mapbox / mapbox/directions-icons

Merge icons have inverted meaning

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Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
70
Forks
19
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

The merge left and right icons are drawn from the perspective of traffic that has the right of way, as opposed to the user who has to merge:

![](https://github.com/mapbox/directions-icons/blob/master/src/png/dark/direction_merge_left.png?raw=true)

Seen another way, the icons are rotated to match the bearing after the merge rather than the bearing before the turn, which is inconsistent with ordinary left and right turn icons. This inconsistency is especially disorienting when paired with a map that automatically rotates to match the user's bearing or course.

By comparison, the standard glyph in North America depicting an upcoming merge onto another road is optimized for the user's bearing before the merge:

[![W4-5R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/MUTCD_W4-5R.svg/90px-MUTCD_W4-5R.svg.png)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MUTCD_W4-5R.svg)

You don't see this sign often in the United States because the merge is usually posted with a single sign in the median.

/cc @natslaughter @bsudekum @zugaldia

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by inspecting src/png/dark/direction_merge_left.png and the corresponding merge-right and ordinary turn icon assets to compare their bearings and source files. Confirm the merge icons use the user's pre-merge perspective and match the established left/right convention; update the relevant assets consistently.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
design
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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