[Talk-us] User randomly adding speed limits across the US

Minh Nguyen minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us
Tue Nov 11 10:02:29 UTC 2014


On 2014-11-10 21:51, James Mast wrote:
> I'm just curious, but can anybody verify the speed limits that user
> msheerin17 [1] has been randomly adding across the US?  He seems to fond
> of adding a lot of 'maxspeed=55 mph' tags to ways in completely
> different areas (he does add other speed limits, but well over 60% have
> been 55 mph).
>
> I have tried to contact this user about all the speed limits he's been
> adding and did get a response back from him only once (back on October
> 15th).  In that response, he claimed he was getting the speed limits
> from "our customers", but at no time did he mention what company he was
> working for or what app was generating the input from people of the
> 'correct speed limits'.  He even told me to let him know if I had any
> more questions, but he's never responded to any other messages that I
> sent him after that asking about that info.
>
> I do know one changeset [2] was at least was partially correct (was for
> a small segment of PA-28 and I could verify that since I live near it),
> however, a small part he tagged @ 55 mph is still officially 45 mph (the
> NB bridge over PA-8 is posted @ 45 mph still, not 55 mph).  However,
> there are other changesets out there that he did where there is no way
> possible the speed limit he added could be correct. [3]
>
> So, if anybody lives near any of his changesets were he's added the
> maxspeed tag and can verify if they are either correct or incorrect, I'd
> appreciate it.  If he's been adding a lot of incorrect speed limits, we
> need to nip this in the behind fast before it gets too out of hand.  If
> most of them are incorrect (being 15+ over the actual posted limit or
> more in some places), it could seriously cause problems with the routers
> that use OSM data, especially in areas where we don't have any active
> mappers to verify said speed limits.  Heck, it could even lead to bad
> press if somebody gets a speeding ticket and they try to blame OSM for
> it because of the incorrect speed limit in the database.

I spot-checked the 50 or so ways msheerin17 tagged in Ohio; the speed 
limits look plausible for the most part. Most are undivided rural roads, 
which are 55 or 60 mph by default. Suburban arterial roads with 45 or 50 
mph limits aren't unheard of, either.

My only beef with their changes is that they didn't split the ways up 
before tagging them. Roads leading into town, like [1] and [2], could 
well be 50 at one end but decrease in steps to only 25 at the other end. 
In fact, I know of several roads where the speed limit suddenly jumps 
from 25 to 55 at a village limit.

Wikipedia has a table of statutory speed limits that may help assess 
their edits in other states. [3]

[1] http://osm.org/way/302290438
[2] http://osm.org/way/19268121
[3] 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States#Speed_limits

-- 
minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us




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