Kaart: Signs/sandbox

Introduction

This document provides information on how to map traffic signs as well as when to apply tags to sections of roadways. A number of traffic signs are identified, and their specific usages are discussed in detail. Country specific signs are also considered.

Prerequisites

• You should know how to map roadways in OSM and be familiar with roadway classifications.
• You should be familiar with common traffic signs within the country you are mapping in.
• You should understand basic traffic laws in the region/country you are mapping in.

Skill Instruction

Traffic Sign Tagging

Use the tag traffic_sign=* to identify any form of signage that provides information and laws to traffic along a roadway or in a given area.

There are two ways to tag traffic signs:

Point related:	Are mapped with a single node. When mapping point related signs with a node, be sure to also add the proper tags to the affected roadway section where the sign implicates a given traffic law.
Section related:	Are tagged on a way or an area.

Common traffic signs include:

• traffic_sign=city_limit
• traffic_sign=maxspeed
• traffic_sign=stop
• traffic_sign=give_way
• traffic_sign=variable_message
• traffic_sign=hazard

Stop Signs

Stop signs are posted at intersections and other points where a physical stop is required by law. These include 2-way stops (minor stop) and 4-way stops (all stop). These are typically red, octagonal signs with the word STOP in the country's native language or English, however, there are internationally recognized variants of stop signs.

Mapping in OSM

There are two tags associated with stops: the tag for the roadway in OSM, and the tag for the stop sign itself. In OSM, highway=stop is used to tag map points that vehicles are required to stop at. Adding stop=* to the highway=stop node can define the type of traffic stop, indicating if it is a 2-way stop (stop=minor) or a 4-way stop (stop=all). Be aware of turn restrictions that may be present at 2-way and 4-way intersections, such as oneways.

2-way Stops

Also referred to as minor traffic stops, these road junctions only require some approaches to stop, not all of them.

To map a 2-way stop:

• Use available imagery to identify each stop.
• Add highway=stop as a node to the way where the stop occurs.
  • This node signifies the stop line before an intersection.
• Add stop=minor to each highway=stop node to signify the intersection as a 2-way stop.

Left stop sign: highway=stop stop=minor direction=forward Right stop sign: highway=stop stop=minor direction=backward

4-way Stops

Also referred to as all way stops, these road junctions required all approaches to stop.

To map a 4-way stop:

• Use available imagery to identify each stop.
• Add highway=stop to the intersection node.
  • Note: You can also map the intersection using the minor stop tagging. Simply add a minor stop at the location of each stop line before the intersection. This method is optional while adding it to the node is preferred.
• Add stop=all to the highway=stop on the intersection node.

highway=stop stop=all direction=both

Direction

To indicate the direction that highway=stop applies to, use direction=*. This is relative to the direction of the way in OSM.

• If the routing direction matches the direction of the way in OSM, the node should be tagged direction=forward.
• If the routing direction is opposite of the way in OSM, the node should be tagged direction=backward.

See the diagram which represents a minor stop in a right-driving country. The direction of the OSM way can be determined by the arrows.

Another useful tool for direction tagging is the paint style Direction for traffic signs. This paint style will render an icon of the type of sign, show you which direction the sign is currently facing and show you the direction the way was drawn.

Left stop sign: highway=stop stop=minor direction=forward Right stop sign: highway=stop stop=minor direction=backward

To add this paint style:

• Open Settings
• Go to Map Paint Styles
• Under Available styles search for Direction for traffic signs.
• Select it and use the arrow between available styles and active styles to pull it over.
• Click Ok

Mapping Physical Stop Signs

To map the physical location of a stop sign:

• Use available imagery to identify where the sign is located.
  • Look for shadows and other indicators to find the location of the sign(s). Use ground imagery to verify when possible.
• Draw a node and add the tag traffic_sign=stop.
  • You can also add the tag direction=* to indicate which direction of traffic it applies to. This help routers know how to use the sign in navigation software.
    • Note: You can only use cardinal directions for the street sign.

In this example you can see the shadows of 2 stops signs and a physical sign at this intersection. Using ground imagery you can confirm these signs as well as see another that was hidden in a bush.	Left stop signs: traffic_sign=stop direction=W or 270 Right stop signs: traffic_sign=stop direction=E or 90

Give Way Signs

Commonly referred to as yield signs, this feature is common at roundabout junctions, links and other intersections where vehicles are required to surrender their right of way to other directions of traffic, but not come to a complete stop.

Mapping in OSM

To map a give way:

• Use available imagery to identify where the give way is located.
• Add a node on the way and add the tag highway=give_way where the yield is located.

highway=give_way

Direction

When needed, add direction=forward or direction=backward depending on the direction of the way in OSM. See the diagram below, which represents a highway=give_way in a right driving country. The direction of the OSM way can be determined by the arrows. Note: Use the direction paint style mentioned above.

Roundabouts

The highway=give_way tag should be added to the way leading up to the roundabout where the yield occurs.

highway=give_way tags that are added to an intersection are incorrect since it is unclear which approach they apply to.

Max Speed Signs

maxspeed=* signs define the maximum legal speed limit for traffic on a given way. Most commonly, these will be along roadways, but they can also be used to define the maximum legal speed limit along waterways, railways, or other features.

Since there are different units of measure for speed we have to specify which unit is being used. There are two ways to tag these: Default value and different units.

Default Value:	The default value for maxspeed will always be in kilometers per hour (kph). An example of the tag would be maxspeed=60.
Different Units:	Different units include miles per hour (mph) and knots as examples. An example of the tag would be maxspeed=60 mph.There must be a space between the value and unit type.

The following screenshots are examples of common max speed/speed limit signs that you may encounter while mapping. These provide context clues for the legal speed limit along a roadway. For a larger list of speed limit signs, refer to the Speed limit road signs page.

Implicit Speed Limits:

An implicit speed limit means the driver must drive a minimum of the posted speed limit, but may drive faster than what's posted. These signs are common in some parts of the world. The sign will have the speed limit number with a line or lines cutting through it pictured below.

Note: This is only used on nodes of the physical traffic_sign=*.

Mapping in OSM

To apply max speed/speed limit to roadways:

• Use available imagery to identify the speed limit signs and where they apply.
• Split the way(s) as needed where the speed limit applies.
• Add the tag maxspeed=*. Keep in mind what unit the speed limit is in.

Mapping Max Speed Signs

While the most useful function of this tag is to define legal speed limits on roadways, it can also be used to map the physical location of maxspeed/speed limit signs.

To map a physical max speed sign:

• Use available imagery to identify where the sign is located.
• Add a node next to the way where the sign is located.
• Add the tags traffic_sign=maxspeed and maxspeed=*(keep in mind what units the value is in).

In this example you can see the shadow of a street sign in satellite imagery and you can see both street signs in ground imagery.	Top sign: traffic_sign=maxspeed maxspeed=55 direction=120 Bottom sign: traffic_sign=maxspeed maxspeed=55 direction=310

Maxspeed:type

The tag maxspeed:type=* describes how a speed limit has been established. It should always be accompanied by a maxspeed=* tag as well as all other vehicle maxspeed sub-tags that differ from it. The values of this tag can indicate if the speed limit is set by a sign or a law that applies to certain areas.

	maxspeed=* maxspeed:type=sign		maxspeed=* maxspeed:type=DE:zone*
	maxspeed=30 maxspeed:type=DE:bicycle_road		maxspeed=none maxspeed:type=DE:motorway

Vehicle Specific Speed Limit

Example of a vehicle speed limit sign in Thailand.

The tag maxspeed:<vehicle>=* is used when different speed limit laws apply to different vehicles. For a full list of possible values, refer to transport modes for access tags.

Common tag values include:

• maxspeed:hgv=*
• maxspeed:bus=*

Max Speed Conditions

There are a number of conditions/restrictions that can be applied to roadways. These should only be applied when they are confirmed, and may not be necessary in all cases.

Driving Direction

For cases where different speed limits are set for each driving direction, use the maxspeed:forward=* and maxspeed:backward=* tags. For roadways, forward describes the flow of traffic that matches the direction of the way in OSM, while backwards describes the flow of traffic opposite of the way direction.

Using the Maxspeed paint style, you can visually see the maximum speed values applied to a way (except those tagged with maxspeed:lanes=*). The style adds a colored outline to each way based on its speed value and displays the corresponding text label.

Here's an example of the Maxspeed paint style. Forward/Backward: maxspeed:forward=100: Text=fw100 maxspeed:backward=70: Text=bw70 Standard: maxspeed=100: Text=100

Lanes

If different speed limits are applied to distinct lanes of traffic traveling in the same direction (uni-directional ways), use the maxspeed:lanes=* tag to define the maxspeed. To separate each lane's maxspeed, use the | character in between values. The maxspeed:lanes=* tag should always be used in combination with the lanes=* tag.

Conversely, when traffic is traveling in both directions (bi-directional ways), use two tags in combination: maxspeed:lanes:forward=* and maxspeed:lanes:backward=*.

• Note: These tags are typically used on bi-directional ways that have 3 or more lanes so each maxspeed lane value can be defined.

highway=primary lanes=3 lanes:backward=1 lanes:forward=2 maxspeed:lanes:backward=60 maxspeed:lanes:forward=60|50 turn:lanes:forward=none|slight_right

Other Conditions

There are various conditions that can apply to maxspeed=*. Some of these include: day/time restrictions, weight restrictions, weather restrictions, etc. You can learn more about conditions that apply to maxspeed here and more about other conditional restrictions here.

	maxspeed:conditional=40 @ (Mo-Fr 08:00-09:30,14:30-16:00; PH off; SH off)
	maxspeed:conditional=30 @ (22:00-06:00 AND weight>3.5)
	maxspeed=80 maxspeed:conditional=60 @ wet
	maxspeed:conditional=20 mph @ flashing

Direction and Direction Styles

The direction=* tag is commonly used with street signs to indicate the direction of a feature. There are a variety of different values that can be used for different features, but this page will only focus on Cardinal and Relative. You can learn more about the other values here.

Cardinal:

This is the most common value that is added to stand-alone street signs to signify which direction of traffic the sign applies to (who can read the sign). Cardinal directions have a couple different values but the two most common are the abbreviations for north, south, east and west NSEW and compass bearings a.k.a. azimuth.

• For example:
  • direction=E or 90
  • direction=NNW or 337

Relative:

Relative direction tags indicate the direction of the node relative to the direction the way was drawn in OSM.

• For example:
  • direction=forward
  • direction=backward

Direction Styles

There are a few map paint styles available in JOSM that make direction tagging a lot easier. These can all be found in the ``Map Paint Styles`` setting in JOSM Preferences.

• Direction for traffic signs: This style adds direction arrows to the roads and signs that are on a way to visually show their direction.
• Direction: This style adds an arrow that points in the direction of the value.
• Direction Cones: This style mimics the directions cones from iD Editor and displays a direction cone on the signs.

Suggested Bookmarks

• Key:traffic_sign
• Key:maxspeed
• Tag:highway=give_way
• Conditional restrictions
• (sign post/destination sign tagging)