Getting started with 'R'

pg_routing - postgis extension for routing

http://www.pgrouting.org/

Also talked about: http://gis.stackexchange.com/

plugin for qgis

rtsql layer plugin (query builder for postgis)

someone brought up a question about routing on streets that have the same name and same ID but they go through another city. We have a similar situation in Michigan where the city of Hamtramck is fully inside the city of Detroit.

maywood park? - city contained within portland - streets with the same id that get split up (similar to hamtramack)