[Talk-us] Usage of highway=track in the United States
Martijn van Exel
m at rtijn.org
Sun Feb 21 17:53:52 UTC 2021
Brian,
Thanks for collecting these insights. I wouldn't call its usage
controversial based on the mere fact that there is a range of
interpretations of its usage--that would render a good number of tags in
OSM controversial.
The bigger issue here is what is actually on the wiki. Right now,
discussions about US road tagging feed on a set of alternative truths on
there, which is not productive and makes for recurring discussions on
the same topics without a satisfying conclusion.
A quite non-exhaustive list of pages with redundant / conflicting
information:
* https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/United_States/Road_classification
* https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/United_States_Roadway_Classification_Guidelines
* https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/United_States_roads_tagging
* https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Highway:International_equivalence
* The international equivalent sections of the common road classes,
like
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dtrunk#International_equivalence
* Various state page's sections on highway tagging, such as
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/West_Virginia#Functional_Classification,
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/New_Jersey#Classifications,
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Georgia_(U.S._state)#Highway_Classification,
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Indiana#Highway_Classifications,
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Florida#Tagging_ideas_for_Florida
(there are likely many more)
This is not saying you're wrong to raise it, not at all. I'm just
pointing out a root cause in the hopes that we can start working on
fixing the bigger issue. This is a big pile of work but with big reward
as well.
Martijn
On 2/19/2021 4:56 PM, Brian M. Sperlongano wrote:
> The usage of the tag highway=track is controversial. Through
> discussion with both US-based and foreign mappers, it is apparent that
> this tag is used differently in the US than it is in the rest of the
> world. Further, the usage in the US appears to be different from how
> it is documented on the OSM wiki[1].
>
> The wiki description is "roads for mostly agricultural use, forest tracks etc."
>
> In the US, the 2007 TIGER import assigned highway=track to CFCC code
> A51, which is described as "Vehicular trail, road passable only by 4WD
> vehicle, unseparated".
>
> In a recent Slack discussion[2], mappers shared their perspective on
> how they use highway=track:
>
> "I always use track for public, unmaintained highways and usually use
> track for discontinued roads. My thought is that if it used to be a
> road, and snowmobiles and ATVs can still use it, then track works
> (with access=permissive if applicable)" -aweech, New Hampshire
>
> "I use highway=path for trails that were formerly cut as forestry
> tracks (wide between trees), but are now only beaten in a single-track
> due to exclusively non-motorized usage." -adamfranco, Vermont
>
> "I use it for any rough, unmaintained looking track" -Zeke Farwell, Vermont
>
> "I use track for any road that would be irresponsible to route over
> because it might wreck a car, or isn’t cleared of snow, tree, or flood
> debris, or only used during some seasons.. the “purpose” of the road
> doesn’t matter to me." -bhousel, New Jersey
>
> "I don't think forestry and agriculture are bad reasons for a road to
> be a track, and that does indeed match the definition of a lot of
> tracks in Colorado. If it were expanded to include the fact that this
> use might be historical, and then add mining and other natural
> resource management, and unmanaged recreation, then you'd cover almost
> all of what we call tracks in the US" -phidauex, Colorado
>
> It appears that the US usage of highway=track follows more closely to
> the definition from the TIGER import, which is based on physical
> characteristics, rather than the wiki definition, which is based on
> usage.
>
> US mappers: how do you apply highway=track in the US?
>
>
> [1] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway=track
> [2] https://osmus.slack.com/archives/C2VJAJCS0/p1613754200382000
>
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