[Talk-us] How accurate is Tiger data vs Yahoo Aerial?

[am12 at bolis.com]

> Get a GPS?  You have two opinions about reality, and you need a
> third.  A GPS receiver will be ready at hand to give you another vote
> to break the deadlock.

Yup.  I just won an ebay auction for a Palm Vx with Magellan GPS Companion
for $10, so I'll be having some tracks to upload soon.  I don't know how
accurate it is, but I assume several trips over the same roads should give
me some good average readings.

> I'm about to drive to Vancouver for work and plan on collecting tracks
> along the drive, so perhaps on monday there will be some GPS tracks
> nearby.

I did see Woodland to Camas GPS tracks on I5 & 205, which are an exact
match to the yahoo images.  Which is a good confirmation that the yahoo
images are aligned correctly for that area, and the Tiger-based side
streets looping out over the freeway are the ones that are wrong... :-)

An interesting thing I've noticed: in this area, the older the street is,
the more likely the Tiger data matches the Yahoo photo.  The newer the
street or neighborhood, the more likely it varies.

- Alan