How to Use MultiNet Shapefile and OSL
Parent topic: How to Use MultiNet Shapefile and OSL

How to Use Lane Information

Lanes are generally present in MultiNet® data when there are instances of lane crossing. Lane use is important both for display and for routing. Lane representation can give more accurate routing instructions (e.g., "go in the left lane and then turn left") and also demonstrate possibile real traffic situations (e.g., lane crossing with several lanes can be represented with an image).

To learn about the capturing rules for lanes and lane attribution please see the MultiNet® Data Specification document.

This following demonstrates the use of lanes with MultiNet® Shapefile data.

Figure: Files Involved with Lane Information

Definitions

Follow the links below for definitions of each file involved in lane information. All Shapefile file definitions are found in the Data Content - Shapefile and OSL section of this user guide.

nw; ln; ll; ld; le; li; lt; lf; sl; lp, pm.

The use of all the Shapefile tables related to lane information are not necessary to understand the basics of lane use information.

Basics of Lane Use Information

1. The first table to check when dealing with lanes is the nw table.

nw Data Example:
Table 1.
ID LANES
108400000197899 4

Explanation: The LANES field tells you if and how many lanes are present on a road element.

2. The ll table gives information on what type of road divider line is used to separate the lanes (e.g., Interrupted Line with Long Lines, Double Solid Line).

ll Data Example:
Table 2.
ID SEQNR DIVIDERTYP VALIDITY
108400000197899 1 2 R010
Explanation: In order to use this information:
  • Search the road element ID in the ID field and then the sequence number (in the SEQNR field) to see if there could be more than one line for the record.
  • See the DIVIDERTYP field which describes what kind of divider line is present. For example, a value of "2" indicates that the line is a Double Solid Line. For a list of all possible values, see the MultiNet® Shapefile Format Specifications document.
  • Finally, the VALIDITY field identifies which lane the line is present in. For example, value "R010" means that, reading right to left, the second lane is the lane that the information is valid for. Line direction is defined according to the map digitalization, so it must be checked using the start junction (F_JNCTID) and end junction (T_JNCTID) IDs in the nw table.

3. The ld table gives information about the type of arrows (indicating lane direction that the arrows point to) that are on the lane.

ld Data Example:
Table 3.
ID SEQNR DIRECTION VALIDITY
108400000197899 1 3 R010
Explanation: In order to use this information:
  • Search the road element ID in the ID field, and then the field sequence number (in the SEQNR field) to see if there could be more than one line for that record.
  • See the DIRECTION field to find what kind of arrow is present on the road surface. See the ld table in the MultiNet® Shapefile Format Specification document for a complete list of numeric values.
  • The DIRECTION numeric values can be combined to best represent how the arrows look. For example, "1" = straight, and "2" = slight right. The sum of the two would make a value of "3" = there is an arrow depicting straight and an arrow depicting a slight right. See the photo below for an example.

    Figure: Example of the DIRECTION field = "3" in the ld Table

4. The ln and lp tables give information when connectivity between lanes is necessary. This occurs when there is a change of lane when crossing road elements (e.g., you are in lane 2 on the first road element, and end up in lane 1 of the second road element after the crossing). Connectivity is present only when there is a change of lane and only when this happens in the real world, not when the change of lane is due to opposite digitalization direction. In order to use the information, start from the ln table which is related to junctions (nodes).

ln Data Example:
Table 4.
ID FEATTYP FROMTO JNCTID
108400100201661 9860 1/1 108400200101251
108400100201661 9860 1/2 108400200101251
108400100201661 9860 2/3 108400200101251
Explanation: The ln table tells you:
  • at the junction ID (JNCTID), a lane connection is present;
  • the feature type (FEATTYP) is Relationship 9860 = Lane Connectivity;
  • which lanes are involved from the values in the FROMTO field. For example, a value 1/2 means that you are on lane 1 in the starting road element and you end up in lane 2 in the destination road element (lane 1 and 2 are always defined according to digitalization direction starting from the right).

5. Once you have the connectivity ID and the lanes involved, you can now search for the same ID in the lp table to tell you which road elements are involved.

lp Data Example:
Table 5.
ID SEQNR TRPELID TRPETYP
108400100201661 1 108400000369141 4110
108400100201661 2 108400000062923 4110
Explanation: The first sequence number (SEQNR field) is the starting road element and the second is the destination road element. The IDs of starting and destination IDs are in the TRPELID field.
Note: Only the starting and destination road elements are present, not any road elements that may lie in between.

6. Table lf table gives you information on the traffic direction allowed for each lane.

lf Data Example:
ID SEQNR DFLANE VT VALIDITY
108400000369141 1 3 0 R11
Explanation:
  • The sequence number (in the SEQNR field) indicates if there is more than one line for the record.
  • The DFLANE field indicates the direction of traffic flow for the lane. In this example, "3" = Closed in the Negative Direction.
  • VT indicates vehicle type. In this example, "0" = All vehicles.
  • VALIDITY indicates the valid lanes for this information. As in the VALIDITY fields of the other Lane files, lanes are read from right to left.
Parent topic: How to Use MultiNet Shapefile and OSL