The Wiki says “ref” should only be used for designations found on signage, but every relevant motorway has “int_ref” tags listing the E-road number which are neither signposted nor used in any context in the UK. Various 3rd party apps display these E routes, which seems confusing as it doesn’t represent the situation on the ground, which is OSM’s general idea.
However they are technically part of the E road network (although if they UK government is even aware of this, I have no idea) so perhaps they should be mapped?
When I’ve previously asked about “official” routes that aren’t signposted the consensus has been that they don’t belong on OSM.
I learned something today. I was also befuddled to find no reference in the Wikipedia page to actual purposes of this numbering system. Apparently it is “just” a standard naming scheme to facilitate international cooperations.
Chesterton’s fence applies here. The route numbers, while they’ve never been signed on the ground in the UK and some other countries, have appeared on specialised commercial maps. They may be useful to some and, in any case, are official reference numbers, even if a supranational organisation (the UN, I think) manages them. Ultimately, whether you tag the ways or not, there’s a large set of route relations that are in play to identify them.
There are a couple of different things going on here - take this stretch of the M18. It’s allegedly part of “European route E13” which is something that doesn’t exist in any meaningful sense other than in a desk drawer in a UN office somewhere. That relation has ref:signed=no and name:signed=no which at least gives data consumers a steer that neither the alleged name “European route E13” not the alleged ref “E 13” are useful for navigation. Unfortunately every individual segment also had int_ref=E13 added here by an E-route fan.
I’d grudgingly support the continued existence of the fantasy relations provided that they were all updated to make clear that none of the names or refs are signed, but I don’t see what purpose the int_ref values serve - they don’t exist in any meaningful sense.
To be clear, this only applies to the UK; in some other places E roads are not just signed they are the main reference used.
I ride my motorbike through Europe regularly. Outside of the UK, the E roads system is everywhere, usually its displayed alongside the country’s domestic road number. Most European countries are the same and like SomeoneElse said, Belgium and a few others use the E road numbers as their only motorway ref. The UK has just been oddly stubborn about implementing this, Only UK and Albania dont display the E road numbers which is rather infuriating.
I think is should be tagged with int_ref possibly with a extra int_ref:signed=no or something similar. It would be odd for a renderer to display only the E-number, usually both numbers would be displayed so i don’t think its too much of a leap to say that a user would work out quickly that the e routes are not signed. hopefully the UK accepts the system at some point
Yes, its run by UNECE which is basically the European branch of the UN.
The UK is on islands. It’s not like you can just follow the road continuously through to the next country; you have to get a on a ferry or a train. The only exception to this appear to be a single “E” road running from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland and from what I can see they essentially have a consistent national ref anyway.