On Sat, 03 Mar 2012 08:15:00 -0600 "John F. Eldredge" <j...@jfeldredge.com> wrote:
> mick <bare...@tpg.com.au> wrote: > > > > > My original interest was if there was a specific point that said 'this > > is Sometown', where distances to adjacent towns were measured from, > > similar to the Australian convention where the "Zero Point" was set along > > the roadside, at the Post Office which was usually next door to or > > across the road from a 'coaching inn'. > > > > This point rarely had anything to do with the geographic centre of > > town but served only as a survey benchmark. > > > > As Phillip, yourself and a few other people have pointed out these > > points have little remaining relevance in current times, especially > > for routing. > > > > The only place where I've found this concept still in use is > > Queensland Rail's Brisbane suburban network, where the track at > > stations is marked with the distance to Central Station and the > > markings are maintained. > > > > mick > > > > Here in the USA, highways commonly have signs stating the distance to the > next major town. Are such distance signs no longer used in Australia? > Prior to metric conversion in 1976 Australia used white concrete posts about 1 yard tall with town initials & distances each way as in http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Milestone_Batemans_Bay_NSW_18.JPG/90px-Milestone_Batemans_Bay_NSW_18.JPG After conversion they were replaced with "International Standard" metal shields on an 8ft metal post every 5KM. With the change they no longer marked the "Zero Point". mick _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
