diff --git a/brouter-expressions/src/main/java/btools/expressions/BExpressionContext.java b/brouter-expressions/src/main/java/btools/expressions/BExpressionContext.java
index 9477abf..72540b5 100644
--- a/brouter-expressions/src/main/java/btools/expressions/BExpressionContext.java
+++ b/brouter-expressions/src/main/java/btools/expressions/BExpressionContext.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
 {
   private static final String CONTEXT_TAG = "---context:";
   private static final String VERSION_TAG = "---lookupversion:";
+  private static final String VARLENGTH_TAG = "---readvarlength";
 
   private String context;
   private boolean _inOurContext = false;
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
   private int linenr;
 
   public short lookupVersion = -1;
+  public boolean readVarLength = false;
 
   public BExpressionContext( String context )
   {
@@ -111,6 +113,8 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
 
   public byte[] encode( int[] ld )
   {
+	if ( !readVarLength ) return encodeFix( ld ); 
+	  
 	// start with first bit hardwired ("reversedirection")
 	BitCoderContext ctx = new BitCoderContext( abBuf );
 	ctx.encodeBit( ld[0] != 0 );
@@ -126,11 +130,10 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
         skippedTags++;
         continue;
       }
-      int n = lookupValues.get(inum).length - 1;
-      if ( n == 2 ) { n = 1; d = d == 2 ? 1 : 0; } // 1-bit encoding for booleans
       ctx.encodeDistance( skippedTags );
       skippedTags = 0;
-      ctx.encode( n, d );
+      int n = lookupValues.get(inum).length - 2;
+      if ( n > 1 ) ctx.encode( n, d-1 ); // booleans are encoded just by presence...
     }
     ctx.encodeDistance( skippedTags );
     int len = ctx.getEncodedLength();
@@ -139,6 +142,10 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
     return ab;
   }
 
+  private byte[] encodeFix( int[] ld )
+  {
+    throw new IllegalArgumentException( "encoding fixed-length not supporte" );
+  }
   
 
   /**
@@ -146,7 +153,9 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
    */
   public void decode( int[] ld, byte[] ab )
   {
-	BitCoderContext ctx = new BitCoderContext(ab);
+	if ( ab.length == 8 ) { decodeFix( ld, ab ); return; }
+
+    BitCoderContext ctx = new BitCoderContext(ab);
 	  
     // start with first bit hardwired ("reversedirection")
   	ld[0] = ctx.decodeBit() ? 2 : 0;
@@ -157,15 +166,47 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
       int skip = ctx.decodeDistance();
       while ( skip-- > 0 ) ld[inum++] = 0;
       if ( inum >= lookupValues.size() ) break;
-      int nv = lookupValues.get(inum).length;
-      int n = nv == 3 ? 1 : nv-1; // 1-bit encoding for booleans
-      
-      int d = ctx.decode( n );
-      if ( nv == 3 && d == 1 ) d = 2; // 1-bit encoding for booleans
-      ld[inum] = d;
+      int n = lookupValues.get(inum).length - 2;
+      if ( n > 1 )
+      {
+        ld[inum] = ctx.decode( n ) + 1;
+      }
+      else
+      {
+          ld[inum] = 2; // boolean
+      }
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * decode old, 64-bit-fixed-length format
+   */
+  public void decodeFix( int[] ld, byte[] ab )
+  {
+	  int idx = 0;
+      long i7 = ab[idx++]& 0xff;
+      long i6 = ab[idx++]& 0xff;
+      long i5 = ab[idx++]& 0xff;
+      long i4 = ab[idx++]& 0xff;
+      long i3 = ab[idx++]& 0xff;
+      long i2 = ab[idx++]& 0xff;
+      long i1 = ab[idx++]& 0xff;
+      long i0 = ab[idx++]& 0xff;
+      long w =  (i7 << 56) + (i6 << 48) + (i5 << 40) + (i4 << 32) + (i3 << 24) + (i2 << 16) + (i1 << 8) + i0;
+
+    for( int inum = lookupValues.size()-1; inum >= 0; inum-- ) // loop over lookup names
+    {
+      int nv = lookupValues.get(inum).length;
+      int n = nv == 3 ? 1 : nv-1; // 1-bit encoding for booleans
+      int m = 0;
+      long ww = w;
+      while( n != 0 ) { n >>= 1; ww >>= 1; m = m<<1 | 1; }
+      int d = (int)(w & m);
+      if ( nv == 3 && d == 1 ) d = 2; // 1-bit encoding for booleans
+      ld[inum] = d;
+      w = ww;
+    }
+  }
 
   public String getCsvDescription( byte[] ab )
   {
@@ -213,8 +254,7 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
 
     int parsedLines = 0;
     boolean ourContext = false;
-    if ( "way".equals( context ) ) addLookupValue( "reversedirection", "yes", null );
-    else if ( "node".equals( context ) ) addLookupValue( "nodeaccessgranted", "yes", null );
+    boolean fixTagsWritten = false;
     for(;;)
     {
       String line = br.readLine();
@@ -231,6 +271,11 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
         lookupVersion = Short.parseShort( line.substring( VERSION_TAG.length() ) );
         continue;
       }
+      if ( line.startsWith( VARLENGTH_TAG ) )
+      {
+    	readVarLength = true;
+        continue;
+      }
       if ( !ourContext ) continue;
       parsedLines++;
       StringTokenizer tk = new StringTokenizer( line, " " );
@@ -238,8 +283,18 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
       String value = tk.nextToken();
       int idx = name.indexOf( ';' );
       if ( idx >= 0 ) name = name.substring( 0, idx );
-      if ( "reversedirection".equals( name ) ) continue; // this is hardcoded
-      if ( "nodeaccessgranted".equals( name ) ) continue; // this is hardcoded
+
+      if ( readVarLength )
+      {
+        if ( !fixTagsWritten )
+        {
+          fixTagsWritten = true;
+          if ( "way".equals( context ) ) addLookupValue( "reversedirection", "yes", null );
+          else if ( "node".equals( context ) ) addLookupValue( "nodeaccessgranted", "yes", null );
+        }
+        if ( "reversedirection".equals( name ) ) continue; // this is hardcoded
+        if ( "nodeaccessgranted".equals( name ) ) continue; // this is hardcoded
+      }
       BExpressionLookupValue newValue = addLookupValue( name, value, null );
 
       // add aliases
@@ -274,20 +329,20 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
 
   public void evaluate( boolean inverseDirection, byte[] ab, BExpressionReceiver receiver )
   {
+	 int inverseBitByteIndex =  readVarLength ? 0 : 7;
+	  
      _receiver = receiver;
      
      int abLen = ab.length;
      boolean equalsCurrent = currentHashBucket >= 0 && abLen == currentByteArray.length;
      if ( equalsCurrent )
      {
-       if ( (inverseDirection ? ab[0] ^ 1 : ab[0] ) == currentByteArray[0] )
+       for( int i=0; i<abLen; i++ )
        {
-         for( int i=1; i<abLen; i++ )
-         {
-    	   if ( ab[i] != currentByteArray[i] ) { equalsCurrent = false; break; }
-         }
+         byte b = ab[i];
+         if ( i == inverseBitByteIndex && inverseDirection ) b ^= 1;
+  	     if ( b != currentByteArray[i] ) { equalsCurrent = false; break; }
        }
-       else equalsCurrent = false;
      }
 
 
@@ -303,7 +358,7 @@ public final class BExpressionContext
        currentHashBucket =  (crc & 0xfffffff) % hashSize;
        currentByteArray = new byte[abLen];
        System.arraycopy( ab,  0,  currentByteArray,  0 , abLen );
-       if ( inverseDirection ) currentByteArray[0] ^= 1;
+       if ( inverseDirection ) currentByteArray[inverseBitByteIndex] ^= 1;
      }
 
      boolean hashBucketEquals = false;
diff --git a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/OsmCutter.java b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/OsmCutter.java
index 74f1e02..f9c6c02 100644
--- a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/OsmCutter.java
+++ b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/OsmCutter.java
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ public class OsmCutter extends MapCreatorBase
   private BExpressionContext _expctxWay;
   private BExpressionContext _expctxNode;
 
+  private BExpressionContext _expctxWayStat;
+  private BExpressionContext _expctxNodeStat;
+
   public void process (File lookupFile, File outTileDir, File wayFile, File relFile, File mapFile) throws Exception
   {
     if ( !lookupFile.exists() )
@@ -55,9 +58,11 @@ public class OsmCutter extends MapCreatorBase
 
     _expctxWay = new BExpressionContext("way");
     _expctxWay.readMetaData( lookupFile );
+    _expctxWayStat = new BExpressionContext("way");
 
     _expctxNode = new BExpressionContext("node");
     _expctxNode.readMetaData( lookupFile );
+    _expctxNodeStat = new BExpressionContext("node");
 
     this.outTileDir = outTileDir;
     if ( !outTileDir.isDirectory() ) throw new RuntimeException( "out tile directory " + outTileDir + " does not exist" );
@@ -77,11 +82,11 @@ public class OsmCutter extends MapCreatorBase
     wayDos.close();
     cyclewayDos.close();
 
-/*    System.out.println( "-------- way-statistics -------- " );
-    _expctxWay.dumpStatistics();
+    System.out.println( "-------- way-statistics -------- " );
+    _expctxWayStat.dumpStatistics();
     System.out.println( "-------- node-statistics -------- " );
-    _expctxNode.dumpStatistics();
-*/
+    _expctxNodeStat.dumpStatistics();
+
     System.out.println( statsLine() );
   }
 
@@ -109,6 +114,7 @@ public class OsmCutter extends MapCreatorBase
       {
         String value = n.getTag( key );
         _expctxNode.addLookupValue( key, value, lookupData );
+        _expctxNodeStat.addLookupValue( key, value, null );
       }
       n.description = _expctxNode.encode(lookupData);
     }
@@ -155,6 +161,7 @@ public class OsmCutter extends MapCreatorBase
       {
         String value = w.getTag( key );
         _expctxWay.addLookupValue( key, value, lookupData );
+        _expctxWayStat.addLookupValue( key, value, null );
       }
       w.description = _expctxWay.encode(lookupData);
     }
diff --git a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/OsmNodeP.java b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/OsmNodeP.java
index 74c4f0e..88251f4 100644
--- a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/OsmNodeP.java
+++ b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/OsmNodeP.java
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 public class OsmNodeP implements Comparable<OsmNodeP>
 {
   public static final int EXTERNAL_BITMASK        = 0x80;
-  public static final int FIRSTFORWAY_BITMASK     = 0x40;
+  public static final int VARIABLEDESC_BITMASK    = 0x40;
   public static final int TRANSFERNODE_BITMASK    = 0x20;
   public static final int WRITEDESC_BITMASK       = 0x10;
   public static final int SKIPDETAILS_BITMASK     = 0x08;
@@ -144,14 +144,14 @@ public class OsmNodeP implements Comparable<OsmNodeP>
          if ( targetLonIdx == lonIdx && targetLatIdx == latIdx )
          {
            // reduced position for internal target
-           os2.writeByte( tranferbit | writedescbit | nodedescbit | skipDetailBit );
+           os2.writeByte( tranferbit | writedescbit | nodedescbit | skipDetailBit | VARIABLEDESC_BITMASK );
            os2.writeShort( (short)(target.ilon - lonIdx*62500 - 31250) );
            os2.writeShort( (short)(target.ilat - latIdx*62500 - 31250) );
          }
          else
          {
            // full position for external target
-           os2.writeByte( tranferbit | writedescbit | nodedescbit | skipDetailBit | EXTERNAL_BITMASK );
+           os2.writeByte( tranferbit | writedescbit | nodedescbit | skipDetailBit | EXTERNAL_BITMASK | VARIABLEDESC_BITMASK );
            os2.writeInt( target.ilon );
            os2.writeInt( target.ilat );
          }
diff --git a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/RelationMerger.java b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/RelationMerger.java
index db28f4c..808fe64 100644
--- a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/RelationMerger.java
+++ b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/RelationMerger.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ public class RelationMerger extends MapCreatorBase
   private CompactLongSet routesetall;
   private BExpressionContext expctxReport;
   private BExpressionContext expctxCheck;
+  private BExpressionContext expctxStat;
 
   private DataOutputStream wayOutStream;
   
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@ public class RelationMerger extends MapCreatorBase
     expctxCheck = new BExpressionContext("way");
     expctxCheck.readMetaData( lookupFile );
     expctxCheck.parseFile( checkProfile, "global" );
+    expctxStat = new BExpressionContext("way");
     
     // *** read the relation file into sets for each processed tag
     routesets = new HashMap<String,CompactLongSet>();
@@ -76,6 +78,7 @@ public class RelationMerger extends MapCreatorBase
         {
           long wid = readId( dis );
           if ( wid == -1 ) break;
+    	  expctxStat.addLookupValue( tagname, "yes", null );
           if ( routeset != null && !routeset.contains( wid ) )
           {
         	  routeset.add( wid );
@@ -92,14 +95,17 @@ public class RelationMerger extends MapCreatorBase
     {
     	CompactLongSet routeset = new FrozenLongSet( routesets.get( tagname ) );
     	routesets.put( tagname, routeset );
-        System.out.println( "marked " + routeset.size() + " ways for tag: " + tagname );
+        System.out.println( "marked " + routeset.size() + " routes for tag: " + tagname );
     }
 
     // *** finally process the way-file
     wayOutStream = createOutStream( wayFileOut );
     new WayIterator( this, true ).processFile( wayFileIn );
     wayOutStream.close();
-  }
+
+    System.out.println( "-------- route-statistics -------- " );
+    expctxStat.dumpStatistics();
+}
 
   @Override
   public void nextWay( WayData data ) throws Exception
diff --git a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/WayCutter.java b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/WayCutter.java
index dceea21..aa60509 100644
--- a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/WayCutter.java
+++ b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/WayCutter.java
@@ -20,16 +20,16 @@ public class WayCutter extends MapCreatorBase
   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
   {
     System.out.println("*** WayCutter: Soft-Cut way-data into tiles");
-    if (args.length != 4)
+    if (args.length != 3)
     {
-      System.out.println("usage: java WayCutter <node-tiles-in> <way-file-in> <way-tiles-out> <relation-file>" );
+      System.out.println("usage: java WayCutter <node-tiles-in> <way-file-in> <way-tiles-out>" );
 
       return;
     }
-    new WayCutter().process( new File( args[0] ), new File( args[1] ), new File( args[2] ), new File( args[3] ) );
+    new WayCutter().process( new File( args[0] ), new File( args[1] ), new File( args[2] ) );
   }
 
-  public void process( File nodeTilesIn, File wayFileIn, File wayTilesOut, File relationFileIn ) throws Exception
+  public void process( File nodeTilesIn, File wayFileIn, File wayTilesOut ) throws Exception
   {
     this.outTileDir = wayTilesOut;
 
diff --git a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/WayLinker.java b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/WayLinker.java
index 0aa69dd..c0abb39 100644
--- a/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/WayLinker.java
+++ b/brouter-map-creator/src/main/java/btools/mapcreator/WayLinker.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import btools.expressions.BExpressionContext;
+import btools.util.ByteArrayUnifier;
 import btools.util.CompactLongMap;
 import btools.util.CompactLongSet;
 import btools.util.Crc32;
@@ -43,6 +44,8 @@ public class WayLinker extends MapCreatorBase
   
   private BExpressionContext expctxWay;
 
+  private ByteArrayUnifier abUnifier;
+  
   private int minLon;
   private int minLat;
   
@@ -80,6 +83,8 @@ public class WayLinker extends MapCreatorBase
     
     creationTimeStamp = System.currentTimeMillis();
 
+    abUnifier = new ByteArrayUnifier( 16384 );
+    
     // then process all segments    
     new WayIterator( this, true ).processDir( wayTilesIn, ".wt5" );
   }
@@ -140,7 +145,7 @@ public class WayLinker extends MapCreatorBase
   @Override
   public void nextWay( WayData way ) throws Exception
   {
-    byte[] description = way.description;
+    byte[] description = abUnifier.unify( way.description );
 
     // filter according to profile
     expctxWay.evaluate( false, description, null );
diff --git a/brouter-map-creator/src/test/java/btools/mapcreator/MapcreatorTest.java b/brouter-map-creator/src/test/java/btools/mapcreator/MapcreatorTest.java
index 2409f03..2e4bc3a 100644
--- a/brouter-map-creator/src/test/java/btools/mapcreator/MapcreatorTest.java
+++ b/brouter-map-creator/src/test/java/btools/mapcreator/MapcreatorTest.java
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ public class MapcreatorTest
     // run WayCutter
     File waytiles = new File( tmpdir, "waytiles" );
     waytiles.mkdir();
-    new WayCutter().process( ftiles, wayFile2, waytiles, relFile );
+    new WayCutter().process( ftiles, wayFile2, waytiles );
 
     // run WayCutter5
     File waytiles55 = new File( tmpdir, "waytiles55" );
diff --git a/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/MicroCache.java b/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/MicroCache.java
index e29b3ef..c53d40e 100644
--- a/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/MicroCache.java
+++ b/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/MicroCache.java
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ final class MicroCache
   // the object parsing position and length
   private byte[] ab;
   private int aboffset;
-  private int ablength;
+  private int aboffsetEnd;
 
   // cache control: a virgin cache can be
   // put to ghost state for later recovery
@@ -150,7 +150,8 @@ final class MicroCache
       if ( ( fapos[n] & 0x80000000 ) == 0 )
       {
         aboffset = fapos[n];
-        ablength = ( n+1 < size ? fapos[n+1] & 0x7fffffff : ab.length ) - aboffset;
+        int ablength = ( n+1 < size ? fapos[n+1] & 0x7fffffff : ab.length ) - aboffset;
+        aboffsetEnd = aboffset + ablength;
         fapos[n] |= 0x80000000; // mark deleted
         delbytes+= ablength;
         delcount++;
@@ -172,7 +173,7 @@ final class MicroCache
     long id = node.getIdFromPos();
     if ( getAndClear( id ) )
     {
-      node.parseNodeBody( this, ablength, nodesMap, dc );
+      node.parseNodeBody( this, nodesMap, dc );
     }
 
     if ( doCollect && delcount > size / 2 ) // garbage collection
@@ -206,7 +207,7 @@ final class MicroCache
       	  int pos = fapos[i];
           if ( ( pos & 0x80000000 ) == 0 )
           {
-            ablength = ( i+1 < size ? fapos[i+1] & 0x7fffffff : ab.length ) - pos;
+            int ablength = ( i+1 < size ? fapos[i+1] & 0x7fffffff : ab.length ) - pos;
             System.arraycopy( ab, pos, nab, nab_off, ablength );
             nfaid[idx] = faid[i];
             nfapos[idx] = nab_off;
@@ -297,4 +298,9 @@ final class MicroCache
 	  System.arraycopy( ab, aboffset, ta, 0, ta.length );
 	  aboffset += ta.length;
   }
+
+  public boolean hasMoreData()
+  {
+    return aboffset < aboffsetEnd;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/NodesCache.java b/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/NodesCache.java
index 1ecfcb3..6b9ca85 100644
--- a/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/NodesCache.java
+++ b/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/NodesCache.java
@@ -5,8 +5,11 @@
  */
 package btools.mapaccess;
 
-import java.util.*;
-import java.io.*;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
 
 public final class NodesCache
 {
diff --git a/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/OsmNode.java b/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/OsmNode.java
index 99093dd..3f75d2f 100644
--- a/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/OsmNode.java
+++ b/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/OsmNode.java
@@ -5,12 +5,14 @@
  */
 package btools.mapaccess;
 
+import btools.util.ByteArrayUnifier;
+
 
 
 public class OsmNode implements OsmPos
 {
   public static final int EXTERNAL_BITMASK        = 0x80;
-  public static final int FIRSTFORWAY_BITMASK     = 0x40;
+  public static final int VARIABLEDESC_BITMASK    = 0x40;
   public static final int TRANSFERNODE_BITMASK    = 0x20;
   public static final int WRITEDESC_BITMASK       = 0x10;
   public static final int SKIPDETAILS_BITMASK     = 0x08;
@@ -107,17 +109,18 @@ public class OsmNode implements OsmPos
   }
 
 
-   public void parseNodeBody( MicroCache is, int bodySize, OsmNodesMap hollowNodes, DistanceChecker dc )
+   public void parseNodeBody( MicroCache is, OsmNodesMap hollowNodes, DistanceChecker dc )
    {
-     selev = is.readShort();
-     bodySize -= 2;
+	 ByteArrayUnifier abUnifier = hollowNodes.getByteArrayUnifier();
+
+	 selev = is.readShort();
 
      OsmLink lastlink = null;
 
      int lonIdx = ilon/62500;
      int latIdx = ilat/62500;
 
-     while( bodySize > 0 )
+     while( is.hasMoreData() )
      {
        OsmLink link = new OsmLink();
        OsmTransferNode firstTransferNode = null;
@@ -128,32 +131,33 @@ public class OsmNode implements OsmPos
        for(;;)
        {
          int bitField = is.readByte();
-         bodySize -= 1;
          if ( (bitField & EXTERNAL_BITMASK) != 0 )
          {
            // full position for external target
-           bodySize -= 8;
            linklon = is.readInt();
            linklat = is.readInt();
          }
          else
          {
            // reduced position for internal target
-           bodySize -= 4;
            linklon = is.readShort();
            linklat = is.readShort();
            linklon += lonIdx*62500 + 31250;
            linklat += latIdx*62500 + 31250;
          }
+         // read variable length or old 8 byte fixed, and ensure that 8 bytes is only fixed
+         boolean readFix8 = (bitField & VARIABLEDESC_BITMASK ) == 0; // old, fix length format
          if ( (bitField & WRITEDESC_BITMASK ) != 0 )
          {
-        	 int dlen = is.readByte(); description = new byte[dlen]; is.readFully( description );
-             bodySize -= 1 + dlen;
+        	 byte[] ab = new byte[readFix8 ? 8 : is.readByte()];
+        	 is.readFully( ab );
+        	 description = abUnifier.unify( ab );
          }
          if ( (bitField & NODEDESC_BITMASK ) != 0 )
          {
-        	 int dlen = is.readByte(); nodeDescription = new byte[dlen]; is.readFully( nodeDescription );
-             bodySize -= 1 + dlen;
+        	 byte[] ab = new byte[readFix8 ? 8 : is.readByte()];
+        	 is.readFully( ab );
+        	 nodeDescription = abUnifier.unify( ab );
          }
          if ( (bitField & SKIPDETAILS_BITMASK ) != 0 )
          {
@@ -169,7 +173,6 @@ public class OsmNode implements OsmPos
            trans.ilon = linklon;
            trans.ilat = linklat;
            trans.descriptionBitmap = description;
-           bodySize -= 2;
            trans.selev = is.readShort();
            if ( lastTransferNode == null )
            {
diff --git a/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/OsmNodesMap.java b/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/OsmNodesMap.java
index d9db767..3d9dfb3 100644
--- a/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/OsmNodesMap.java
+++ b/brouter-mapaccess/src/main/java/btools/mapaccess/OsmNodesMap.java
@@ -7,10 +7,19 @@ package btools.mapaccess;
 
 import java.util.*;
 
+import btools.util.ByteArrayUnifier;
+
 public final class OsmNodesMap
 {
   private HashMap<Long,OsmNode> hmap = new HashMap<Long,OsmNode>();
+  
+  private ByteArrayUnifier abUnifier = new ByteArrayUnifier( 16384 );
 
+  public ByteArrayUnifier getByteArrayUnifier()
+  {
+    return abUnifier;
+  }
+  
   private NodesList completedNodes = null;
 
   /**
diff --git a/brouter-util/src/main/java/btools/util/ByteArrayUnifier.java b/brouter-util/src/main/java/btools/util/ByteArrayUnifier.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24e09f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/brouter-util/src/main/java/btools/util/ByteArrayUnifier.java
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+package btools.util;
+
+public final class ByteArrayUnifier
+{
+  private byte[][] byteArrayCache;
+  private int size;
+
+  public ByteArrayUnifier( int size )
+  {
+    this.size = size;
+    byteArrayCache = new byte[size][];
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Unify a byte array in order to reuse instances when possible.
+   * The byte arrays are assumed to be treated as immutable,
+   * allowing the reuse
+   * @param the byte array to unify
+   * @return the cached instance or the input instanced if not cached
+   */
+  public byte[] unify( byte[] ab )
+  {
+	  int n = ab.length;
+      int crc  = Crc32.crc( ab, 0, n );
+      int idx  =  (crc & 0xfffffff) % size;
+      byte[] abc = byteArrayCache[idx];
+      if ( abc != null && abc.length == n )
+      {
+    	int i = 0;
+        while( i < n )
+        {
+        	if ( ab[i] != abc[i] ) break;
+        	i++;
+        }
+        if ( i == n ) return abc;
+      }
+      byteArrayCache[idx] = ab;
+	  return ab;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/misc/profiles2/lookups.dat b/misc/profiles2/lookups.dat
index e0dcb02..626dc8d 100644
--- a/misc/profiles2/lookups.dat
+++ b/misc/profiles2/lookups.dat
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
----lookupversion:2
+---lookupversion:10
+---readvarlength
 
 ---context:way
 
diff --git a/misc/scripts/mapcreation/process_pbf_planet.sh b/misc/scripts/mapcreation/process_pbf_planet.sh
index 56f762f..ec980cc 100644
--- a/misc/scripts/mapcreation/process_pbf_planet.sh
+++ b/misc/scripts/mapcreation/process_pbf_planet.sh
@@ -14,13 +14,15 @@ rm -rf /var/www/brouter/segments2_lastrun
 mkdir tmp
 cd tmp
 mkdir nodetiles
-/java/bin/java -Xmx256m -Xms256m -Xmn32m -cp ../pbfparser.jar:../brouter.jar btools.mapcreator.OsmCutter ../lookups.dat nodetiles ways.dat cycleways.dat ../planet-latest.osm.pbf
+/java/bin/java -Xmx256m -Xms256m -Xmn32m -cp ../pbfparser.jar:../brouter.jar btools.mapcreator.OsmCutter ../lookups.dat nodetiles ways.dat relations.dat ../planet-latest.osm.pbf
+
+/java/bin/java -Xmx2600M -Xms2600M -Xmn32M -cp ../brouter.jar -Ddeletetmpfiles=true -DuseDenseMaps=true btools.mapcreator.RelationMerger ways.dat ways2.dat relations.dat ../lookups.dat ../trekking.brf ../softaccess.brf
 
 mkdir ftiles
 /java/bin/java -Xmx512M -Xms512M -Xmn32M -cp ../brouter.jar -Ddeletetmpfiles=true -DuseDenseMaps=true btools.mapcreator.NodeFilter nodetiles ways.dat ftiles
 
 mkdir waytiles
-/java/bin/java -Xmx2600M -Xms2600M -Xmn32M -cp ../brouter.jar -Ddeletetmpfiles=true -DuseDenseMaps=true btools.mapcreator.WayCutter ftiles ways.dat waytiles cycleways.dat ../lookups.dat ../trekking.brf ../softaccess.brf
+/java/bin/java -Xmx2600M -Xms2600M -Xmn32M -cp ../brouter.jar -Ddeletetmpfiles=true -DuseDenseMaps=true btools.mapcreator.WayCutter ftiles ways.dat waytiles
 
 mkdir waytiles55
 /java/bin/java -Xmx2600M -Xms2600M -Xmn32M -cp ../brouter.jar -Ddeletetmpfiles=true -DuseDenseMaps=true btools.mapcreator.WayCutter5 ftiles waytiles waytiles55 bordernids.dat