We (jasonh300, AlanOfTheBerg, AndyPoms, myself) have created a draft for a new Rest Area page looking for feedback. This particular page is very US centric. If we need to have a similar page(s) as this one in other countries we can disambiguate “Rest Area” to the other countries as required.
If you have any issues or concerns with the current Rest Area draft, please post your comments here for review by the larger group.
The idea for this page came from this thread which has been closed with all continuing conversation requested here.
After 7 days, unless there is significant disagreement on the current draft, we will officially open the Wiki page and link it to other pages as appropriate. The heading will change from it being a draft to a new page that might still get a few small updates. In typical Wikipedia form we should have the talk page link back to this thread, unfortunately most users will not even know there is a talk page for this Wiki article.
Thanks kent! I was totally going to suggest a wiki page earlier but forgot to. Looks like you were already creating it! Everything looks good to me though!
Do not name ramps
Name parking lot roads to “Rest Area” or actual name of rest area
Landmarks: avoid adding them, pending introduction of POI point symbol for rest areas
Rationale: fewer necessary changes, and same effect for drivers.
The page already has a landmark as part of the recommendation and then you asked about adding another one to the entrance like gas stations. Since a gas station is already a landmark, I do not understand why you add another landmark at a gas station entrance.
Ah, you were referencing mapcat’s request to not use any landmark. Didn’t catch that without a quote.
So, yeah, maybe. We’re not sure whether that landmark type will appear in the app search. We know Airport does. Jason is running some tests about which landmark types appear in the app search.
Why not? We name all other ramps and especially when the exit is marked and has an exit number off the highway. This is very common in CA. If that is not the case in other states, naming the ramp “Exit to Rest Area” would make perfect sense to a driver.
We generally do not name parking lot roads because navigation would say “Turn right on Rest Area”. The landmark would provide the indication on the map that it is a rest area.
As for landmark, I still support one big one so you can see it on the map visually. If there is a gas station at that rest area, I think we need a gas station landmark. Since in the cities we have multiple landmarks next to each other, why not here? Without a gas station landmark how do you navigate to the gas station or even know it is there?
I think this was perhaps only for special cases where the rest area is part of a larger exit where “rest area” may not be on the BGS? (Or in Oregon, on the Big Blue Sign.)
While I support mapcat’s desire for POI points rather than landmarks that cover an area, this is a case where I feel that the landmark is a much better option. I compare a Rest Area to a Park, and had even originally suggested that we use the Park type of Landmark.
I am in agreement with this. There’s many rest areas which aren’t much more than a parking lot and a bathroom, but there’s plenty of multi-acre rest areas too. For consistency, I support landmarks.
I also support landmarks. The ones in my state generally are fairly large and have pet walking facilities in addition to bathrooms, visitor info, and vending machines (which still don’t take anything but cash, but that’s not a mapping problem!). Most have picnic areas with tables under covered pavilions (Not that I’ve ever seen anyone using them) that could theoretically be big enough to host a birthday party. If that doesn’t deserve a landmark, I think many park landmarks could be eliminated.
Provide an example of when a driver would actually hear anything spoken.
Again, I can’t think of any situation when this would occur. If someone drives into the rest area and then is being directed to drive out? Is this better than the navigation saying “turn right on to I-80 W”? It’s just going to use the next segment name anyway if the segments are unnamed.
Of course if there’s a gas station there the gas station landmark needs to be present. I’m not advocating removing them, since they’re obviously used for something. I was saying no landmark for the rest area itself.
