mapbox / mapbox/directions-icons
Merge icons have inverted meaning
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- 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:

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:
[](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
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- 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