[Talk-us] Burlington, Vermont road classification

Paul Norman penorman at mac.com
Fri Oct 19 05:35:09 BST 2012


> From: Andrew Guertin [mailto:andrew.guertin at uvm.edu]
> Subject: Re: [Talk-us] Burlington, Vermont road classification
> 
> On 10/18/2012 05:07 PM, Richard Weait wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 4:48 PM, Andrew Guertin
> <andrew.guertin at uvm.edu> wrote:
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> There are two active mappers in the Burlington, Vermont area, and we
> >> disagree about how the roads should be classified, so we're looking
> >> for more opinions.
> >
> > If you are both local mappers, I suggest that you actually meet face
> > to face and share a beverage.  [...]
> 
> While not a bad idea, I don't think that this is necessary or helpful
> for this case. We're both impressed with each other's work, and (it
> seems through text at least) perfectly willing to accept the other's
> viewpoint, it's just that now we've realized that the docs are ambiguous
> enough to make *both* viewpoints valid, and we'd like to choose the one
> that most closely matches the rest of the map, especially in nearby
> areas.

The unfortunate answer - it isn't consistent. When it comes to road
classifications in the US and Canada, each state or province is like its own
country would be in Europe. In Europe, funding models and government
classifications are generally consistent on a country-wide basis.

When each state classifies differently, it follows that OSM classifications
are going to differ. In BC we find the government classifications generally
unhelpful so we don't pay them much attention
(http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Canada:British_Columbia#Highways_and_pro
vincial_roads)

Hopefully someone from Vermont can chime in with another view from the
state, but from afar, either viewpoint is valid.




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