Philippines/Mapping conventions/Roads

 

 

This page documents conventions for mapping roads in the Philippines, in these aspects: classification and naming.

Main community page can be found at WikiProject Philippines community.

As much as possible, Philippine mapping guidelines for roads should try to follow global conventions. This includes revamping the existing classification system so to take account the sizes of communities a stretch of road serves, avoid network connectivity issues that arose with previous mapping practice and reflect differences between urban and rural/regional roads. Road names should look beyond official street signs since signing practice can vary from one local government unit to another and some roads have names only found through business signs and the like.

Classification

Main article: Philippines/Mapping conventions/Roads/Classification

Road classification in the Philippines follow a hierarchy of decreasing importance, and do not necessarily correlate with the road's official classification. Here a textual summary list of each OSM classification for use in the Philippines:

• highway=motorway: expressways
• highway=trunk: major non-expressway highway between large population centers
• highway=primary: highways between small population centers (smaller cities, large municipalities, most other provincial capitals); major arterials in urban areas
• highway=secondary: roads between most municipalities; minor arterials in urban areas
• highway=tertiary: roads between small, remote towns and most barangays; collector roads
• highway=unclassified: all other rural roads; non-residential local streets
• highway=residential: residential roads

Names

See also: Names

• Street name suffixes: Road or street names tagged on the main name=* tag should be preferably the full name used on street signs or addresses on business signs. It is fairly common to drop the suffixes to reduce clutter and follow what locals say, however the best advice as said above is to map the full name as used on signs (and let the renderer abbreviate them).
• National/provincial roads with no distinctive names: It is fairly common to refer to major national roads generically as "National Road" or "National Highway" where there is no established local name. It is fine to tag the generic name as the main name if there is established local usage (e.g. through common usage on addresses, street signs, and local orientation).
• Names in regional/local languages, Spanish, or foreign languages: Less common, but do exist. Street names in Tagalog will generally have Kalye ("Street") or Daan ("Road") (or even rarer, like Abenida) prefixed, while roads in Visayan-speaking areas (and also in Kapampangan or Ilocano) typically have the prefix Dalan, which can either theoretically translate to "Road" or "Street". If the posted name is in a local language or Spanish, keep it as it is on the name=*. Some roads have Spanish names (e.g. streets in Taal poblacion); common prefixes are Calle, Avenida, and Callejón.

Speed limits

See also: OSM tags for routing/Maxspeed#Philippines and Default speed limits

Use maxspeed=* for red and white legal speed limit signs or pavement markings and minspeed=* for blue minimum speed signs. Use both tags if both signs appear on the same signpost.

Use the maxspeed:advisory=* tag for white advisory speed limit signs on curved sections of roadway. Most expressway off-ramps have a posted speed limit; most are legally binding, but others are advisory only (those using US or Australian-style signage). On-ramps, except those connecting between two expressways usually don't have any posted speed limit.

In most roads, there is typically no posted speed limit. These may be tagged with the highest possible speed limit (usually referring to speed limits written in the Land Transportation and Traffic Code/Republic Act 4136, its 2018 supplementary guidelines by multiple Philippine government agencies, and local traffic ordinances implementing them) or none at all. If tagging the legally implied speed limit, use with source:maxspeed=*.

Named junctions

In some places, named junctions are often used for local orientation. Most commonly such junctions are often named from the a locality or other reference point (usually a barangay, city/municipality, city district, or nearest kilometer marker, ), followed with descriptors like "Junction/Crossing" (e.g. Calamba Crossing, Palapala Junction). In regions where Visayan languages (e.g. Cebuano, Hiligaynon/Ilonggo) are spoken locally, junction names often have the descriptor coming before the locality name (e.g. Crossing Panacan, Crossing Talomo, Crossing Ulas, in Davao City), but that naming scheme also occur outside Visayan-speaking regions, but to a lesser extent.

Named junctions are tagged junction=yes, where it could be placed on the junction node, or on a separate polygon on more complex situations. In some cases, the junction name became an established name for the surrounding area, that one might consider tagging it on a place node, especially where the name is of a sitio/purok.

Mapping of numbered routes

Main article: Philippines/Numbered route relations