[Talk-us] Usage of highway=track in the United States

[Zeke Farwell]

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 11:43 AM Kevin Kenny <kevin.b.kenny at gmail.com>
wrote:

> What would a data consumer want to know, that would be informed by the
> distinction among 'track', 'residential', 'service' and possibly even
> 'unclassified' as applied to relatively unimproved rural roads?
>

When I think about unimproved, rural roads in Vermont, three categories
feel worth distinguishing based on vehicle suitability:
- Narrow, but decently maintained unpaved roads.  Suitable for most
passenger cars, bicycles, and motorcycles with appropriate tires.
- Rough, minimally maintained roads.  Suitable for high clearance, trucks,
SUVs, jeeps, etc.  Might be passable for a passenger car, but there is a
risk of vehicle damage or getting stuck due to rocks, potholes, and mud.
Bicycles and motorcycles designed for smooth roads are going to have a bad
time.  While these roads are officially maintained by the town or the
forest service, no one lives on them so they get very little attention.
- Woods roads.  Only suitable for ATVs, dirt bikes, mountain bikes, and
some jeeps/trucks designed for off-road use.  Impassible by vehicles
designed for normal roads.

Within each category there is variation and detail that can be specified
with supporting tags (surface, smoothness, track_type, access).  However,
it seems silly for supporting tags to be 100% required just to get a
general idea of the type of road you're dealing with.  Given that we have
the top level tags 'track', 'residential', 'service' and 'unclassified' we
might as well try to define them as clearly as possible to make things
easier for data consumers.

--
Zeke

>
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