An elegant way to display platform numbers
by multimob — written on 2023-08-02
In a previous article, we explained how the name tag of a bus stop was a critical element.
Some mappers seem to be particularly keen to include the platform number—those are typically found near larger bus stations—to make it easy for passengers to identify the platform. We explained how this objective contradicts other objectives to make the map look clean.
Here is a little-known fact. The local_ref tag in OSM can store information such as the platform number.
So, you can set name=Hasselt Station and local_ref=1, then you put the same name on every stop but fill a different value for every local_ref with the platform number, and here is how it will render.
We probably have the best of all worlds here, because the map is immediately usable and shows the required information, without producing ugly names that cannot be grouped or shrunk.
Permalink: https://blog.multimob.be/zzjee91hle.htm