Key:destination:street

destination:street
Description
The name of the destination street or road as indicated on a destination sign.
Group: properties
Used on these elements
Useful combination
highway=* type=destination_sign destination=* destination:symbol=*
Status: in use
destination:street=* More details at taginfo
Tools for this tag
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This key indicates the name of the roadway's destination street or road as signposted. It is used on highway=*, especially highway=motorway_link, as well as type=destination_sign. Destination signs generally name places as destinations, particularly along motorways. However, urban destination signs often include street names, especially in cities where streets are laid out in a predictable street grid. In some regions, a rural destination sign may also name a road alongside its route number. This key either complements or replaces destination=* for such names, depending on the definition being followed.

History

In February 2015, the Valhalla developers implemented and informally proposed this key and used it for the first time in Maryland. In 2016, the Mapbox data team noticed this usage and adopted it in their large-scale navigation mapping efforts.

In January 2017, OSRM added support but only as a fallback for when destination=* is missing. The Telenav team discovered it and started the first mailing list discussion about it. In March, OsmAnd declined to support it. Telenav began using the key the following month.

In July 2017, the Mapbox data team was alerted to the fact that their use of the key conflicted with the behavior of OSRM (and the Mapbox Directions API) and retracted their endorsement of it. In October, this key was inserted into a since-abandoned proposal. At about the same time, a different proposal called for it to be limited to supplemental road names.

Rationale

Users of turn-by-turn navigation systems expect visual and voice guidance instructions that include details from destination signs, so that the user can match the instruction to what they see out the window and follow the signs.

Definitions

There are multiple competing definitions of this key, all in use by different mappers and data consumers in some of the same regions.

Characterizing the destination

The Valhalla team favors using this key for the name of any street on the destination sign, wherever it appears on the sign. In the event that tagged way does not lead directly to the street, destination:street:to=* is used, even if the sign does not say "To".

Valhalla's interest in this key comes from the difference in English between instructing the user to take an exit "toward" a place versus taking the exit "onto" a street, which is only somewhat related to signage. Valhalla explicitly does not care about the order of the destinations on the sign. Instead, an exit instruction always takes the form "onto destination:street=* toward destination=*". During route planning, this instruction lists all the values of both keys; during turn-by-turn navigation, for brevity, it only lists the value that is most likely to recur in subsequent instructions. As a result, any supplemental road names that appear in fine print are always included in the instruction.

Valhalla later added support for visual guidance instructions that replicate the layout of a destination sign. It lists destination:street=* before destination=*, (incorrectly) assuming that street names always precede place names on the sign.

Last-resort fallback

This exit leads to destination:street=Olden Avenue. Both OSRM and Valhalla behave similarly because there is no other destination.

OSRM and OsmAnd prefer that all destinations go in destination=* in order. However, OSRM also supports destination:street=* as a fallback for when destination=* is missing, in order to increase coverage of named guidance instructions. This definition is incompatible with the Valhalla definition when a destination sign names both a street and a place, as is quite common in North America.

Supplemental road names

The exit onto northbound Interstate 55, also known as destination:street=Stevenson Expressway, leads to destination=Lake Shore Drive;22nd Street.

A draft proposal calls for this key to be limited to the supplemental road name that accompanies the route marker. In some regions, destination signs include supplemental road names in fine print for the benefit of locals who are more familiar with the road's name than its number. This name is not intended to be used by motorists unfamiliar with the area. Otherwise, destinations go in destination=*, whether they refer to places, streets, or other geographical features.

Further reading

• Prokopova, Anastasia (July 28, 2023). “Usage of the destination and destination:street tag with the street name”. OpenStreetMap Community Forum. https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/usage-of-the-destination-and-destination-street-tag-with-the-street-name/101788.