more creative freedom and don't have to jump through hoops to verify facts.
I want to make some of this myself, now that I'm working on a program (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=10952.0) that will make things so much easier for me.
vdeane's New York State Roads (e.g. I-95 (http://www.nysroads.com/i95list.php)) replicates the guide signs in text form, also including information about speed limits and county boundaries.
myosh_tino's Silicon Valley Roads (e.g. CA 237 (http://www.markyville.com/svroads/ca237_east.html)) replicates all the guide signs for each exit in image form.
I'm thinking I would do a hybrid of these two if I make exit lists.
I was going to tout my site (Silicon Valley Roads - www.markyville.com/svroads.html) but sammi beat me to it. Thank you sammi! :)
Expect an update relatively soon as the signs drawn use an older version of my sign builder. The current version has a number of updated sign elements.
Quote from: myosh_tino on April 27, 2014, 02:15:55 AM
I was going to tout my site (Silicon Valley Roads - www.markyville.com/svroads.html) but sammi beat me to it. Thank you sammi! :)
Its so good that you should expand it out of the Silicon Valley and maybe into the Bay Area! Heck, I would love it if it covers the entire state of California.
Quote from: Lytton on April 26, 2014, 10:54:17 PM
Also, what happened to Yamamoto?
He's still around, but his interests now are focused on things other than roads.
His sites, including any exit lists they had, got parceled out to various people in the roads community. My Hawaii Highways website, http://www.hawaiihighways.com/ is a surviving remnant of the Yamamoto empire. That site has a set of exit lists, though about two years out of date, until I can work in updates from my latest trip out there (and there'll be another set of changes needed when the barrier-separated morning-rush HOV-only "zipper lanes" on Interstate H-1 are revamped to also run westbound in the afternoon rush). My Alaska Roads site, http://www.alaskaroads.com/ has a similarly-styled set of exit lists, though that too needs a little updating to add in a short unnumbered freeway (part of the Johansen Expressway) in Fairbanks.
Starowl's Highway Heaven still exists...I've kept it on my website (http://www.ajfroggie.com/triskele/) for years, though yes it's horribly outdated. I have also retained both my Twin Cities (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/minnesota/exitlist.htm) and Deep South (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/exit-index.htm) exit lists, though these are seriously outdated as well.
Matt Salek still maintains his exit lists for the Upper Midwest (http://www.mesalek.com/exits/).
Quote from: froggie on April 27, 2014, 07:00:27 AM
Starowl's Highway Heaven still exists...I've kept it on my website (http://www.ajfroggie.com/triskele/) for years, though yes it's horribly outdated. I have also retained both my Twin Cities (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/minnesota/exitlist.htm) and Deep South (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/exit-index.htm) exit lists, though these are seriously outdated as well.
How is that I-110 exit list for Baton Rouge coming along? ;-)
I still have and keep updated my exit lists from my once "New England Turnpikes" site. Unfortunately I don't have them online anymore.
Quote from: froggie on April 27, 2014, 07:00:27 AM
Starowl's Highway Heaven still exists...I've kept it on my website (http://www.ajfroggie.com/triskele/) for years, though yes it's horribly outdated. I have also retained both my Twin Cities (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/minnesota/exitlist.htm) and Deep South (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/exit-index.htm) exit lists, though these are seriously outdated as well.
I can help update the Arkansas lists when/if you are interested.
Richie has most of Kansas covered (and about half of 49 in Missouri) route56.com/exitguides/
Quote from: Alex on April 27, 2014, 09:28:31 AM
How is that I-110 exit list for Baton Rouge coming along? ;-)
When I saw that I-110 was "proposed", I was like :confused:
I have some for Kentucky, although I never got finished with the project and what I do have is hopelessly out of date because of changes in signage, new exits, etc. I don't have the graphic design expertise to make sign replicas so my attempt at a text version failed miserably.
I really would like to find a good home for them with someone who would take good care of them. Same for my West Virginia route listings, since they're also out of date and I don't have the time to keep them current.
Quote from: Lytton on April 27, 2014, 02:48:37 AM
Its so good that you should expand it out of the Silicon Valley and maybe into the Bay Area! Heck, I would love it if it covers the entire state of California.
Back when I started drawing signs for my Silicon Valley Roads exit lists, I had to drive each freeway and either make a mental note on each exit sign (legend, layout, sign structure and I could only do this for maybe 3 or 4 exits at the most), quickly draw the sign on paper (while driving... not a good idea) or take a picture with a camera. Because of this, I had to limit myself to the freeways in Santa Clara County. Mind you, this was all before I discovered AARoads or Google Maps Street View.
Now that I can view signs in other areas thanks to AARoads and GMSV an expansion to the rest of the S.F. Bay Area is certainly possible.
The text guide signs that appear on my site are the result of the liberal use of HTML/CSS to make everything look pretty. At it's core, it's really just a more advanced table. For example, here's one row on the I-81 exit list:
<tr>
<td>8.1</td>
<td><span class="exitTab">Exit 2W</span><br /><img src="images/shields/us11.png" alt="US 11" width="42" height="42" /><br />Industrial Park</td>
<td><span class="exitTab">Exit 2</span><br /><img src="images/shields/us11.png" alt="US 11" width="42" height="42" /><br />Five Mile Point</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
I currently have nearly full coverage of NY (need to write the Long Island parkway lists; the Grand Central Parkway list is unpublished because the Northern Parkway will use the same page) and full coverage of VT.
I use the MUTCD color values given in the roadgeek fonts. The font for the exit tab, assuming I encoded the CSS right (I can't test what it looks like for someone without the roadgeek fonts installed), is series D. I may expand that to more places in the exit lists if I can make it look good on a webpage.
And yesterday when I was working with the inclusion of series D I realized that I made a boneheaded mistake in defining column widths through the table header cells instead of using colgroup. Oops. I might end up fixing that once I'm done with the exit lists.
And then next year I can convert to Clearview! :bigass:
Quote from: vdeane on April 27, 2014, 05:03:03 PM
The font for the exit tab, assuming I encoded the CSS right (I can't test what it looks like for someone without the roadgeek fonts installed), is series D. I may expand that to more places in the exit lists if I can make it look good on a webpage.
You used
@font-face to define Series D though, so it should look the same as yours.
I'm actually planning to do the same thing. If you use
@font-face for each series, it should work on every computer with a standards-compliant browser (Chrome, Firefox, IE9+?). Here's a screenshot of part of an exit list I'm currently working on:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FMwvMFMX.png&hash=29baab1e71d32783333387b95dde8249ad34c919)
Right now they're in text form, just like yours, but I decided I'm gonna be making them using RSM. :)
I was about to start debating whether using tables for exit lists is still considered proper web design, with the whole don't-use-tables-for-layout principle (you could make a case either way, and I'm leaning toward it being an acceptable use of tables)... when I had a thought. An unholy thought.
Would it be possible to recreate exit signs entirely using HTML and CSS? (Well, not counting the images for shields and arrows.)
You can embed the fonts, you can align the text however you need, you can add padding, you can round the signs' edges in CSS3... I'm not sure offhand how to get the white borders inside the signs' edges, but there's probably a way. All the elements you need are available.
These signs wouldn't be exactly to spec, especially with the differences in how browsers render CSS, but you could at least whip up something that looks better than what Oklahoma does. :-D I almost want to try this, just as a painful, painful experiment to prove that it's possible.
Quote from: getemngo on April 27, 2014, 08:42:18 PM
I was about to start debating whether using tables for exit lists is still considered proper web design, with the whole don't-use-tables-for-layout principle (you could make a case either way, and I'm leaning toward it being an acceptable use of tables).
Yes, it's the don't-use-tables-for-layout principle, not the don't-use-tables-to-represent-tables principle. So using them to make exit
lists is perfectly acceptable, but using them to make exit
signs is not, if that's what you meant. :bigass:
Quote from: getemngo on April 27, 2014, 08:42:18 PM
Would it be possible to recreate exit signs entirely using HTML and CSS? (Well, not counting the images for shields and arrows.)
You can embed the fonts, you can align the text however you need, you can add padding, you can round the signs' edges in CSS3... I'm not sure offhand how to get the white borders inside the signs' edges, but there's probably a way. All the elements you need are available.
It's possible. :) You'll need to use two borders (http://www.impressivewebs.com/multiple-borders-css/), but the outer one should be the same color as the panel color.
Quote from: myosh_tino on April 27, 2014, 03:00:15 PM
Back when I started drawing signs for my Silicon Valley Roads exit lists, I had to drive each freeway and either make a mental note on each exit sign (legend, layout, sign structure and I could only do this for maybe 3 or 4 exits at the most), quickly draw the sign on paper (while driving... not a good idea) or take a picture with a camera. Because of this, I had to limit myself to the freeways in Santa Clara County. Mind you, this was all before I discovered AARoads or Google Maps Street View.
Because I wanted my listings to be accurate and reflect what could actually be seen in the field (exits having different destinations depending on your direction of travel, or having them listed in a different order, or a "To Route XX" listing in one direction but not the other, what I did was dictate the signs into a tape recorder, and would look in the rear-view mirror to read and dictate signs in the opposite direction if I was not going to be traveling that stretch of highway (I did this for a lot of the interstates and parkways in western Kentucky because I knew it would be a long time before I'd be back on them). It worked out well. I later got a small digital recorder. I suppose now the voice memo feature of a smartphone would serve the same purpose.
Quote from: vdeane on April 27, 2014, 05:03:03 PM
The text guide signs that appear on my site are the result of the liberal use of HTML/CSS to make everything look pretty. At it's core, it's really just a more advanced table. For example, here's one row on the I-81 exit list:
<tr>
<td>8.1</td>
<td><span class="exitTab">Exit 2W</span><br /><img src="images/shields/us11.png" alt="US 11" width="42" height="42" /><br />Industrial Park</td>
<td><span class="exitTab">Exit 2</span><br /><img src="images/shields/us11.png" alt="US 11" width="42" height="42" /><br />Five Mile Point</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
This is the one thing that has frustrated me about web page authoring. As a former journalist, I was used to WYSIWYG software that allowed you to lay out newspaper pages exactly as they would appear. (First PageMaker, then Quark XPress, and now I understand InDesign is the software most commonly used). It bothers me that there is not something that does the same thing to author web pages.
Years ago there was a neat piece of software called Claris HomePage that did exactly what I wanted it to. Indeed, most of the pages on my site were done in it. I understand there's no way to do a true WYSIWYG HTML authoring program because of different screen resolutions, monitor sizes, etc., but there should be something that would come close. Microsoft FrontPage wasn't the answer because of the garbage code it put in pages, and the folders it inserted for no good reason if you used it for site organization. (WTF is a _vti_cnf folder, or what-the-hell-ever it was called?)
Dreamweaver and GoLive are awfully complicated and expensive.
There really should be a consumer-level program available. Because who really wants to type all that code? Certainly not me. I never understood why so many people got off by hand-coding their pages when there are easier and faster ways to do it.
Quote from: hbelkins on April 27, 2014, 10:21:30 PM
Microsoft FrontPage wasn't the answer because of the garbage code it put in pages, and the folders it inserted for no good reason if you used it for site organization. (WTF is a _vti_cnf folder, or what-the-hell-ever it was called?)
There were four.
_vti_cnf,
_vti_pvt,
_vti_script,
_vti_txt. :) They were apparently used for some server-side functionality, something that most users won't even need, and if they did they would probably do it themselves.
Quote from: hbelkins on April 27, 2014, 10:21:30 PM
There really should be a consumer-level program available. Because who really wants to type all that code? Certainly not me. I never understood why so many people got off by hand-coding their pages when there are easier and faster ways to do it.
Try KompoZer (http://kompozer.net/). I only vaguely remember this from a few years ago, when I only knew HTML 4.01 and no CSS and my web design skills were poo. I learned CSS after that so I never really even used it enough to tell you what I think of it, but it's the only free WYSIWYG webpage editor that I know of so you might as well give it a try.
I code my own webpages. If I could, I'd even run my own server from home and put my site up there. I like to be in full control of what I'm doing. That, and the thought of "
I made this." Most people don't get to do that. :)
Quote from: sammi on April 27, 2014, 11:00:56 PM
Try KompoZer (http://kompozer.net/). I only vaguely remember this from a few years ago, when I only knew HTML 4.01 and no CSS and my web design skills were poo. I learned CSS after that so I never really even used it enough to tell you what I think of it, but it's the only free WYSIWYG webpage editor that I know of so you might as well give it a try.
I code my own webpages. If I could, I'd even run my own server from home and put my site up there. I like to be in full control of what I'm doing. That, and the thought of "I made this." Most people don't get to do that. :)
I've been using Kompozer for a couple years and am fairly happy with it. I don't use CSS so at least for the standard HTML site I do it works fine. I had to switch to it after an OS upgrade rendered a 6+ year-old version of Netscape Composer on my machine inoperable.
Quote from: froggie on April 27, 2014, 07:00:27 AM
Starowl's Highway Heaven still exists...I've kept it on my website (http://www.ajfroggie.com/triskele/) for years, though yes it's horribly outdated. I have also retained both my Twin Cities (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/minnesota/exitlist.htm) and Deep South (http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/exit-index.htm) exit lists, though these are seriously outdated as well.
Matt Salek still maintains his exit lists for the Upper Midwest (http://www.mesalek.com/exits/).
Thanks for the shout-out. Also still maintaining my Colorado exit lists (http://www.mesalek.com/coexit/).
Freeway Junctions of the Heartland is still around after over 15 years (even though I had to move it recently because of my ISP -- it's now at http://www.iowahighways.org/exits/). It now covers all of Iowa, plus eastern Nebraska and western Illinois.
For New York, J. P. Wing still has all of his: http://www.upstatenyroads.com/exitindex.shtml
And of course, Steve Anderson's are also still around: http://www.nycroads.com/roads/
Quote from: empirestate on April 29, 2014, 01:26:56 AM
For New York, J. P. Wing still has all of his: http://www.upstatenyroads.com/exitindex.shtml
And of course, Steve Anderson's are also still around: http://www.nycroads.com/roads/
JP's are actually the inspiration for mine. I've also been looking at Steve Anderson's for speed limit information (and for when street view fails me; the newer car doesn't seem to like Long Island's parkways).