The following figure illustrates an example of a road rendered from the data.
Figure 1. Sample Roads in London
The layer content is defined as follows.
Layer name: roads
Geometry types: line, point
This layer contains information about all kinds of transportation including, but not limited to, highways, major roads, minor roads, paths, railways and ferries. Sort them with sort_rank to correctly represent layered overpasses, bridges, and tunnels.
The landuse_kind value is calculated by intercutting roads with the landuse layer to determine if a road segment is over a park, hospital, university or other landuse feature. Use this property to modify the visual appearance of roads over these features. For instance, light gray minor roads look great in general, but aren't legible over most landuse colors unless they are darkened.
To improve performance, some road segments are merged at low and mid zooms. To facilitate this, certain properties are dropped at those zooms. Examples include is_bridge and is_tunnel, name, network, oneway, and ref. The exact zoom varies by feature class.
Road Properties (common)
The following properties are used to define a road.
name - Generally the name the locals call the feature, in the local language script.
kind - Roads can be one of the options listed below.
kind_detail - See the kind_detail values list below.
landuse_kind - For more information, see the description above.
sort_rank - This property contains a suggestion in which order to render features. The value is an integer where smaller numbers suggest that features should be "behind" features with larger numbers. At zoom 14 and higher, the sort rank is adjusted to realistically model bridge and tunnel. For example, sort_rank = 377 for is_bridge at zoom 13 becomes sort_rank = 427 at zoom 14.
min_zoom - This property indicates a suggested minimum zoom at which this road should become visible.
ref - A commonly used reference for this road - for example, "I 90" for Interstate 90. To use with shields, see the network and shield_text properties.
network - This property is useful for shields and road selections - for example, US:I for the United States Interstate network. It contains only road network types. For more information, see a full list of possible road network values.
shield_text - This property contains the text to display on a shield. For example, I 90 would have a network of US:I and a shield_text of 90. The ref value, I 90, is less useful for shield display without further processing. For some roads, this property can include non-numeric characters - for example, the M1 motorway in the UK has a shield_text value of M1 rather than just 1.
all_shield_texts - All the shield texts of which this road is a part. This is given as semicolon-separated shield_text values. See shield_text above.
all_networks - All the networks of which this road is a part. This is given as semicolon-separated network values. See network above.
all_route_types - All the route types of which this road is a part. This is given as semicolon-separated numeric codes used for shield styling depending on the country.
all_refs - All the references used for this road. This is given as semicolon-separated ref values. See ref above.
hgv_restriction - This property indicates limitations to heavy goods vehicle truck access. See the hgv_restriction values list below. Always available only on points.
Road Properties (common-optional)
The following properties are used to define additional information about a road.
is_bridge - true if the road is part of a bridge. This property is not present if the road is not part of a bridge.
is_link - true if the road is part of a highway link or ramp. This property is not present if the road is not part of a highway link or ramp.
is_tunnel - true if the road is part of a tunnel. This property is not present if the road is not part of a tunnel.
is_present_in_landuse - true if the road has a detailed polygonal representation by the landuse kindsexpressway, urban_expressway, national_road, major_road, and other_road, or formed as an area not covered by the landuse kind block for minor roads. This property is present only within the core layer parameter with limited coverage for Japan at zoom 14. It allows filtering of road centerlines while showing detailed road geometries from the landuse data. For more information, see Polygonal Roads.
is_present_in_city - true if the rail is part of the city rail network. This property is present only within the core layer parameter with limited coverage for Japan at zoom 14 and higher. Rails with this property are used only for labeling while showing line geometries from the city rail network. Available only for the rail kind.
hgv - This property indicates general truck heavy goods vehicle truck access. Available only on lines. Values include: no.
hgv_restriction - This optional property indicates limitations to heavy goods vehicle truck access. Available on both points and lines. See the hgv_restriction values list below. See also hgv_restriction_shield_text.
hgv_restriction_shield_text - This optional property is always paired with hgv_restriction and indicates the value of limitation to heavy goods vehicle truck access. Because the units are different per restriction, an abbreviation is provided next to the value, for example, 5.1m or 16'9" (US), 4t or 4.4 T (US). Such values are specified with one decimal precision, but the value of 5.0m is given as 5m. See the hgv_restriction_shield_text values list below.
hgv_time_restrictions - This optional property specifies when heavy goods vehicle truck access is restricted. See the hgv_time_restrictions values list below.
fclass - This property indicates a functional class numeric value for roads with kind_detail = motorway and kind_detail = motorway_link. For more information, see Road Transportation fclass Values.
under_construction - true. This property indicates that the road is under construction and may not be usable by some or all types of traffic. The property is not present if the road is not under construction.
surface - unpaved if the road is unpaved. This property is not present if the road is paved.
oneway - An optional property that indicates if traffic is one-way and travels in the same direction as the linestring. This property can only have the following values: yes.
toll - An optional boolean property that indicates if a fee must be paid by general traffic to travel the feature. This property can only have the following values: true.
Road Transportation kind Values
aerialway - line
ferry - line
hgv_restriction - point, indicates limitations to heavy goods vehicle truck access
highway - line
major_road - line
minor_road - line
path - line
rail - line
piste - line
Road Transportation kind_detail Values
ferry - for ferry kind
motorway - for highway kind
trunk - for highway kind
primary - for major_road kind
secondary - for major_road kind
tertiary - for major_road kind
residential - for minor_road kind
service - for minor_road kind
unclassified - for minor_road kind
pedestrian - for path kind
footway - for path kind
rail - for rail kind
chair_lift - for aerialway kind
downhill - for piste kind
Road Transportation kind_detail Values for Certain Areas in core
The following list of kind_detail values is only applicable for some regions of the world within the core layer parameter. For more information about the layer parameters available in the HERE Vector Tile Service, see Layer Parameter.
Below are these kind_detail values within the core layer parameter for Japan:
light_rail - for rail kind
subway - for rail kind
speed_rail - for high-speed railroads with rail kind
private_rail - for privately owned railroads with rail kind
state_rail - for state-owned railroads with rail kind
monorail - for monorails with rail kind
cable_car - for aerialway kind
gondola - for aerialway kind
Road Transportation hgv_restriction Values
For the hgv_restriction property indicates general restrictions to heavy goods vehicle truck access, the values include:
weight - weight restriction
height - height restriction
length - length restriction
width - width restriction
wpa - weight per axle restriction
axles - number of axles restriction with or without maximum weight per axle
kpra - kingpin to rear axle length restriction
hazmat - restriction for vehicles that carry hazardous materials
trailers - trailers restriction
other - other restriction
multiple - if more than one restriction (represented by points along the line, where every point indicates specific restriction that applies to this road)
height, length, or width value, for example, 5.1m or 16'9" (US)
For wpa restriction:
weight value, for example, 1.8t or 2 T (US)
text value, where N is weight value:
Single axle N
Tandem axle N
For axles restriction:
weight value, for example, 1.8t or 2 T (US).
text value, where N is weight value. Not added in case of zero value:
Two or more axles N
Three or more axles N
Four or more axles N
Five or more axles N
Six or more axles N
For hazmat restriction:
Hazardous material type unknown
Unspecified hazardous material type
Explosives
Gas
Flammable
Flammable solid combustible
Organic
Poison
Radioactive
Corrosive
Other
Any hazardous material
Poisonous inhalation hazard
Goods harmful for water
Explosive and flammable
Tunnel category b
Tunnel category b1000c
Tunnel category b d
Tunnel category b e
Tunnel category c
Tunnel category c5000d
Tunnel category c d
Tunnel category c e
Tunnel category d
Tunnel category d e
Tunnel category e
For trailers restriction:
One or more
Two or more
Three or more
Semi or tractor with trailers
For other and multiple restrictions, hgv_restriction_shield_text is omitted.
Road Transportation hgv_time_restrictions Values
Time restriction is a semicolon-delimited array of date and time restrictions, where date and time of a restriction are delimited with a pipe |. For example: the restriction "Monday, Tuesday, Friday from 7 to 20; Saturday, Sunday from dusk to dawn" is given as follows:
days_of_week - array of weekdays, for example: days_of_week Mon,Tue,Fri
date_range - start and end dates as unix timestamps, for example: date_range 1546344000 1577880000
days_of_month - range of days of month, for example: days_of_month 1-10
day_week_month - range of days of week of month, for example: day_week_month Mon1-Sat3
day_week_year - range of days of week of year, for example: day_week_year Wed12-Fri36
week_of_month - range of weeks of month, for example: week_of_month 1-4
month_of_year - range of months of year, for example: month_of_year Jan-Jul
day_month_year - range of days of months of year, for example: day_month_year Jan1-Jul31
day_week_month_year - range of days of weeks of months of year, for example: day_week_month_year JulSun1-DecMon1
externally_specified - externally specified string value, for example: externally_specified <string-value>
dusk_to_dawn - during nighttime
dawn_to_dusk - during daytime
start_time - seconds since midnight when the restriction starts, for example: start_time25200; if specified, end_time must also be specified
end_time - seconds since midnight when the restriction ends, for example: end_time72000; if specified, start_time must also be specified
excluded - when the restriction is excluded, for example: excluded days_of_week Sat,Sun|start_time25200end_time72000
Road Transportation fclass Values
Roads in the HERE Vector Tile Service are traditionally categorized into so-called functional classes, which do not match one-to-one Tilezen's roads categorization. The mapping from one to the other are as follows.
Functional Class
Tilezen Road properties
N
kind is highway and kind_detail is motorway and fclass is N
1
kind is highway and kind_detail is trunk
1
kind is highway, kind_detail is motorway_link, is_link is true and any fclass
2
kind is major_road and kind_detail is primary
3
kind is major_road and kind_detail is secondary
4
kind is major_road and kind_detail is tertiary
5
kind is minor_road and kind_detail is (residential or service)
5
kind is path and kind_detail is (footway or pedestrian)
Road Transportation fclass Values for Certain Areas in core
The following list of fclass values is only applicable for some regions of the world within the core layer parameter. For more information about the layer parameters available in the HERE Vector Tile Service, see Layer Parameter.
Below are these fclass values within the core layer parameter for Japan:
Functional Class
Tilezen Road properties
1
kind is highway, and kind_detail is motorway
2
kind is highway and kind_detail is motorway
3
kind is highway and kind_detail is motorway
3
kind is major_road and kind_detail is primary
4
kind is major_road and kind_detail is secondary
5
kind is major_road and kind_detail is secondary
6
kind is major_road and kind_detail is tertiary
7
kind is major_road and kind_detail is tertiary
8
kind is minor_road and kind_detail is resedential
8
kind is path and kind_detail is pedestrian
9
kind is minor and kind_detail is (resedential or service)
10
kind is minor_road and kind_detail is (resedential or service)
10
kind is path and kind_detail is (footway or pedestrian)
11
kind is minor_road and kind_detail is (resedential or service)
11
kind is path and kind_detail is (footway or pedestrian)
Road Labels (Optional)
This is an optional layer, and its content is defined as follows.
Layer name: road_labels
Geometry types: line
This layer contains deduplicated labeling properties (name, ref, network, shield_text) and simplified label placement geometry for all kinds of transportation, including but not limited to highways, major roads, minor roads, paths and ferries, which are present in the roads layer.
In the roads layer, each road segment contains labeling properties, which could be the same (and there are a lot of them) for consecutive road segments. To remove such duplicates and avoid post processing on the client side, the road_labels layer stores already merged and simplified consecutive road segments with the same name properties. However, you still can decide which layer (roads or road_labels) best suits your special needs as a source of labeling properties.
Road Label Properties (common)
name - Generally the name the locals call the feature, in the local language script.
ref - A commonly used reference for roads - for example, "I 90" for Interstate 90. To use with shields, see the network and shield_text properties.
network - This property is useful for shields and road selections - for example, US:I for the United States Interstate network. It contains only road network types. For more information, see a full list of possible road network values.
shield_text - This property contains the text to display on a shield. For example, I 90 would have a network of US:I and a shield_text of 90. The ref value, I 90, is less useful for shield display without further processing. For some roads, this property can include non-numeric characters - for example, the M1 motorway in the UK has a shield_text value of M1, rather than just 1.
all_route_types - All the route types of which this road is a part. This is given as semicolon-separated numeric codes used for shield styling depending on the country.