[Imports] Trails in National Forests of New Mexico USA

[Samat K Jain]

On Friday, September 03, 2010 01:09:25 am Samat K Jain wrote:
> 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.

Just a heads up: I've imported the first ranger district (Sacramento) of the 
Lincoln National Forest.

  http://osm.org/go/TnTwre

(zoom in to see trails/footpaths)

The rest of the areas I'll be importing will be similar. At some 6.5k nodes, I 
have a feeling that by the time I am done I will have imported 100k nodes just 
for New Mexico… Someone please stop me and tell me if I've done something 
heinously wrong. =/

The major problem: imported ways aren't connected to existing roads/ways. I'm 
fixing this manually. This breaks routing but for the purposes of visual use 
of the map it is adequate.

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

There are many people today who literally do not have a close personal friend. 
They may know something that we don't. They are probably avoiding a great deal 
of pain.
-- None (326)