[OSM-newbies] tertiary dirt roads?

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 11:26 AM, Alex Mauer <hawke at hawkesnest.net> wrote:
> On 11/21/2009 12:11 AM, James Ewen wrote:
>> I guess you missed the rest of my post where I described these
>> roads. [ ... ]

> Is there something wrong with using highway=unclassified for these?

For the purposes of the newbies list, it is worth mentioning that
highway classifications are a match for legal highway classification
in England.  Elsewhere, the 'right' classification will be a best-fit
to the standard tags based on local conditions and traditions.

While it may be true that "you can tag anything in any way that you
please" it is expected by the rest of the community that you will tag
highways (and everything else) in a way that is acceptable to the rest
of the community.  New mappers should consider and emulate the
practices adopted by other local mappers.

Charlotte's original question about marking western, major, unpaved
roads as tertiary seems reasonable given that description.  With a
planet as diverse and project as large as ours, it would be madness to
expect precisely uniform tagging from place to place.  We'll have to
rely on our experienced local experts to do the right thing.