Location data: OpenStreetMap
Most locations on RestStop Map – rest areas, welcome centers, service plazas, truck stops, truck parking, weigh stations, truck scales and RV dump stations – come from OpenStreetMap, a free map of the world built by volunteers. We use regional extracts provided by Geofabrik.
OpenStreetMap data is available under the Open Database License (ODbL). Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Our derived data set is a produced work under the same license.
State DOT information
Rest area facts such as names, operators or facilities are compared with information published by state departments of transportation where available. Rules quoted in our guides link to the statute, regulation or agency page they come from.
Basemap
The map background uses vector tiles from Protomaps, based on OpenStreetMap data, which we host on our own server. Your browser never loads map tiles from a third party.
How we process the data
- We download the regional extracts and select the relevant places by their tags.
- We normalize names, assign each stop to a state, an interstate and – where possible – a direction of travel and the nearest exit.
- We remove duplicates and obvious noise, for example industrial weighbridges that aren’t open to trucks on the highway.
- We calculate the next stop ahead in each direction and the distances between stops (by mile marker, otherwise straight-line).
- Pages with too little information are not indexed by search engines until the data improves.
Update schedule
We refresh the data set regularly. The date of the current data is shown on state pages. Fixes you report are reviewed and included in the next update – or, where the error is in OpenStreetMap itself, we correct it there so everyone benefits.
Accuracy
Open data is never complete. Rest areas close for construction, hours change, and amenities differ from what’s mapped. Always follow posted signs, and don’t rely on any map as your only source when your safety or your hours of service depend on it.