[OSM-talk-be] wiki highway conventions

[Glenn Plas]

On 12/27/2012 11:03 AM, Ben Laenen wrote:
> On Thursday 27 December 2012 09:51:36 Kevin Grossard wrote:
>> The wiki about the highway conventions distinguishes primairy, secondary
>> and tertiairy roads using the N-numbers (although there are some question
>> marks). Using the current conventions means using the old classification
>> when the N-numbers were given. Various N-ways got reconstructed, the
>> traffic got redirected by other roads, some roads aren't suitable anymore
>> for the current traffic.
>>
>> The spatial structure plan for Flanders (ruimtelijk structuurplan
>> Vlaanderen) has a list with the primairy roads [pages 368-377
>> http://www2.vlaanderen.be/ruimtelijk/docs/rsv2011/RSV2011.pdf]. I suggest
>> to adjust the wiki so there will be an uniform highway classification
>> where primairy roads are the roads selected in the structure plan. The
>> other N-roads can be describes as secondary roads. Tertiary roads can be
>> described as other important local roads (nl: steenwegen die geen
>> secundaire weg zijn). Minor or residential roads can be understand as
>> local roads (nl: lokale wegen). What do you think?
> I don't really think we can just take that classification and apply it to OSM.
> It may not look like it from the map in that file, but it would make Flanders
> almost void of primary roads. Our government isn't very keen to give lots of
> roads a primary status. And all the dead-end primary roads won't give a nice
> map either (ringway of Lier without any primary road connecting to it, things
> like that).
>
> I've been aware about the official classification (read some previous
> discussions in the mailing list archive), but I think we at least need to
> include some secundary classified roads tagged as primary in OSM to make a
> useful map. So far, we don't have a list of those. In the UK, the category of
> official primary roads would be tagged as trunk in OSM.
>
> That said, using road numbers to determine OSM classification is actually how
> it's done in most countries. It's not perfect by far but we've always allowed
> some deviations from the rule where it makes sense.
>
> Ben
>
> _______________________________________________
> Talk-be mailing list
> Talk-be at openstreetmap.org
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-be


There is a simple rule I use, which is being used for certain in plenty 
of countries like UK and described in the OSM wiki.   A primary road is 
a road that connects larger cities, so a N road between 2 small town 
would be secondary.  I think it matters that you look at the whole road 
with the same reference.  That is the cities you look at.

How much traffic passes over it, doesn't really matter.   For instance, 
the N1 Mechelen-Brussel, someone tagged the part through Vilvoorde as 
secondary.  Since Mechelen, Vilvoorde and Brussel counts as a  
connection through big cities plus, well ... It's number 1 of the 
N-class roads.  It should make sense that this is a primary road.  Even 
after redesigning the part through Vilvoorde, it didn't make any sense 
at all to keep this secondary.  This road should be primary from start 
to finish (Antwerpen-Brussel).  I live closeby and Vilvoorde is being 
reconstructed at a fast pace, I already added a extra roundabout some 
time ago, which triggered me to look at those classifications closer.

Reading that one wants to classify a road depending on how it's uses (so 
what rolls over it and how much) is not correct imho.  You need to look 
at the designation of the road.   the N1 is an easy example of course.

And now we can start to discuss what big city is in Belgium ;-) But most 
of them are easy to classify as such with some common sense.   I would 
still say that primary roads are easy, there is much more difficulty in 
determining lower type of roads.