Travel Mapping
Tracking Cumulative Travels
Travel Mapping Manual: Highway Data (.wpt) Files
Each route in TM is represented by a highway data
file, which we often refer to as a "waypoint file". These files have
a .wpt extension.
Contents
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.wpt File
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One
.wpt file is needed for each highway in each region. Highways
crossing into multiple subdivisions of a subdivided country (e.g.,
states in the USA), or crossing into multiple countries (e.g.,
UNECE International 'E' Roads in Europe) must be chopped at borders into separate files for
each region.
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Concurrencies within which not all concurrent routes are signed
This section concerns typically well signed routes
that whose numbers are signed with trailblazers or are not signed at
all within a section of highway concurrent with other routes. For
example, France's A4 and A26 merge and split, but along the merged
section, A4 is signed and A26 is not, but both routes are signed
beyond the concurrent section. Should the not-signed routes be
chopped into its signed pieces or made continuous and concurrent with
the signed route?
We have 4 cases that are treated differently. The descriptions refer
to concurrencies of two routes, but the ideas generalize to
concurrencies of more routes.
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Unsigned but implied multiplexes: Treat as continuous routes with one
.wpt file.
This is the case where only one route is signed where another one route
merges onto the same road. Usually the unsigned route splits off at
another point, then it's signed beyond the concurrency. Continuity is
still implied by the way the routes are numbered even if the signs are
simplified to show only one route, so we treat each route as a
continuous one.
Examples:
- USA MD 23/MD 165:
MD 23 was continuously signed before a relocation that created the
duplex. In the current state, MD 23 is signed as "TO MD 23" at its
approaches to the duplex, and MD 165 is signed continuously. MD 23
should continue to be treated as continuous.
- ENG A414:
Follow the length of A414 and you'll see several concurrent routes,
sometimes shown as A414 and sometimes as the other route, at least as
Google Maps shows it. A system of surface highways with a bypass here
and there is bound to be full of concurrencies, and so chopping half the
routes into pieces around the concurrent parts would create a zillion
"extra" files for short pieces of routes.
- FRA A4/A26:
The two freeways merge and split. The pieces of A26 could have been
given different numbers, but instead they were given the same number, as
if it should be one long route rather than two.
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Bypassed, segmented routes: Discontinuous routes with more than one
.wpt file.
Here some pieces of an old route were bypassed by a new route, but
other pieces of the old route were upgraded into the new route. This
makes a continuously signed new route with pieces of the old route
beginning and ending at various places along the new route.
Examples:
- Bannered highways, like Alternate and Business routes, in the US:
Many US highways, for example, have many auxiliary routes with the same
designation, like US 40 having many US 40 Business routes. The
auxiliary routes are treated discontinuously, rather than having one
long, continuous US 40 Business concurrent along sections of US 40.
US 40/MD 144:
There are several pieces of MD 144 along the old alignment of US 40. The
pieces act like Business or Alternate routes and are never signed to
suggest continuity.
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Alternating designation: Discontinuous routes with more than one
.wpt file.
A road changes designations back and forth without either route splitting off on its own.
Example:
- Ireland's M/N routes come to mind here. Part of N8 was upgraded to M8,
but there is no alternative N8 along that section. However, N8 leads
straight into M8 at each end of M8. So if the highway goes N8-M8-N8,
we'll have three files for these three routes.
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Like designations that aren't concurrent: Discontinuous routes with more than one
.wpt file.
By whatever reasoning, two unrelated, distant highways were given the same designation.
Example:
- PA 97 (in NW Pennsylvania) and PA 97 (in southern PA), both part of the state highway system in Pennsylvania.
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.wpt Filenames
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Filenames are entirely lowercase and have a
.wpt extension.
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Be sure you can see file extensions in your operating system.
Windows hides known file extensions by default, so if you see a "
.wpt"
extension, the file might actually have something else appended, such as
".wpt.txt". This is no good. In Windows Explorer, you can disable the
"Hide extensions for known file types" option in Tools menu > Folder
Options > View tab.
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region + . + route ( + banner + abbreviation ) + .wpt is the format for the filename.
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Region is the region code without any hyphens:
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For undivided countries, the
region is the 3-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code,
e.g. IDN for Indonesia, LUX for Luxembourg, NZL for New Zealand.
See our list on
GitHub, which is based
on the CIA
World Fact Book.
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For divided countries the
region is an abbreviation for the subdivision rather
than for the country.
- The USA and Canada use the standard postal codes.
- The United Kingdom uses
ENG, NIR, SCT and WLS.
- Mexico uses the subdivision codes that appear on state route shields with the country code
prepended to avoid collisions with subdivision codes of other countries (
NL = Newfoundland and
Labrador in Canada, MEX-NL = Nuevo León in Mexico).
- The ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes with the country code prepended are used for other
countries (e.g.
AUS-ACT, CHN-AH, DEU-BW, ESP-AN, FRA-ARA, IND-AN).
- See our list
on GitHub.
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The
route is the name of the highway (number padded with zeroes as needed), ignoring any banners or qualifiers.
No spaces! us034 for US 34, oh017 for OH 17, pa066 for Business PA 66, a007 for French Autoroute A7.
Skip hyphens and slashes.
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The
banner (if needed) is a 3-letter banner abbreviation (bus, alt, spr, trk etc.).
lp for Loop is two letters. No more than six characters (for double-bannered routes) are allowed.
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The
abbreviation is a 3-letter abbreviation for auxiliary highways or for most piecemeal highways
if needed to distinguish between otherwise identically named routes of the same highway in the same region.
pit for Truck US 19 (Pittsburgh).
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Examples:
aut.a003.wpt = Austria A3.pa.pa042trkeag.wpt = Pennsylvania PA 42 Truck (Eagles Mere).grc.a005.wpt = Greece A5 (main piece).grc.a005art.wpt = Greece A5 Arta section.
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.wpt Data Format