In Spain I have raised a question that I think should have a rule for all countries when it comes to mapping toll booths.
In my opinion they should be drawn as a single line through the central toll booth and have the attribute of the number of lanes. Other partners however, draw each virtual lane to each booth. I think this is not logical, it can even be dangerous for the driver to suddenly see 6 lanes on the GPS screen, when he must look at reality to choose the toll booth he prefers.
In my opinion it should be a single line, like a normal continuation of the highway, and individual lanes, also because the number of lanes in a toll booth for one direction may differ day by day depending on the traffic that itâs expected to pass. At least thatâs what happens in Greece, especially in Athens during weekends and holidays. So, individual lanes would make no sense.
Over here the general mapping practice is to just draw a single line through the toll booth area, one off and one on, service ways and special transport ways if they exist since the toll booth passages have a max width/height of something like 4.8x2.55. We have something called Telepass (sensory registration of passage), those lanes are marked yellow, for off and on, cash lanes and card lanes, blue, no receptacles for coins or notes on the card lanes. None of these âsettlementâ lanes get split out.
All that said, some with all lanes mapped individually are still around but not many. The whole state is sort of like frozen, rarely a new entrance/exit is added.
In my opinion it should be a single line, like a normal continuation of the highway, and individual lanes, also because the number of lanes in a toll booth for one direction may differ day by day depending on the traffic that itâs expected to pass. At least thatâs what happens in Greece, especially in Athens during weekends and holidays. So, individual lanes would make no sense
while the lanes might be closed or even the direction reverted, they are also always physically there and separated from each other by concrete walls, âservice areasâ (space for the staff) and guard rails, a single line would be a misrepresentation
/if/ you map individual lines, there should be something like a âThese lanes are equal for routing purposesâ relation, such that routers can ignore this or say that all choises are equal.
This is not only useful for toll booths (or border control, or entrances for a ferry line), but also places where highway lanes split and later come back together (example: Node: 1037402785 | OpenStreetMap ) or turbo roundabouts, which are sometimes split into individual lanes but where (for some directions) taking the left or right lane are equal.
while the lanes might be closed or even the direction reverted, they are also always physically there and separated from each other by concrete walls, âservice areasâ (space for the staff) and guard rails, a single line would be a misrepresentation
To reflect the true reality, it should be an area in front of and behind the toll booth area, since there is no physical or legal separation that prevents changing lanes, but routers cannot use areas, and it cannot be labeled as one way either.
The lanes only exist in the toll booth area and drawing something that does not exist is inventing cartography. In fact, I could understand that there were sections in which the number of lanes was increased or decreased to adjust it as closely as possible to reality, but drawing a single line that the router would use.
In the actual toll booth you are right, the lanes are physically separated. On the other side typically the area in front of the booth and the area afterwards would be a single lane, as there are typical no markings. In combination it is not possible to do in OSM.
I prefer the lane-schema in such a case, as it is easier to generate an overview about special purpose lanes, such as hgv-lanes, electronic payment only lanes, human operated lanes,âŚ
It is not a bad idea to display the number of lanes on a single lane, but there are cases where each lane has a different purpose.
For example, it can be divided into lanes for cars and lanes for trucks, lanes for cash payments, and lanes for transportation cards.
No matter how you draw, I think you should be able to express these properties.
If I were you, I would draw each lane separately, because each lane is non-encroachable and each lane can have different properties.
there are always physical separations at toll booths, at least I never saw one without, also in France. Here is an example image from Italy where you can see them
Same thing in Greece, except itâs led screens instead of normal signs, hence it changes constantly, that is one lane may be cash only one day and the next will be tag only.
So, I guess if a toll booth has no such constant changes, it can be mapped with separate lanes.
Same thing in Greece, except itâs led screens instead of normal signs, hence it changes constantly, that is one lane may be cash only one day and the next will be tag only.
So, I guess if a toll booth has no such constant changes, it can be mapped with separate lanes.
the fact that the accepted payment (e.g. no cash when the booth is not staffed) or the direction may change, can be mapped.
I thought that with the first image and the explanations it was enough to see the situation. Here more images.
It wonât let me put more images, but I send it by private message and if you can post it for everyone to see.
Where are the lanes outside the toll booths?
As I explained in another post, to draw reality it should be area=yes but routers canât use areas. Drawing lanes that do not exist (outside the toll booths), there is no physical or legal separator, I think it is inventing cartography and confusing the driver who will see 6 or 8 non-existent lines on the screen of his GPS.
If the toll booths are as in the picture of @dieterdreist, then they can be drawn as separate ways, because they are physically separated. The fact that you have to draw âvirtualâ highways, that are in fact areas, before these lanes, is a technical limitation that can only be solved by drawing the roads as areas as well. You are free to do that, if you want to, but it would still require the individual lanes for the routers.
It doesnât mean that using a single highway with lanes=8 is wrong, though, itâs just less precise. But sometimes it makes sense to abstract physical boundaries away in order to make things easier to maintain, tag, or evaluate in the first place. A router would always prefer the shortest route if mapped as separate ways and not offering the driver âpick one of these 3â, which is what some do with turn lanes. So if you can map all attributes that have been mentioned using lanes schema, then this might be superior for routing.
Is it really less precise? If you are drawing individual lanes you are less precise (inventing roads) before and after the toll both. If you are drawing one lane you are less precise (ignoring the physical separation) within the toll both.
Where the âcollective-wayâ-method has benefits regarding simplicity and allowing routers to display drivers additional information, like use lane 7&8 as you are a truck. At least based on current technology I think the âcollective-wayâ-method is more beneficial. But of course, both are possible and valid. Just don;t forget about things like lane=1âŚ
I donât know what you mean by âtoll boothâ, to me this means a small cabin with someone inside, so the very end of these queueing lanes just before the liftgate.
I see a lot of infrastructure in the picture, concrete walls and steel structures, representing all of this with just a single node is possibile, but insisting we only do it like this, is asking too much I guess.
The problem here is that many solutions are problematic in its own variant.
Splitting lanes on part where separated may seem to make sense - but either you end drawing fake separate carriageways where there is no actual physical separation, or you need to draw lanes which have fake right turns/left turns at point where physical separation starts.
That reminds me about crossing islands where roads are often not split into two oneways. Or cases where you have a few plastic bollards between lanes and road is not split.
You can, but you cannot draw geometry matching reality and in this case I would consider not separating them into separate ways as it is not really improving quality of data.
That reminds me about crossing islands where roads are often not split into two oneways. Or cases where you have a few plastic bollards between lanes and road is not split.
Iâd consider these either errors or approximate, but they are clearly against one of the most important rules (when to create a highway on its own and when not)
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