[Talk-us] Importing highway surface tags

[Adam Franco]

Thank you all again for the assistance on this project, and especially
Michael Patrick for turning me on to the VCGI
TransRoad_RDS<http://www.vcgi.org/dataware/?page=./search_tools/search_action.cfm&query=theme&theme_id=018-9999>data.

I've made some progress on this project and am documenting it in the OSM
wiki <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Vermont_road_surfaces>. At this
point I've done the data mapping sufficiently to generate a table of each
way OSMID to its new surface tag and visualization of the proposed tag
additions:
http://www2.adamfranco.com/surface/vermont-proposed-surfaces.kmz

I've also contacted the VCGI about their data licensing and am waiting on a
response.

At this point I have come up with a few questions for the community that I
hope to get answered before moving further:

   - As I've described in the
wiki<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Vermont_road_surfaces#Tag_mapping>,
   the VCGI data separately identifies "Soil or graded/drained earth" and
   "unimproved/primitive" surfaces. While the OSM Wiki
describes<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:surface>a number of
possible surface values, the Potlatch editor only lists Sand,
   Gravel, Dirt, and Grass as options for unpaved surfaces. "Soil or
   graded/drained earth" seems like it maps well to "Dirt", but
   "unimproved/primitive" seems like it would map better to "earth" or
   "ground" rather than one of the options presented by Potlatch.

   Should I use the "earth" or "ground" value or limit myself to one of
   those suggested by Potlatch?

   - Is there a preferred process for scripting tag additions/updates?

   Reading through the
JOSM<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/JOSM_file_format>and
   osmChange <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OsmChange> wiki pages it
   sounds like I can't just add/update a single tag, but rather must download
   the full set of tags for a way, add/update the tag I'm interested in, then
   upload the full set of tags.

   Should I plan to script doing this for each way separately (to avoid
   stepping on any changes that happen during the import) or is it better to
   do this for a region in bulk? What has worked well in the past for adding
   tags?

   - As far as I can tell, I'm the only user who has added surface tags in
   Vermont and the VCGI data is more precise in distinguishing between gravel,
   graded soil, and unimproved/primitive surfaces than I was able to be. I
   would like the import to override the surface tags I've added, but don't
   want to step on other mappers toes. Is there any way to find out if others
   have added surface tags in Vermont?

   - My process of mapping
from<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Vermont_road_surfaces#Way.2FShape_Matching>the
source data to the OSM ways doesn't get all roads mostly due to
   differences in how ways are split into segments, but the process
   successfully maps the surfaces for 74% of ways in the state:

   Ways with surfaces matched:    21446
   Ways with surfaces mixed:       2210
   Ways with surfaces not found:   5382

   As far as I can tell from numerous spot-checks, the process is always
   erring on the side of skipping ambiguous results and I haven't found any
   cases yet where a grossly-wrong tag would be applied. Does anyone have any
   feedback on this process?

Best,
Adam

On Sat, Dec 22, 2012 at 8:02 PM, Adam Franco <adamfranco at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you all for the great feedback and advice! It looks like this
> project is potentially feasible but that I have many things to learn and
> figure out to make it happen. I'll be in touch after I've figured out how
> to work with the VCGI data and then get proper usage permission. Thanks
> again and happy holidays!
>
> Best,
> Adam
>
> On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 9:47 AM, Andrew Guertin <andrew.guertin at uvm.edu>wrote:
>
>> On 12/20/2012 05:03 PM, Adam Franco wrote:
>> > * Has anyone located a good source for state or national road surface
>> data?
>> > The TIGER data doesn't seem to include surface information as far as I
>> can
>> > tell.
>>
>> The VCGI EmergencyE911_RDS file has a field for this. Unfortunately,
>> 58773 out of 64302 values (91%) are "Unknown".
>>
>> The VCGI license doesn't explicitly give the permissions needed for OSM,
>> but when I asked to use the town boundaries layer they gave permission.
>> (I still need to get around to that...)
>>
>> > * Is this a project that the OSM community in Vermont, the broader
>> region,
>> > or nationally (assuming data is available) would support? I'd rather
>> not do
>> > a lot of work to prepare it if there is no desire for inclusion in the
>> data
>> > set.
>>
>> I'd support it.
>>
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>>
>
>
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