<div dir="ltr">I knew I would be opening Pandora's box when I made those statements. As for tracks, I should have prefaced my remarks with <i>In My Opinion</i> — I am well aware that it's too late to change the current situation. <div>
<br></div><div>I would still argue that smoothness is a valuable parameter. Ignoring speed limits and such, it determines how fast you can <i>comfortably</i> travel on a particular highway, among other (more subjective) things. And I'm familiar with the long thread about trafficability, to the extent that I could follow all the various opinions and problems it exposed. This whole thing is a tough nut to crack.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Which is one reason I suggested those other terms to describe "stiffness" which I just can't get my head around. Stiffness just is not right for that use. I dunno what I would rather do. Maybe as you suggest, it should simply be removed.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br></div><div>Dave</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 1:59 PM, David Bannon <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dbannon@internode.on.net" target="_blank">dbannon@internode.on.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Good on you Dave, I do like a good rant !<br>
<br>
On Mon, 2014-03-17 at 10:47 +0700, Dave Swarthout wrote:<br>
<br>
<br>
> <Begin rant>....IMO tracktype should describe the physical<br>
<div class="">> characteristics of a track, not a highway, and it should have nothing<br>
> to do with "how well maintained" it is.<br>
<br>
</div>Great in an ideal world Dave. However, there are many highways in the<br>
world that are also 'tracks'.<br>
<br>
Recognising this, the OSM Lords have given us highway= tags to describe<br>
the purpose of a road. And tracktype= to describe the condition. Many<br>
cases, the tracktype= is not needed as its condition matches its<br>
purpose. But in situations where that is not the case, life threatening<br>
situations arise when a map user is not appropriately warned.<br>
<br>
I agree tracktype may not be ideal but its better that the rest and I<br>
think its too late to dream up a new one.<br>
<br>
> ...... those surfaces have an additional important characteristic<br>
> called smoothness.<br>
<br>
'smoothness=' is not really appropriate as there are many, many roads<br>
that have issues beyond smoothness. I have seen tracks that appeared<br>
beautifully smooth but were beyond my ability !<br>
<div class=""><br>
> How a "highway" ever got a tracktype tag is beyond me and seems a big<br>
> mistake.<br>
<br>
</div>That was part of the original definition of tracktype= when it was<br>
approved.<br>
<br>
> .... As far as smoothness is concerned, many have derided it as being<br>
> too subjective.<br>
<br>
Look, lets be honest, just about anything in this world except the<br>
integer series has some subjective aspect. Lets get over it !<br>
<div class="">><br>
<br>
> say, "particularly regarding surface stiffness", IMO the word<br>
<br>
</div>Yes, Dave, I agree, Fernando's use of the word 'stiffness' is a bit<br>
dodgy. But thats a 'subjective' opinion.<br>
<div class=""><br>
> Perhaps soundness, permanence, or better yet, durability.<br>
</div>No, I really think this is about how usable a road is given a set of<br>
vehicle and driver experience. We, on the AU mailing list discussed<br>
words like 'trafficability' and, from memory, some even worse ones !<br>
<br>
But I do want a good solution and I'll agree to an OK one if its all I<br>
can get. I want to badger the renderers to take note of the state of a<br>
road before someone gets killed using an OSM map. Its only a matter of<br>
time.<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
David<br>
<br>
<br>
</font></span></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr">Dave Swarthout<br>Homer, Alaska<br>Chiang Mai, Thailand<br>Travel Blog at <a href="http://dswarthout.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://dswarthout.blogspot.com</a></div>
</div>