<div dir="ltr">In Spain we have big problems, discussions and arguments with that question. Last month, a French user complained about the state of a "Nacional" (Country Main Road) classified in OSM as trunk.<br><div>These problems have one main reason. Here in Spain, in some places, there are six degrees of public administration: European Union, Estado (Country), Comunidades Autónomas (state), Provincia (province), Comarca (like county), Municipio (like town)...and fourth of them have competences and decisions about that.</div><div> Also some Comunidades Autónomas make better investments and spend more money in some zones than Country government (because Country government prefers to do only motorways all over Spain) . But as for more people Country government is the most important (or the only important government for the country) the majority of roads that depends of that government are "defacto" the most important: trunk. </div>This is a mess and a disaster because you have some trunk roads (nacionales) that don't deserve this category: roads with less width than normal for two lanes,level crossings for all kind of tracks, passing-by little villages, horrible smoothness and with the same track as they were created sixty or seventy years ago. Also you have good new 21st century ways with only interlevel crossing, average speed of 80/100, big widths per lane, but as they are from the government of the province ("Diputaciones") or from the government of the "state" they are automatically primary , secondary or tertiary roads. This is not fair. Think about it: a government will not spend its money in a road that is not really important. Barcelona's Province Government manages about one thousand million euros budget. So I assure you if Barcelona's Province Government wants to build a new road in a well-populated area this road would be as good as primary or trunk.<br>Some people in OSM Spain want other classification criteria (not administrative but physical) to make more objective the road classification:<br><br>trunk: 4,3,2-lane new roads (newer than twenty years, with new track), with only interlevel crossings and exits, average speed of 80/100, and wide lanes. It is possible bikes or agricultural vehicles would be prohibited in these kind of ways.<br>primary: 3,2-lane main roads, with crossings at the same level, average speed of 60/80, and wide lanes. All traffic should be allowed.<br>secondary: 3,2-lane roads, connecting small territories, crossings at the same level, always with road marks , average speed of 50/60, acceptable width per lane.<br>tertiary : 2-1-lane roads, with reference, it is not necessary to have road marks, average speed of minus than 50, it is not necessary to have the width of 2cars.<br>We want also to use governments data like average speed and average daily traffic (ADT) . Objective data should be consulted to take these decisions. We want to take consideration of all "Country government roads" that have big motorways near to make lower they category. In the reference we will always have the administrative classification like N- Country C- State L-Local and others like CV-V for the town. One road can be trunk at first kilometers with good track, etc. and then when sharing track with the free motorway can be tertiary.<br><div>We also aware Spain is not the same as Australia or Africa , we know classification criteria cannot be the same due to physical conditions in other countries. But some of them we want a real and objective , non-repetitive classification criteria (using letters of the reference and the same classification in OSM is the same, talking administratively) for tagging Spanish Roads in Openstreetmap.</div><div><br></div><div>Salut i carreteres (Health and roads)<br></div><div>yopaseopor</div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Aug 11, 2019 at 11:37 PM Paul Allen <<a href="mailto:pla16021@gmail.com">pla16021@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">On Sun, 11 Aug 2019 at 22:10, Graeme Fitzpatrick <<a href="mailto:graemefitz1@gmail.com" target="_blank">graemefitz1@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div>In Australia, it's not uncommon for a Primary (& in some cases, Trunk!) road to be a single lane dirt road!, & it would be nice to be able to show them with the importance that they are to local residents of that area. <br></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>There appear to be two schools of thought on this. One is that if it is the only road between A</div><div> and B then it is a primary road, even if it's a single-lane dirt track. The other is to adopt</div><div>a consistent country (or state, or region) wide classification, preferably adhering to official</div><div>classification if there is any, which might mean that the only road between A and B is a</div><div>secondary, tertiary or even quaternary road.</div><div><br></div><div>I favour the latter approach. If there is only one single-lane track between A and B then</div><div> it is obviously of importance to those in the area without it needing to be emphasised by <br></div><div>a different colour. Whereas rendering it as a primary road will mislead some people</div><div>planning a cross-country trip into think it's paved highway all the way, including the</div><div>final part of their trip from A to B.<br></div><div><br></div><div>I suggest that before you decide which approach best suits your country you first check</div><div>if there is a governmental classification scheme of highways. It appears that, for Australia,</div><div>things are rather inconsistent across the states and territories and have changed over</div><div>the years. Nevertheless, alphanumeric designations are now common amongst most</div><div>states and territories and the meaning of those designations can be found at<br></div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highways_in_Australia#Prefix_letters" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highways_in_Australia#Prefix_letters</a></div><div>After examining that, then make your decision as to whether or not the OSM map ought</div><div>to reflect official designations or do its own thing. And then discuss it in whatever forum</div><div>Australian mappers use and see if you can get a consensus agreeing with you.</div><div><br></div><div>-- <br></div><div>Paul</div><div><br></div></div></div>
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