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From what I understand, a "way is an ordered list of nodes" that can only have two end points (which may or may not overlap).

How should single roads with multiple end points be treated? It's possible for a road to go a certain direction while having offshoots or loops etc. in different directions. It's a "single" road in the sense that all information for these "parts" is the same (street name, surface, speed limit etc.), so it seems like bad practice to duplicate that information.

See this example: the street is incorrectly shown to simply go in and then turn south; in fact, it has that south offshoot, but it continues further in and splits again to two parts. But in every sense, this is a single road: it has the same name, and all addresses along its different parts are on a common numbering system.

asked 27 Jul '18, 11:11

Stylianus's gravatar image

Stylianus
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Please note that a real world street does not correspond to a single OSM way. What you describe is represented by multiple OSM ways, all with the same name.

The opposite is also possible, a simple street represented by multiple OSM ways, because e.g. the road surface is different, the maximum speed changes, etc.

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answered 27 Jul '18, 12:30

escada's gravatar image

escada
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accept rate: 21%

So to confirm, the name/information would need to be duplicated across the different ways and there is no link between them (i.e., a name or tag change on part of that road will not affect the other parts, which need to be updated independently)?

(27 Jul '18, 12:44) Stylianus

@Stylianus: yes, that is the usual method. In addition you can group the street parts with e.g. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Relation:associatedStreet , but this is rather uncommon.

(27 Jul '18, 14:32) aseerel4c26 ♦

Just to be clear, the associatedStreet relation mentioned by aseerel4c26 is intended for the purpose of assigning addresses to objects, not as a tidy way of collecting separate ways that compose a single road.

(27 Jul '18, 16:54) alester

@alester thanks, yes, it is rather a side-effect that you collect all parts of one street.

(27 Jul '18, 19:52) aseerel4c26 ♦

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question asked: 27 Jul '18, 11:11

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last updated: 27 Jul '18, 19:52

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum