[Talk-us] Best practices for dealing with old TIGER tags?

[Dion Dock]

Loud opinions follow.  Be warned.  :)

I wish “unclassified” would just die in the USA.  I think it has a formal meaning in other countries (see also “living_street”) but doesn’t have meaning in the USA.  Further, since almost all of the TIGER import didn’t use it, it’s just creating busywork to apply it in place of existing tags.  However, since it’s defined on the Wiki, everyone tries to find a place for it.  I would compare this to having a tag of “prime minister”.  Yes, it means something somewhere, but not here.

I think the rural residential roads are either “highway=service”, “highway=track” or “highway=path”.  I think “highway=residential” should always have a name.  Service might or might not have a name, same for path and track.

In general, people should not be encouraged to take path/service/track when there is a residential road.

I basically never remove the tiger:reviewed tag; typically because it’s another step that isn’t easily supported by most tools.

-Dion

> Eric Ladner <eric.ladner at gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 5:58 AM Greg Troxel <gdt at ir.bbn.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> Kevin Kenny <kevin.b.kenny+osm at gmail.com> writes:
>>> 
>>>> OK, 'residential' if it looks like 'subdivision', 'unclassified'
>>>> otherwise (as long as it's drivable in, say, my daughter's car rather
>>>> than my 4-wheeler). Got it.
>>> 
>>> I also see a distinction between residential/unclassified as denoting a
>>> legal road (around me, carved-out parcel wise from the surrounding land)
>>> vs track and some service denoting a non-legal-road.  However, others
>>> see the physical and legal attributes as separate.
>>> 
>> My understanding of the description of "unclassified" is unclassified is a
>> step between residential and tertiary.   It's a connecting road, minor
>> connector, whatever, that doesn't have residential on it, but it's not high
>> enough in classification to make it a tertiary road.
> 
> I agree with that notion.
> 
>> I usually use it for roads in industrial complexes, loops around malls,
>> business complexes, or other connectors/roads where there's no obvious
>> residential around.
> 
> Mostly agree, but I only use it for legal roads, not driveways or
> private roads.  Meaning someplace where (in new england) it's legally
> separate and the public has a right of access.