Highway Maps provide an overview of the major routes within a medium to large region ranging from a few miles or kilometers to a city or extended metropolitan area. They are a specialized form of street maps.
When mapping with a bi-directional system, data events will pop to the correct roadway as database managers enhance their information with a directional component. This is a far more valuable method than centerline-only mapping.
Roadways
The world’s roads are a web of connections, crisscrossing from continent to continent. Highway maps are an essential way to view the global network and get a sense of humanity’s need to connect.
A map of the road system showing the major highways, limited-access highways, and principal roads in the United States of America. It also shows all of the nation’s capital cities. This US road map is printed in high detail on one side and low on the other to allow it to lay flat for ease of use. It is bound in a spiral (or coil) binding, which prevents damage and creases.
In OSM, a road map is usually called a “route map”. The primary key for roads on a route map is highway=*. This key distinguishes roads by their function and importance rather than by their physical characteristics or legal classification.
The most important road types are shown in bright colours on the map. Secondary roads are coloured yellow, and tertiary roads are red. Other roads are shown as dotted or dashed lines. The type of road tagged does not necessarily imply its quality, but it can influence routing algorithms. For example, a highway with the highway=motorway_link tag has a higher speed limit than roads without it. Road types can be correlated with other factors, such as population density. For example, GRIP found that the world’s most populous regions of the world (India and China) tend to have more main roads than other areas.
Locations
A free highway maps provides an overview of major routes in a medium to large region. The maps may also include more minor roads, as well as airports, cities, and points of interest. Major highways are generally depicted with thick lines, while more minor ones are shown with thinner lines. Depending on the level of detail, a highway map may show additional features like speed limits and pedestrian crossings.
A thematic map focuses on a specific theme or topic and displays different data, such as changes in population. These types of maps use color and symbols to represent various data, such as economic activity or weather conditions. For example, this Canadian map of demographic changes uses colors to represent different regions and a grid to locate the individual data points.
Printed highway maps typically have an index at the bottom or back that provides a location reference for each city listed on the map. The index is organized by column and row, and each section is labeled with a number to make it easier to find the location of the feature you are looking for.
The Elden Ring’s road map can be found outside the Limgrave camp near a stone monument and just south of the Gatefront Ruins. It is also located a few steps north of the Outer Wall Phantom Tree Grace site and east of the Altus Highway Junction site of grace. The Caelid Highway South and the Dragonbarrow West sites of grace are a little further away from the central region.
Legends
Depending on the type of map you are using, there may be a legend to explain the symbols or colors used to designate features such as roads. You can find this at the top or bottom of a map, and it will include a short description of what each symbol represents. For example, a double-dashed line might indicate a two-track or four-wheel drive trail, while a solid colored line indicates an interstate highway.
Road maps generally provide an overview of major routes within a medium to large region, ranging from a few dozen miles or kilometers to several thousand. They are often printed in an atlas, which is a collection of maps bound together with a spiral or coil binding to allow lay-flat usage and reduce wear.
In this US road map from 1954, four-lane divided freeways are uncommon in rural areas, with the first freeway section in Dallas opening in August 1949. The map also shows the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition at Fair Park and bus routes in Dallas. Prior to 1928, there were few paved roadways in rural areas, and most people relied on railroads for transportation. This map shows the early road networks of several states.
Scale
A map’s scale tells how large one unit of the real world-an inch, centimeter, or foot-represents on the map. Road maps are usually printed at various scales and have different symbols for showing highways, city streets, or other routes. Symbols may also be explained on legend sheets or in a separate map booklet.
Most maps show linear or bar scales in one or more margins. Maps reflecting original surveys, such as topographic maps, generally carry standard marginal information describing the date of survey and other details. Many also have a scale index, an areal grid reference, and a representative fraction (RF) that is the ratio of the map’s scaled area to the square of its scale denominator.
Scales vary, with a typical road map being printed at 1:50,000 (1 centimeter on the map equals 50 meters on the ground). Maps at this scale are useful for highway engineering and planning as well as land use analysis. Maps at a higher scale, such as 1:24,000 (1 inch on the map equals 2,000 feet), are useful for navigation, particularly in coastal areas with outlying reefs or shoals.
Image maps that cover standard 1:250,000-scale quadrangle areas are also available with the same names as the corresponding topographic maps. Other types of maps include shaded-relief reconnaissance, geologic reconnaissance, and bathymetric maps.