A method of encoding a continuous path (A-G) within a road network, said path being completely represented within a digital map and expressible as a path list of lines and/or segments existing in said digital map and consecutively ordered, wherein said lines and/or segments have one or more attributes associated therewith including a functional road class, FRC, said method comprising the steps of: determining an FRC of each of the lines and/or segments forming at least a portion of the continuous path to be encoded; determining a lowest functional road class, LFRC, for the lines and/or segments forming at least the portion of the continuous path to be encoded, wherein determining the LFRC comprises determining a lowest functional road class of the determined FRC's of the lines and/or segments forming at least the portion of the continuous path to be encoded; storing a start position in a route search list, wherein the start position is one of: the line or segment first appearing in said path list or, where a start node of said first line or segment is artificial, the first line or segment appearing in said digital map having a real start node and which leads directly to said first line or segment optionally through other artificial nodes, wherein a real node represents a road intersection at which a minimum of 3 lines and/or segments intersect, and wherein an artificial node represents an anchor for a line and/or segment which is not defined at one or both ends thereof by a real node, and wherein the artificial node is useful to provide shape information for a particular stretch of road in said digital map, and a most recently identified deviation line or segment also appearing in said path list; determining a path from the start position to an end position as indicated by the last line or segment in the path list within said digital map, said path being determined according to a shortest path algorithm; using the determined LFRC as a threshold, wherein lines and/or segments that have a lower FRC attribute than the threshold are not considered for inclusion in the path being determined; encoding the continuous path (A-G) using the determined path; and storing the encoded continuous path. determining an FRC of each of the lines and/or segments forming at least a portion of the continuous path to be encoded; determining a lowest functional road class, LFRC, for the lines and/or segments forming at least the portion of the continuous path to be encoded, wherein determining the LFRC comprises determining a lowest functional road class of the determined FRC's of the lines and/or segments forming at least the portion of the continuous path to be encoded; storing a start position in a route search list, wherein the start position is one of: the line or segment first appearing in said path list or, where a start node of said first line or segment is artificial, the first line or segment appearing in said digital map having a real start node and which leads directly to said first line or segment optionally through other artificial nodes, wherein a real node represents a road intersection at which a minimum of 3 lines and/or segments intersect, and wherein an artificial node represents an anchor for a line and/or segment which is not defined at one or both ends thereof by a real node, and wherein the artificial node is useful to provide shape information for a particular stretch of road in said digital map, and a most recently identified deviation line or segment also appearing in said path list; the line or segment first appearing in said path list or, where a start node of said first line or segment is artificial, the first line or segment appearing in said digital map having a real start node and which leads directly to said first line or segment optionally through other artificial nodes, wherein a real node represents a road intersection at which a minimum of 3 lines and/or segments intersect, and wherein an artificial node represents an anchor for a line and/or segment which is not defined at one or both ends thereof by a real node, and wherein the artificial node is useful to provide shape information for a particular stretch of road in said digital map, and a most recently identified deviation line or segment also appearing in said path list; determining a path from the start position to an end position as indicated by the last line or segment in the path list within said digital map, said path being determined according to a shortest path algorithm; using the determined LFRC as a threshold, wherein lines and/or segments that have a lower FRC attribute than the threshold are not considered for inclusion in the path being determined; encoding the continuous path (A-G) using the determined path; and storing the encoded continuous path.