[HOT] Introducting myself + questions about "Highway Tag Africa" standards

Tue Mar 4 21:32:40 UTC 2014

+1 For your trunck definition suggestion

On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 9:09 PM, Vincent Dawans <dawansv at gmail.com> wrote:

>  Mamadou:
>
> Good to know Senegal is on task!  Yes, now I see on the Senegal wiki page
> the same issue I am raising. I think I agree with the comment about using
> trunk for "maybe only the (roads) with the highest quality (at least two
> lanes of good asphalt) and major topological roles."
>
> My take is that trunk designation should indeed be limited to paved roads
> with at least 2 full size lanes (that means at least 7 meters wide = two
> 3.5 meter lanes). 7 meters wide (+ 1.5 meters on each side, so total of 10
> meter wide base) is the new standard now used Senegal and Mali I think.
> This is in line with the 3.5-meter wide European lane standard and the
> 12-foot wide US lane standard.
>
> If Senegal is planning some sessions in 2014 that I feel it might be the
> best place to make a proposal to further clarify the standards. I will
> subscribe to the mailing list to stay in the loop.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Vincent Dawans.
>
>
> On 3/4/2014 12:51 PM, Mamadou bassirou THIAM wrote:
>
>  Hi there,
>
>  Welcome Vincent and many thanks for your message.
>
> Overall, I can confirm your remarks on West African ground.
>
>  A first clarification to bring is that Highway Tag Africa
> <http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Highway_Tag_Africa>  is actually an
> initiative, for now.
>
> After an active mappy year, a stunning lack was the absence of a
> consensual and appropriate
>
> data model for West Africa, roads in particular. You can go through the
> Issues section of
>
> OSM Senegal Wiki Project<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Senegal>that underline same questions that you evoked.
>
> This situation is also linked to the real states of our West African roads
> in question.
>
> Not easy to figure out the most appropriate OSM tag for each of them and
> the Dakar's motorway is still being built (its a new one).
>
>  But, It was necessary to start working with something to complete
> further large discussions.
>
> Although incomplete this wiki is an important step to build the West
> Africa data model and preset.
>
> It very helpful for OSM Senegal and the other HOT activations.
>
> More implication from our dear president will be much appreciated and I
> think, even it's all wiki,
>
> it was written based on collective agreement, so I won't recommend a
> single person to update it directly.
>
>  There are two key events in our 2014 program that will help improve this
> situation.
>
> Quality assurance sessions to redraw and finalize the SN highway layer and
>
> A workshop with mappers and organizations interested in OSM data to
> determine how to
>
> rationalize harmonize our edits and how to make information matches needs.
>
>  You can stay turned by subscribing to our mailing list<https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-sn>also.
>
> Discussions will re-open shortly, hope to catch you online or why not bump
> into you in Dakar, since you're a traveler!
>
>  MisterBass
> Saint-Louis, Senegal.
> http://twitter.com/bassthiam
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 1:20 PM, Mikel Maron <mikel_maron at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>   Hi Vincent
>>
>>  Welcome! I don't have direct experience of these roads, but from my
>> perspective, sounds like a reasonable and informed approach. Hopefully
>> people working in the region will share their ideas on this. I just wanted
>> to say, that you should also feel free to contact directly other people who
>> have edited the wiki page (check the History), and other people who have
>> edited these roads in OSM. And yes, remember, it's all a wiki, so even if
>> it's two steps forward, one step back, collaboratively getting everything
>> into the commons doesn't require permission.
>>
>>  Cheers
>> Mikel
>>
>> * Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron
>>
>>
>>    On Monday, March 3, 2014 9:15 PM, Vincent Dawans <dawansv at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>    Hello:
>> My name is Vincent Dawans and I am a Senior Technical Advisor at Virtue
>> Ventures, a technical firm dedicated to supporting NGOs and social
>> enterprises in the developing world.  As a technical advisor, I do a lot
>> of traveling. I am currently traveling to West Africa every 3 months or so.
>> I was last in Mali and got really impressed with the accuracy of the
>> openstreetmap layer (I was using the MapWithMe android app that gets its
>> data from openstreetmap); certainly the level of details in Bamako is quite
>> impressive, enough that I was able to go on long walks through the back
>> streets without ever getting lost.  Seeing all that good work got me
>> interested in getting involved.
>> One of the organizations I work with is a village-banking organization
>> around Kayes (Western Mali) and my plan is to give them gps receivers so
>> they can start mapping the many villages in which they work. I got some old
>> $25 gps receivers online that I will try using for that purpose...
>> I also stared updating the map for Kayes itself (it needs some
>> attention).  However as I am looking at the "Highway Tag Africa"
>> standards I am a bit confused as to the lack of mention of the
>> "highway=trunk" and "highway=motorway" tags.
>> I am going to take West Africa as an example since this is what I know. I
>> feel like the main regional roads should be consistently marked as "trunk"
>> and not merely "primary".  Right now some sections are marked trunk,
>> other primary. By "regional roads" I mean mostly the roads that are part of
>> the new Trans-African Highway Network that is taking shape.  The
>> Trans-African Highway Network comprises a series of east/west and
>> north/south roads crossing the continent. Here is a good overview of the
>> Trans-African Highway Network:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-African_Highway_network
>> My personal experience with that network is the Trans-Sahelian Highway
>> (Trans-African Highway 5), more specifically its first section running from
>> Dakar to Ouagadougou which I use on a regular basis.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakar-Ndjamena_Highway.  The section
>> running from Dakar to Ouagadougou actually splits into 2 branches from
>> Tambacounda, Senegal to Kita, Mali (one branch is the original northern
>> road via Kayes Mali, and the other one is the brand new southern road via
>> Kenieba and Kati, Mali.).
>> I feel that these roads would benefit from being more consistently  "upgraded"
>> from primary to trunk because they are not only important roads for their
>> respective countries but are in fact becoming the backbone of the road
>> network in their respective regions and serve as the primary roads
>> crisscrossing the continent.  IMHO they fit the official trunk definition
>> of "The most important roads in a country's system that aren't motorways."
>>  Whatever decision is made, some clarification is necessary because
>> right now some sections of that network are already marked as trunk on the
>> map, but in a very inconsistent manner, with some trunk roads becoming
>> primary mid way without reflecting actual changes on the ground. Here is
>> just one example for illustration purpose: in Senegal the trunk tag starts
>> in Kaffrine and ends in Kotiari, then it becomes trunk once more in Mali
>> between Segala and Bamako. In reality there is no reason why the
>> Dakar-Kaffrine section and Tambacounda-Segala section should not be marked
>> as trunk as well -- or all of it marked as primary; but not a mix of both...
>> Additionally, the highway=motorway tag also needs to be clarified; on the
>> map, motorways are already found, mostly in Northern and Southern Africa
>> with some also starting to show up in East and West Africa. For instance
>> right now there is a short motorway running from Dakar to Rufisque-- it's a
>> real motorway, a restricted access road build as per international
>> standards -- a first in West Africa I think.
>> Hence I think the "Highway Tag Africa" guidelines would benefit from
>> being expanded with trunk roads and motorway; if nothing to clarify the
>> current mixed used of motorway, trunk and primary tags. I would love to
>> know what the opinion of the community is on this matter. I am willing to
>> help draft some changes to the guidelines if there is some buy-in for the
>> general idea presented here.
>> I am new to this mailing list and community, so I apologize if this was
>> discussed earlier or if I am not fully informed about the issue. Thank you
>> for reading my long (too long) email.
>> Sincerely,
>> Vincent Dawans
>>
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