[Imports] Trails in National Forests of New Mexico USA

[Samat K Jain]

I'd like to import National Forest trail data in New Mexico USA. That includes 
the National Forests:

 * Lincoln
 * Sandia
 * Santa Fe
 * Gila
 * Cibola
 * Carson
 * Coronado (partially imported by Andrew Ayre)

Provided I can get the GIS data from the US Forest Service (USFS) for each of 
these forests (some of these forests are *very* isolated, so I'm not sure the 
data exists). I plan to go in the above order. I've already played with data 
for the first three, Lincoln, Sandia, and Santa Fe, which are near urban 
areas.

I should repeat: I'm only doing trail data. Boundary data has already been 
imported into OSM (thank you Andrew Ayre!).

I've noticed that a much of this data is a little off… but none of it is on 
OSM. I'm hoping to slowly correct as much of it as I can as I hike various 
trails (in this case, I feel it's easier to import and correct).

My workflow plan is to:

 (1) Fetch the trail data in shapefile format for the specific forest from the 
USFS
 (2) Use ogr2osm to convert the relevant shapefiles to .osm, with a 
translation function that preserves route numbers, imports other attributes, 
and add common names (see example below).
 (3) Load the generated .osm file into JOSM (or Merkaartor, I tend to use 
both), run simplify ways to reduce extraneous points, clean up any other 
obvious problems via rigourous visual inspection, and add data from public-
domain Forest Service maps
 (4) Upload cleaned .osm file to OSM
 (5) Correct trails for which I have GPS track surveys

For tagging the Lincoln National Forest, for example, here is a tagging 
excerpt for one of the trails:

 * highway=path
 * USFS:RTE_CN=5110.002431
 * attribution=US Forest Service
 * name=Three Rivers Trail (44)
 * ref=T 44

The shapefiles for this forest (and others I've looked at) are spartan, and 
the RTE_CN attribute is the only thing to import (and it's probably important: 
AFAIK it's a unique identifier in the USFS' GIS databases? perhaps useful for 
future updating). Ref is the trail's route number (which exists on Forest 
Service Maps and many signs), while name is the trail's common name (which 
also sometimes exists on signs, and is used colloquially).

I started a thread on the tagging list a while back regarding trail numbering, 
and the gist was that there was no standard in use by the USFS. With 
that in mind, I'm going with what local forest service maps and sign say (i.e. 
map what's on the ground), as that seems most useful.

One question: is there a generic "reviewed" tag I can use, or should I create 
a USFS:reviewed tag (ala the TIGER import) for those trails for which I do not 
have GPS surveys?

Thanks for any comments. Since this import is relatively small, I'm actually 
not sure whether it's appropriate for this list.

-- 
Samat K Jain <http://samat.org/> | GPG: 0x4A456FBA

No efficiency. No accountability. I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run 
a universe.
-- Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes (257)