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I recently added my house address to OSM, the route the map chooses keeps going through the alley-way behind my house instead of in front. Is there anyways to fix this?

asked 21 Oct '21, 01:20

Merknum's gravatar image

Merknum
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Hi, if you are checking the routing on the OSM page as with most routers the directions will be the shortest route between the start/finish points, (if the finish point is not on a highway the route is to the closest highway).

Try placing the finish point on your property but closer to Alamo Court, like here:- https://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=graphhopper_car&route=32.65815%2C-97.03135%3B32.65719%2C-97.02957#map=19/32.65764/-97.02955&layers=N

If the finish point is on your property but closer to the alley than it is to Alamo Court the route will go down the alley, like here:- https://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=graphhopper_car&route=32.65815%2C-97.03135%3B32.65713%2C-97.02970

The mapping looks to be all OK.

permanent link

answered 21 Oct '21, 08:01

BCNorwich's gravatar image

BCNorwich
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accept rate: 20%

edited 21 Oct '21, 08:03

Kudos to BCNorwich for identifying the spot in question.

In the past I've addressed similar problems by using an address node inside the building footprint, instead of adding the address tags directly to the building. This allows us to nudge what coordinates routers will seek when they're navigating to a particular address. Sometimes routing to the front door, instead of to the building's center, will produce better directions.

This isn't quite ideal though, because even though using an address node isn't incorrect mapping, adding the address tags directly to the building is generally preferred for single-address buildings, so another mapper might later choose to "fix" the address by removing the node and adding the tags to the building.

The bigger problem, though, is that it doesn't always work -- and in fact in this case, even the far northeast corner of this building is still closer to the alley than it is to Alamo Court.

There really isn't a good solution for this issue at the moment. I could imagine using relations to encode routing hints for destination coordinates within a given building footprint... if routing engines chose to implement such a feature.

(21 Oct '21, 20:09) jmapb

And just to add -- this alley ( https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/817814534 ) has been modified a lot in the last 24 hours, but I believe the original version from last year was correctly tagged, ie, service=alley rather than service=driveway

(21 Oct '21, 20:13) jmapb

@jmapb From what I know, I think the most correct solution would be to add an entrance=main node along the house's outline, and routers should be responsible for prioritizing entrances. I don't think relations should be necessary for every single house! However the effort of tagging entrances would be quite high too.

(25 Oct '21, 03:49) traditionals...

@traditionalstonethrow Currently, when the chosen search result is a polygon or multipolygon, geocoders will (in my experience) return the centroid coordinates. Instead, they'd need to return the coordinates of the entrance=main node, if the feature has one and only one entrance=main. I agree that this would be correct behavior and would allow for more correct tagging, though I don't know of any geocoders that currently do this.

But the big problem here is the same as I mentioned for using a separate address node: It's still entirely possible for the entrance=main node to be physically closer to the wrong highway. In this case, any entrance node on the house's perimeter would still be closer to the alley than to Alamo Court.

At least here routers will take you to the correct house, if unfortunately to the wrong side. Sometimes the physically closest highway is on the other side of a wall, or below a steep cliff.

I have occasionally seen mappers force routing by positioning freestanding address nodes outside the building perimeter, closer to the desired approach highway. But again, another mapper might choose to "fix" this and move the address to the building instead.

(25 Oct '21, 16:48) jmapb

One could map the foot path leading from Alamo Ct to the front door. At least multimodal capable routers might then chose that way. I doubt, though, that the standard OSM routers do that.

(25 Oct '21, 19:37) TZorn
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question asked: 21 Oct '21, 01:20

question was seen: 1,659 times

last updated: 25 Oct '21, 19:37

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