Unintuitive navigation instructions on highways

[sfendrich]

See ask forum: https://ask.openrouteservice.org/t/navigation-instructions-for-highways/2805

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Original message:

Is there a way to distinguish instructions on highways and multi-lane roads? If a route runs along a highway for quite some time, the instructions to stay on the highway vary between “Continue straight onto A7” and “Keep left onto A7”. I find especially the second one confusing, it is as if you have to change lanes - but you don’t, you only have to avoid taking the exit which you usually do by staying in your lane of travel. Keep left or Keep right to me indicates a fork of some sort - meaning I have to take action.

Similarly, when you DO have to take an exit, the only instruction is “Keep right” (without even the name of the highway). I think that is wrong, since that only tells me to stay in the right lane - it does NOT tell me to take the exit on the right. It would be very easy for someone to interpret this as staying on the highway instead of taking the exit. AFAIK OSM has exit numbers (it shows them on the map at least), so if this kind of instruction could be accompanied by an exit number or -name, it would at least make clear that you have to exit that particular road (and thus indicate to the driver to take action instead of staying in the right lane). Much more preferable would be something like “take exit” instead of “keep right”.

This may be a question of semantics, but I think this would make instruction much clearer and easier to follow. It may be too difficult to adapt the current openrouteservice, but if in the instructions an exit number could be added, that would already make things much clearer.

[asarra]

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