Clinched Routes Highway Shields

[rschen7754]

How should we handle foreign (i.e. non-US) copyright for the shields?

This isn't something we generally have to worry about for most countries, because either the government explicitly releases the shields into public domain, or it's a colored rectangle with text that you can't copyright.

Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Australian_national_highway_template.svg. The file was created by an American, is hosted on American servers, and under US copyright law cannot be copyrighted since it is too simple (the threshold of originality in the US is very high - see the more complex images at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Threshold_of_originality#United_States that are considered public domain). However, Australian copyright law differs and it would be considered copyrighted in Australia.

[Duke87]

Firstly, I would think that as a US-based site US law would govern.

Secondly, I would think that the use of a route shield to refer to the route in question would have to fall under fair use even if the design itself is copyrighted (presumably to prevent its use in other contexts, e.g. Route 22 Pizza can't use Route 22 shields on their sign).

[oscar]

I would think that usually the worst that can possibly happen is a request/demand for us to take down our route marker images.

Countries like North Korea might be another story. Since I think shields are "nice but not necessary" (actually, just from my standpoint, not very important at all), I think we can not bother doing shields for such countries.

[the_spui_ninja]

Countries like North Korea might be another story.

Does North Korea even have a signed highway system?

[si404]

Does North Korea even have a signed highway system?

It has Asian highways, but otherwise no.

[mariethefoxy]

Any updates on the shield generation, common systems like the Quebec Autoroutes still use generic shields

[rschen7754]

Any updates on the shield generation, common systems like the Quebec Autoroutes still use generic shields

I added a few last week but am still waiting for them to be pushed out (canab, mexd, twnf, cannf).

For Quebec, the SVG template on Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quebec_Autoroute_template.svg is missing the design at the top (see https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quebec_Autoroute_920.svg for an example). I could manually add it (or manually make any shield that's missing a template on Wikimedia Commons), but that would take more time than I have at the present.

[Jim]

I added a few last week but am still waiting for them to be pushed out (canab, mexd, twnf, cannf).

Should be live on site now.  Sorry about the delay.  I saw the pull request at an inconvenient time, then forgot to go back and merge and install.

[mapcat]

@rschen7754: thanks for all the work you put in on this.

Does Wikimedia Commons not have templates for Arkansas and Puerto Rico, or for the Nebraska links & spurs? Maybe I'm not sure how all the shields on the various Wikipedia pages for those routes were produced, but most of the individual Wikipedia route pages show shields.

Those seem to be the only ones missing from the US at this point.

Also, there's an issue with the Alberta routes showing AB## on the shield instead of just the number.

[rschen7754]

@rschen7754: thanks for all the work you put in on this.

Does Wikimedia Commons not have templates for Arkansas and Puerto Rico, or for the Nebraska links & spurs? Maybe I'm not sure how all the shields on the various Wikipedia pages for those routes were produced, but most of the individual Wikipedia route pages show shields.

Those seem to be the only ones missing from the US at this point.

Also, there's an issue with the Alberta routes showing AB## on the shield instead of just the number.

I'll put in a pull request to fix AB soon. I'm hoping to spin up my own test instance to catch stuff like this soon, but haven't gotten the chance yet (and it will probably have to wait until my next hardware upgrade).

Unfortunately it seems that a lot of people don't upload their templates once they are done creating the shields (especially non-US/Canada shields). Looking at my notes PR had no template, and Nebraska links/spurs have a different font size for their suffixed route letters (I think Arkansas was in that category too). "No template" doesn't mean they can't be made, but it would take some extra work (which is possible - I believe that's how michich made some of the European ones). The different font sizes would probably also require some extra PHP knowhow, enough to where I would prefer to be able to test my code first rather than make Jim repeatedly upload it after discovering it doesn't work.

[michih]

I believe that's how michich made some of the European ones

Yes, wikimedia svg files for Europe are often crap and it was easier to make own svg files. However, European signs are much simpler than US or Canadian signs (usually just a frame and a number).

My files are also sometimes not good though...

[Eth]

[...]and Nebraska links/spurs have a different font size for their suffixed route letters (I think Arkansas was in that category too). [...] The different font sizes would probably also require some extra PHP knowhow, enough to where I would prefer to be able to test my code first rather than make Jim repeatedly upload it after discovering it doesn't work.

This, I assume, would also affect Georgia's state auxiliaries, right? Shields for those currently display simply as their parent route, leading me to do a double-take every time I visit my clinched routes page and see GA 3 on there (though it links correctly to the far, far shorter GA 3 Connector). For what it's worth, the templates on Commons do include the banner text.

[the_spui_ninja]

Those seem to be the only ones missing from the US at this point.

Guam too, since that's under the US umbrella. I think they have a template already made too: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guam_route_marker_blank.svg

[rschen7754]

[...]and Nebraska links/spurs have a different font size for their suffixed route letters (I think Arkansas was in that category too). [...] The different font sizes would probably also require some extra PHP knowhow, enough to where I would prefer to be able to test my code first rather than make Jim repeatedly upload it after discovering it doesn't work.

This, I assume, would also affect Georgia's state auxiliaries, right? Shields for those currently display simply as their parent route, leading me to do a double-take every time I visit my clinched routes page and see GA 3 on there (though it links correctly to the far, far shorter GA 3 Connector). For what it's worth, the templates on Commons do include the banner text.

I think so. I would prefer to take care of these cases with shields rather than have the incorrect ones (though others may think differently).

Those seem to be the only ones missing from the US at this point.

Guam too, since that's under the US umbrella. I think they have a template already made too: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guam_route_marker_blank.svg

Unfortunately that template is missing the text.

On a related note: I don't have the spreadsheet I was using, but I think we would be able to get shields for cannb if the system was split (see http://tm.teresco.org/forum/index.php?topic=2171.msg7316#msg7316)

[yakra]

On a related note: I don't have the spreadsheet I was using, but I think we would be able to get shields for cannb if the system was split (see http://tm.teresco.org/forum/index.php?topic=2171.msg7316#msg7316)

Nice. If you are or someone else is thinking of making shields and waiting on me to make the split, I can go ahead and do so.
I'm not familiar with how the shield generation code works, but I've no doubt that 3 systems for 3 shield types would be more easily doable than 3 shield types for 1 system.
Shall I go ahead and make the split?