Talk:Key:destination:colour

Color-coded destinations

Color-coded destination signs at JFK Airport in New York City

@Mueschel: I think your description of this key is accurate with respect to how the key has been used in Europe and Asia, where some countries color-code destinations by varying the color of the sign background based on road classifications. However, the infobox depicts a sign from the U.S., where all standard destination signs have a green background, regardless of the current or connecting road's classification. (Airports and theme parks sometimes use a different background, but it's purely for decoration.)

The MUTCD does have a concept of color-coded destinations but calls for the sign to include a small color swatch. [1] These are most commonly found at airports and amusement parks, but some localities color-code routes as part of the public road network as well. I'm pretty sure this is what every occurrence of destination:colour=* and destination:colour:lanes=* in the U.S. actually indicates. If these ways should really be retagged destination:colour=green based on the sign background, then I'm unsure how to indicate the destination's color other than destination:colour=*.

 – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 22:39, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

There is colour:back=* in type=destination_sign that's clearer. --- Kovposch (talk) 07:28, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

Unfortunately colour:back=* can't be used on highways, but only on destination sign nodes/relations. destination:colour:back=* is also already in use, but with the same meaning as destination:colour=*. From all that I can see colour:back=* and destination:colour=* are used as synonymous tags depending on context.--Mueschel (talk) 07:50, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

@Kovposch: As long as it's OK for the U.S. to continue using destination:colour=* for color swatches, I don't think it would ever be necessary to tag the sign's background color as a property of the link road or even the type=destination_sign relation; rather, it should be tagged on only the traffic_sign=*, and only in the rare cases where it isn't green. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 19:30, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with US signs - are there cases where individual entries on the sign have a colored background instead of a colored box next to them? If not I guess destination:colour is perfectly fine and we can add this as a general rule how the tags need to be interpreted when rendering signs. We already need these national rendering rules e.g. for normal background colors so this is not a problem.--Mueschel (talk) 07:50, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

@Mueschel: The colored box is the only option endorsed by the national standard. I haven't read all 42 subnational standards to see if they allow for European-style color panels, but it seems unlikely. Destination signs at airports and in downtown areas [2] sometimes do use color panels, but these signs are usually slapped together with no adherence to any standard, so I don't think they should influence tagging overall. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 19:27, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

Given the disparity in usage, I think we should change the infobox image to one that illustrates European color panels. I've added a gallery of analogous MUTCD color swatches to avoid confusion, but I haven't come across a good image of the European concept. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 19:32, 26 June 2023 (UTC)