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

[Joseph Eisenberg]

I'm updating the page again because most of what we have mentioned is not
only true for the USA but globally.

While I understand that as Americans we are used to our opinions being
extra valuable, it's important to recall that only about 10% of
OpenStreetMap data and mappers are from the USA, so we should avoid having
country-specific sections unless absolutely necessary, or else we will end
up with a section on usage in Russia, Japan, Brazil, Germany, England,
Poland, etc. for each wiki article.

I've added that tracks might be used for hunting, fishing birdwatching or
gathering mushrooms as examples. We already have mention of
leisure/recreation via hiking, cycling, or ATV / off road vehicles too.

"Note that forestry use includes also forestry use without logging, for
example access for firefighting, hunting, fishing, birdwatching, gathering
mushrooms, and so on."

(This is at the end of the paragraph which starts "Some highway
<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:highway>=track are used for
various leisure or recreation activities - hiking, cycling, or as SUV/ATV
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-terrain_vehicle> trails.")

I've also updated the next section:

"* There may be structures used as hunting cabins, fire lookouts,
agricultural service buildings, or camping shelters, which are only
accessible by a highway=track, but a road which is the primary access to a
permanent residence or commercial property, such as residential driveways
or industrial access roads, should be a highway=service or a higher road
class."

I hope this makes it clear that vacation or hunting cabins and camp
shelters can be accessed only by a highway=track, just like agricultural or
forestry accessory service buildings (barns, storage sheds). But I believe
permanent residences, including farmhouses, isolated dwellings and
industrial or commercial buildings are accessed by highway=service or a
higher class

Now that these clarifications are added, I think we are including basically
all examples of usage in the USA which are widely considered appropriate.

-- Joseph Eisenberg

On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 8:06 AM Zeke Farwell <ezekielf at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 7:53 AM Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
>
>> Tagging something as "highway=track" without further details will be
>> interpreted by almost anyone as "being available to the public".
>>
>> As someone who is part of the team that receives complaints from land
>> owners, park managers and the like, I wonder if we as a project need to
>> start exercising more caution when we carelessly claim that any track we
>> spot on aerial imagery is usable for the general public.
>>
>
> Frederik, I think this is well said.  For what it's worth, I don't
> interpret "highway=track" without further details as "available to the
> public".  This is probably due to US usage, but to me that situation is
> uncertain and just means: "Here is a track where some vehicles drive.
> Legal access is unclear.  May be too rugged for some vehicles."  Or in
> other words "be prepared, you're on your own!"
>
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