[mkgmap-dev] Data / routing issue - Vancouver, BC ferries

Tue Jun 13 06:39:37 BST 2017

Greetings all,

I have been lurking on this list for several years now and first want to
congratulate all for such a fantastic project. Very, very nicely done!

But I have run into an issue with the maps I create of British Columbia
and am unable to determine whether it is a data or mkgmap issue.  The
problem is that ferries coming out of the Tsawwassen ferry terminal
to/from Vancouver island do not get routed. For example finding a route
from Kamloops (BC interior) to Victoria, the route on my Nuvi 255 shows
a 1400 km diversion north to the coastal town of Bella Coola, then a
ferry to Port Hardy on the north end of the island, then south to
Victoria. This routing is suggested whether I use maps I've generated
myself or ones downloaded from garmin.openstreetmap.nl.  It is
interesting, however, that other routing engines (GraphHopper, OSRM and
Mapzen) route over the ferries as expected... Kamloops direct to the
Tsawwassen terminal, then ferry to the island.

I question, however, whether the ferry routes are mapped properly as
just west of the Tsawwassen terminal is a node where all routes join and
branch http://openstreetmap.org/node/660826272 . A similar node exists
east of the Swartz Bay terminal on Vancouver Island - 323308217.  The
wiki documentation for tag route=ferry states in part "The ferry route
must not branch in the water, so it must always be drawn to the ferry
dock. This is important for routing to work correctly."  So when the
wiki says that it is important for routing... whose routing? Clearly
this is not a requirement for these other engines, but is it the case
for us?

If we need data in the form as that described in the wiki, then I will
contact the Talk-CA list and see if there is someone local who can fix
it... i.e., recreate it as per the wiki standard.  Otherwise, if the
wiki is outdated and the data are acceptable, then could there be a
problem here, or could I just need an adjustment to something in my args
list?

Thanks in advance,

Samuel Longiaru

Kamloops, BC Canada