Problems Implementing Turn Guidance in Australia
Road signage in Australia differs from that of other jurisdictions around the world. Further, each state and territory has implemented its own unique way of sign posting roads. In recent times, many Australian jurisdictions have started to work towards a standard though there has not been sweeping changes to update all signs across the country leaving signage in a state of flux. The Street View (SV) tool available in WME, and one of the very few tools permitted to be utilised for mapping purposes, has recorded these signs in their state of flux, is not often refreshed in regional and remote Australia with some images dating back to 2008. This means the data source we're relying on is poor and we will be unable to reliably monitor for changes in the future.
While it would be ideal for Australia to map exactly what appears on Big Green Signs (BGS), the version of the sign may be out of date, the data we are relying on might be out of date, or if the sign does change may not see the change in the SV data in order to update our turn guidance. On top of that, Australia does not have a large editing workforce to manage such widespread monitoring and updating into the future. The variation in mapping standards and outdated turn guidance across the country will likely lead to a degraded user experience and leave a mammoth workload for future editors to fix.
For these reasons, Australia is proceeding with its own standard for turn guidance which is simple and easy to follow for editors. Further, it will present a consistent user experience across the country providing value to the user and consistency into the future.