[Talk-us] USBRS WikiProject seeks volunteer mappers

[Minh Nguyen]

On 2014-05-31 14:06, Serge Wroclawski wrote:
> Since there is no signage for these routes, this is an import and should
> be following the import guidelines.

In the past, on-road bike routes were typically advertised via maps and 
annual guidebooks rather than reassurance markers. The U.S. Bike Route 
System is an official attempt to move beyond dead trees in favor of 
signage. State DOTs often post "FUTURE" shields years or even decades 
before an Interstate route becomes official. But no DOT has the budget 
to lavish that kind of attention on bicyclists. :-)

The fact that these new routes currently have no signage certainly 
raises the bar for verification. Fortunately, primary sources like [1] 
are much less prone to data entry errors than actual databases. And 
unlike unofficial touring routes, there's nothing ephemeral about USBRs: 
any route change requires the written approval of an AASHTO special 
committee, as with an Interstate. If nothing else, authoritative sources 
can help to eliminate guesswork, which is one step towards ground truth.

While we're waiting for signs to go up, the good news is that some 
states have opted to primarily route USBRs along existing off-road bike 
paths that we've already mapped through some combination of GPS tracks, 
local knowledge, and aerial tracing. The cycleways themselves can be 
verified on the ground. We just want to add the cycleway to an 
additional route relation. Detailed route logs would only be necessary 
for filling in the less obvious parts of the route.

I've never gone through the formal import process -- for a lack of 
sources, not compliance -- but it seems to me that the guidelines are 
written as a defense against fly-by-night dumps of poorly vetted data. 
I'm sure anyone with raw bike route data would want to comply with the 
guidelines, but what about other kinds of sources? Many of the steps 
simply don't apply.

So far, I've cobbled together a relation for USBR 50 in Ohio along 
well-known trails, based on descriptions in news reports and recorded 
village council meetings. Now that the route has been approved by 
AASHTO, it'd be very tempting to fill in the gaps based on the official 
route log. [2] Of course, I can't do that without ODOT's prior 
permission, in case of copyright concerns. But to give you a sense of 
how far removed this work is from a conventional import, I plan to use 
nothing more than iD or maybe Potlatch, adding lots of water towers and 
ballfields along the way.

Steve is championing a piece of transportation infrastructure that could 
become a showcase for OSM's versatility but that currently needs a good 
deal of work. The USBRs are an opportunity for the OSM community to 
start productive relationships with DOTs and advocacy groups. We need 
more WikiProjects like it.

[1] 
<http://route.transportation.org/Documents/USRN%20Report%20May%2029%202014.docx>
[2] 
<http://ballot.transportation.org/FileDownload.aspx?attachmentType=Item&ID=1176>

-- 
minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us