[OSM-talk-be] First mapping questions

[Jo]

>     the noobie is upgrading ;-)
>     I bought the QStarz yesterday, it arrived today.
>
Which model?
>
>     Had to drive a bit, so why not take it with me to get my first
>     logging.
>
>     First problem: JOSM doesn't like the GPX track, it fails to import
>     with an error message:
>     "Content is not allowed in prolog."
>
I have already seen this as well. Did you try to double click on the 
file after associating it with josm? That won't work. I don't recall 
what was the reason for that message anymore.
>
>     Does anybody know what's going wrong here?
>
>     Anyway, downloaded Merkaartor and used that one.
>     Looks good and seems usable.
>     I already see that mapping by car is not really efficient.
>
Not if you want any amount of detail.
>
>
>     Anyway, my first questions on the mapping itself.
>     The difference between secondary, tertiary and residential is not
>     completely clear to me.
>     Can somebody explain this in more detail?
>
>     Maybe an example: (you can look it up on maps.google.be
>     <http://maps.google.be> until I finish
>     my mapping)
>     I drove on the Heerestraat in Oud-Turnhout
>     This doesn't seem to be an Nxx road, but it is almost as big:
>
I would make it at least tertiary. Don't worry too much about it though. 
If you do it in a certain way now and later on you feel like changing 
it, that is easy to do and a week later all the renderings will have 
gotten updated.
>
>     one part of it has bicycle tracks next to it on the same level, but no
>     separation between them.
>
add cycleway=lane. It's not perfect if you ask me. Since it doesn't say 
whether there are cycleways on both sides or not, but it's easy to do 
and quick.
>
>     Although it isn't just a few paint marks on the 'macadam', like you
>     still several of those dangerous bicycle tracks.
>
>     Another part of that road also has bicycle tracks, but then they are
>     seperated by small bushes and colored in red.
>     Is this mapped different?
>
Yes, it can be mapped differently. Depending on how much time you want 
to put in. Add a point. Split the road at that point (p in josm, x in 
potlatch). Take away the cycleway=lane and create a new stretch of road 
parallel to what you already have. In josm you can use CTRL-d to 
duplicate the part you selected.
>
>     Is this a secondary, tertiary or residential road?
>
cycle ways or not doesn't determine the highway type. In the UK they 
seem to have a very strict nomenclature. Here in Belgium I would just 
tag the way you think and change it later on when you think it wasn't 
quite right. N1, N2, etc are easy. N3 is smaller than N2 for my feeling 
certainly between Brussels and Diest/Tienen respectively, but stretches 
of them have been upgraded, but it's not recommendable to have them 
become a patchwork of colours. N4 is trunk in large part between Namur 
and Marche.
>
>
>     Another road nearby, the Schuurhoven, looks a bit smaller, but is
>     legally the same kind of road I think.
>     It doesn't have a footway or bicycle track however.
>     Is it mapped different from the Heerestraat?
>
>     If you have a road with 2 lanes for cars, bicycle track and footway
>     next the each other, how should it be mapped ideally?
>
>     And last: is there maybe a fine example city in Belgium?
>     Not a big one like Brussels or Antwerp, because they seem to differ
>     from smaller cities wrt bicycles and footways.
>     Better to learn from a decent example...
>
If you do take Leuven or Lessines as an example, you should come over to 
have a look once. If/when you do, we could get together in STUK again. 
Usually between 5 and 8 people show up on an evening like that.

Polyglot