Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
Hi, I'm a member in New Jersey and I've usually reserved any classifications for roads that have any numerical designation assigned to them. In New Jersey, I designate trunk roads sparingly, and hardly ever for roads maintained by the county (with some exceptions for longer 500-series county highways); these are usually isolated roads or roads with more than one carriageway but do not fit the state definition of a freeway. (The Palisades Interstate Parkway, any toll roads, and roads that are recognised by the state as freeways - e.g. NJ 495 (this has NOT been an interstate since the 1980's; only the portion of 495 east of Manhattan is an interstate), NJ 42, NJ 55, NJ 90, NJ 3, NJ 19, NJ 21, and NJ 24 - are granted motorway status.) Primary highways usually consist of state highways that run parallel to a trunk road or connect one or more large communities, most 500-series county highways, and a few county-specific highways (which usually are in the 600-700 range). Secondary roads are almost always either county-specific highways or state routes that are left over from a re-routing of a major highway; tertiary designations are reserved for all other numbered highways. Unnumbered highways, unless the governing municipality receives monies from the county directly for their maintenance or they form a dedicated or well-used link between designated roads, receive unclassified or residential designations irrespective of length. This scheme was devised primarily for New Jersey and may not apply the same way in other states. CrystalWalrein___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 2:41 PM, Jason Straub wrote: > > Second, the color of the trunk highway concerns me a bit. Any other > mapping company, online or not, uses the green line as a tollway. When I > initially started, I was makring highways as trunks, only to see most of the > region covered with toll routes. So I switched them back. I personally > think that toll routes should have special coloring or highlighting to set > them apart from free routes, but that's just me. > I suspect that the color conventions used for motorway and trunk highways in the default OSM rendering are derived from UK mapping conventions. There are many instances were one might want distinctive rendering on an region-by-region basis. More pominent rendering of sub-national administrative boundaries in the U.S. is another case.As far as I understand, whether for technical or policy reasons, such regional rendering differences are not done in the default OSM rendering. -Scott -- Scott Atwood Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia. ~H.G. Wells ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
I would be for this setup. I would mention a few things in passing. And I'm sure these have been mentioned, but I would jus tlike to mention them. First, I like the images on how much each highway it used. Trunk highways is not a used term in the US, except for Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where all state highways are considered 'trunk highways'. There might be some confusion unless the criteria are prominent and visible. Has anyone thought of putting a key on the OSM map? Second, the color of the trunk highway concerns me a bit. Any other mapping company, online or not, uses the green line as a tollway. When I initially started, I was makring highways as trunks, only to see most of the region covered with toll routes. So I switched them back. I personally think that toll routes should have special coloring or highlighting to set them apart from free routes, but that's just me. Later, 25or6to4 ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
Greetings, I would also be happy to tag rural US 95 and US 93 as highway=primary. How close are we to having a consensus? -- - Joseph Scanlan http://www.qsl.net/n7xsd +1-702-455-3679 http://n7xsd.dyndns.org j...@co.clark.nv.us (work) (not work) n7...@arrl.net - So he went inside there to take on what he found. But he never escaped them, for who can escape what he desires? --Tony Banks of Genesis in "The Lady Lies" ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
I'm talking more the Alaska highway, or US 50 through rural Nevada - not
driveways. Or the Transcanadian Highway ("Follow the only road. Follow the
only road" - South Park). Pick up any atlas; they'll show all sorts of minor
roads in desert areas. Of course, being a private drive or barely passable
road is usually a reason to not show it at all.
Trunk roads and Motorways are different from primary/secondary/tertiary roads
because it implies a certain physical description (I would not make Skyline a
trunk road, by the way.) In Navteq data, there is a function road
classification that gives the Transcanadian highway the importance as limited
access highways in the US (sometimes higher; some motorways are assigned FRC 2
in their scheme, if there's a local cluster). A motorway has significant
physical differences that it ought to be rendered differently; but *when* it
gets rendered is a different matter.
If you lived in Central Nunavut (I assume that's what you're implying about
your relative importance) - maybe your place *should* show up prominently on a
map. Explorers getting stuck in the ice may be hungry.
-Alan
From: Karl Newman
To: Alan Brown
Cc: talk-us@openstreetmap.org
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 10:52:55 AM
Subject: Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Alan Brown wrote:
But - what percentage of local traffic or through traffic ends up on those
roads? It's relative importance that matter. If you need to go through an
area - what do you take?
Same concept applied to city labelling - look at a globe some time. It's not
unusual to see "Thule, Greenland" labelled, or "Iqaluit, Nunavut". Why?
Because they're the most significant towns in the area - even though they have
tiny populations.
On the other hand - what about San Jose, CA, 10th biggest city in the US? They
always label San Francisco first - even though San Jose is bigger, with a
million people. It's perceived importance.
-Alan (self-conscious resident of San Jose)
Just because it's locally important doesn't make it a trunk road, though. My
driveway is locally important to me and takes 100% of traffic in and out of my
garage...
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Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Alan Brown wrote: > But - what percentage of local traffic or through traffic ends up on those > roads? It's relative importance that matter. If you need to go through an > area - what do you take? > > Same concept applied to city labelling - look at a globe some time. It's > not unusual to see "Thule, Greenland" labelled, or "Iqaluit, Nunavut". Why? > Because they're the most significant towns in the area - even though they > have tiny populations. > > On the other hand - what about San Jose, CA, 10th biggest city in the US? > They always label San Francisco first - even though San Jose is bigger, with > a million people. It's perceived importance. > > -Alan (self-conscious resident of San Jose) > Just because it's locally important doesn't make it a trunk road, though. My driveway is locally important to me and takes 100% of traffic in and out of my garage... ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
But - what percentage of local traffic or through traffic ends up on those roads? It's relative importance that matter. If you need to go through an area - what do you take? Same concept applied to city labelling - look at a globe some time. It's not unusual to see "Thule, Greenland" labelled, or "Iqaluit, Nunavut". Why? Because they're the most significant towns in the area - even though they have tiny populations. On the other hand - what about San Jose, CA, 10th biggest city in the US? They always label San Francisco first - even though San Jose is bigger, with a million people. It's perceived importance. -Alan (self-conscious resident of San Jose) From: Karl Newman To: Joseph Scanlan Cc: talk-us@openstreetmap.org Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 10:04:44 AM Subject: Re: [Talk-us] Road classification On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 9:49 AM, Joseph Scanlan wrote: On Tue, 16 Dec 2008, Alan Brown wrote: This is the way I like to think about it - if you're zoomed way out, a map of motorways and trunk roads alone is best: plenty of useful information, but not cluttered. This philosophy helps justify what you'll find here in the desert south west. For example, US 93 is pretty much the route one takes from Ely, through Caliente, to Las Vegas, Nevada. About 260 miles of that is two lane road. It's marked as highway=trunk not because its some grand highway along the eastern edge of the state but because it is *the* highway along the eastern edge of the state. US 95 through California (about 100 miles) is another example. Traveling from Las Vegas to Quartszite or Yuma, Arizona state route 95 is a good alternative but if a routing program insisted on Interstates one would find oneself going through Phoenix or Los Angeles. Kind of a long way to go. I should defend both highways by pointing out they don't see much cross traffic. ;-) They probably don't see much through traffic, either... Karl ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 9:49 AM, Joseph Scanlan wrote: > On Tue, 16 Dec 2008, Alan Brown wrote: > > This is the way I like to think about it - if you're zoomed way out, a map >> of motorways and trunk roads alone is best: plenty of useful >> information, but not cluttered. >> > > This philosophy helps justify what you'll find here in the desert south > west. For example, US 93 is pretty much the route one takes from Ely, > through Caliente, to Las Vegas, Nevada. About 260 miles of that is two lane > road. It's marked as highway=trunk not because its some grand highway along > the eastern edge of the state but because it is *the* highway along the > eastern edge of the state. > > US 95 through California (about 100 miles) is another example. Traveling > from Las Vegas to Quartszite or Yuma, Arizona state route 95 is a good > alternative but if a routing program insisted on Interstates one would find > oneself going through Phoenix or Los Angeles. Kind of a long way to go. > > I should defend both highways by pointing out they don't see much cross > traffic. ;-) > They probably don't see much through traffic, either... Karl ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
On Tue, 16 Dec 2008, Alan Brown wrote: This is the way I like to think about it - if you're zoomed way out, a map of motorways and trunk roads alone is best: plenty of useful information, but not cluttered. This philosophy helps justify what you'll find here in the desert south west. For example, US 93 is pretty much the route one takes from Ely, through Caliente, to Las Vegas, Nevada. About 260 miles of that is two lane road. It's marked as highway=trunk not because its some grand highway along the eastern edge of the state but because it is *the* highway along the eastern edge of the state. US 95 through California (about 100 miles) is another example. Traveling from Las Vegas to Quartszite or Yuma, Arizona state route 95 is a good alternative but if a routing program insisted on Interstates one would find oneself going through Phoenix or Los Angeles. Kind of a long way to go. I should defend both highways by pointing out they don't see much cross traffic. ;-) -- - Joseph Scanlan http://www.qsl.net/n7xsd +1-702-455-3679 http://n7xsd.dyndns.org j...@co.clark.nv.us (work) (not work) n7...@arrl.net - So he went inside there to take on what he found. But he never escaped them, for who can escape what he desires? --Tony Banks of Genesis in "The Lady Lies"___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
OJ, It's usually state or local governments that decide that. In general you can cycle or hitch unless there are signs prohibiting it. pete -- Original message from "OJ W" : -- > Do motorways in OSM also imply that it is prohibited to non-motorised > traffic? (in the UK, you can cycle on a trunk road but not a > motorway) > > http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dmotorway > > https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Motorway#Common_criteria > > > On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 4:45 PM, wrote: > > A motorway is a four+ lane, limited access, grade separated freeway. These > > can include Interstates, US Highways, State Highways, County Highways or > > even Farm to Market Roads if they meet certain criteria. These criteria are > > limited access,the use entrance/exit ramps to access the freeway. > > Intersections with other roads are at grade seperated crossings or ramps. A > > grade separated crossing means one road goes over or under the other. (ie. > > over/underpass) When Motorways meet other motorways they generally use ramps > > that are classified as Motorway Link. These motorways usually connect to > > other cities or move the traffic around and through a city. Limited access > > ring roads usually fall in this feature class also. ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 11:44 AM, Chris Lawrence wrote: > - highway=trunk. Referred to in many states as an "expressway." A > highway typically with limited access by adjoining property owners, > but access via both at-grade intersections and grade-separated > interchanges. Systems like the Mississippi Four-Lane Highway Program > are often constructed to these standards (so routes like US 61 and US > 82 in Mississippi qualify). Should not be used for routes with > frequent traffic control devices (signals, four-way stops, etc.) > although an occasional traffic signal would not disqualify a route. > To borrow from Russ' example, parts of US 17 in southern New York that > haven't yet been fully upgraded to I-86 would be "highway=trunk," > while sections with exclusively interchange access would be > "highway=motorway." See also US 101 between San Jose and Santa > Barbara, CA, which is a mix of "expressway" and "freeway" segments. > Most commercial maps show this distinction fairly well. For those familiar with the Santa Clara County Expressway system, most of this system would seem to fit well as highway=trunk in your classification scheme. Most of these roads fall someplace in between a freeway and an arterial. The roads are all divided highways with at least two lanes in each direction. Most intersections are at-grade but some are grade-separated. Most access is via intersections, with some limited cases where there is access from adjoining property owners. There generally only intersections with freeways, other expressways, and major arterials. Pedestrians are generally prohibited, but cyclists are permitted. -Scott -- Scott Atwood Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia. ~H.G. Wells ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
I think the place to start in the US (and I'd assume Canada too, which
tends to use US-originating classification) is the idea of "functional
classification" which is used by highway planners. See e.g.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/flex/ch03.htm and
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/fctoc.htm (the latter is incredibly
long for our purposes). Unfortunately TIGER's scheme is theoretically
a functional classification but in practice devolves to a
designation-based scheme, which isn't very useful for mapping from
TIGER to something to be used for navigation.
Here's my rule-of-thumb:
- highway=motorway: What is referred to legally in most states as a
"freeway." A highway with no access (except at termini) except via
grade-separated interchanges - usually called "full control of
access." Typically does not have any signalized intersections,
although occasional drawbridges (e.g. the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on
I-95/495 near Washington) or railway crossings may not disqualify the
route. Virtually all of the Interstate system counts, but there are
exceptions. (I-180 in Wyoming -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_180_(Wyoming) - is the most
prominent example of a non-freeway Interstate.) Routes without
Interstate shields also can qualify (e.g. CA 91 and CA 60 in the LA
area, most of US 78 in Mississippi and Alabama, US 59 through
Houston). In most US states, freeway is a legal designation not
unlike the "motorway" rules in the UK and Ireland ("freeway
ends/entrance/begins" is usually only signed in a few states, most
notably California, but many states post a sign listing their state's
freeway restrictions when entering a freeway).
- highway=trunk. Referred to in many states as an "expressway." A
highway typically with limited access by adjoining property owners,
but access via both at-grade intersections and grade-separated
interchanges. Systems like the Mississippi Four-Lane Highway Program
are often constructed to these standards (so routes like US 61 and US
82 in Mississippi qualify). Should not be used for routes with
frequent traffic control devices (signals, four-way stops, etc.)
although an occasional traffic signal would not disqualify a route.
To borrow from Russ' example, parts of US 17 in southern New York that
haven't yet been fully upgraded to I-86 would be "highway=trunk,"
while sections with exclusively interchange access would be
"highway=motorway." See also US 101 between San Jose and Santa
Barbara, CA, which is a mix of "expressway" and "freeway" segments.
Most commercial maps show this distinction fairly well.
- highway=primary. Probably the lowest-tier "arterial." Signed US
and state highways that don't fit in a higher category probably belong
here, although less important highways (state secondary routes, Texas
FM/RM roads and most spurs and loops) could be highway=secondary.
"Primary" routes have more signals and more adjoining property access
than a trunk route.
- highway=secondary. High-capacity "collectors." May have a highway
designation, may have a county road number, may just be named.
- highway=tertiary. Medium and low-capacity through "collectors."
Typically do not have a highway designation (but may have a county
road number). The lowest level of the "through" street network in an
area.
- highway=unclassified. Non-through collectors; typically would be
classified as "tertiary" but does not (yet) connect two important
streets. Since there is no rendering difference between
"unclassified" and "residential" it might make a difference in a
routing application but on a map it won't have undue importance.
- highway=residential. A street that primarily provides access to
adjoining properties with limited or no through traffic.
This classification has the drawback of requiring a lot of fixing up
from TIGER and a decent level of local knowledge to decide the
corner-cases.
Chris
--
Website: http://www.cnlawrence.com/
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Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
I am based in the UK but have also done some remote editing of US data. The UK is of course the basis of the classification terminology used by OSM for historical reasons. The key thing from my side is to ensure that the order is retained, ie a motorway should have more capacity and probably flow faster than a trunk etc etc. This is essential to allow routing engines to use the best road available. The proposed scheme does that. The initial coding of interstates as 'secondary' did not. There is always some subjectivity involved, but it will be good of the approach is consistent across the country. I agree that both motorway and trunk roads should generally be free of traffic lights etc. The difference in the UK between the motorway and a trunk road is legal, the speed limit is different and motorways always have a higher spec, always have ramps, never have roundabouts. I was not able to determine when I should use Trunk and motorway in the USA and tended to use motorway. Primary roads seem to me to be the core tag for major arteries in towns (or countryside) where there were multiple lanes but also have side roads, traffic signals etc. Secondary and tertiary roads are really very pretty minor in the UK. In urban areas they are the roads that would feed multiple residential roads and residential roads would tend to not be through-routes. Here is an area I spent some time on in Foster City and the classification of roads seems to have stabilized over the past month or so. Motorway for everything with ramps, Primary for the big road with traffic signals and then secondary and tertiary to make sense of local circulation in residential areas. I didn't see any place to use highway=trunk http://openstreetmap.org/?lat=37.5413&lon=-122.2661&zoom=13&layers=0B00FTF I seem to remember that it was me who made Skyline Bvrd a trunk road here (http://openstreetmap.org/?lat=37.7233&lon=-122.4942&zoom=14&layers=0B00FTF ) . It seems to have stuck, but I am not sure if others would agree with that. It does seem odd for a trunk to turn straight into a secondary when it takes a lot of the same traffic towards the north although if most of the traffic heads up Great Hwy then that might be appropriate. Here is a map I have just done showing the use of highway=trunk in the USA which is interesting and shows the very uneven adoption of trunk across the country. There are pockets where it is being used a lot and areas where there is no use of it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/itoworld/3113029093/ Out of curiosity I have also added images for the other main road classifications: motorway: http://www.flickr.com/photos/itoworld/3113880022/in/pool-itomedia primary: http://www.flickr.com/photos/itoworld/3113885464/in/pool-itomedia secondary: http://www.flickr.com/photos/itoworld/3113063009/in/pool-itomedia I think the main message from these images is that the motorway tag is being used reasonably consistently across the country, the trunk road tag is only being used in pockets. Primary is used a lot especially in the east where it seems to form a complete network which is doesn't in the west. The use of secondary seems to be somewhat dependent on some arbitrary boundaries; are these state boundaries? I hope that is useful. Btw, do subscribe to our Flickr itomedia group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/itomedia/pool/ ). We release images on a regular basis and are happy to take requests for bigger areas. Do also use OSM Mapper ourselves to make your own images at the city level: http://www.itoworld.com/static/osmmapper Regards, Peter Miller ITO World Ltd www.itworld.com On 16 Dec 2008, at 17:01, Russ Nelson wrote: > map...@att.net writes: >> A motorway is a four+ lane, limited access, grade separated >> freeway. > > Like an Interstate. > >> A trunk is what a motorway becomes when it loses one of it's >> criteria. > > Like NY-17 used to be (haven't driven on it in twenty years, so maybe > the grade crossings have been eliminated), or like the Taconic State > Parkway. > >> A primary road > > As is US-11, particularly relative to Interstate I-81. > >> A secondary road moves traffic within a city. It would service only >> a certain area within a city. > > Mm, this is somewhat ambiguous. You could have a limited-access > highway which only moves traffic within a city; example I-2XX > highways. What are the criteria for secondary roads outside of > cities? For example, what is US-11B, or US-11C ? They are roads > equivalent in quality to US-11, however they are bypasses; are they > primary or secondary? > >> I hope this clarifys things for some users. I know it's not going >> to please those who have already used other classification schemes. > > IMHO (I may be wrong), but the solution to these quandries is: Use > More Tags. The more tags you use to accurately describe a road, the > less important becomes the "highway" tag. > > -- > -
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
This is a good scheme - although it's important to remember that some of these judgments are partially subjective rather than purely objective. It's not always clear to know whether to judge the difference between a primary and secondary road, or a secondary and tertiary road. This is the way I like to think about it - if you're zoomed way out, a map of motorways and trunk roads alone is best: plenty of useful information, but not cluttered. Zoom a little more in, motorways + trunk roads + primary roads are what you want; zoom a little more in, motorways + trunk roads + primary roads + secondary is best; and so forth. The further away from your origin or destination you are, the less you should care about roads lower in the hierarchy. A typical trip should start at a residential road, and work its way up and then back down the hierarchy once on its way to its destination. There are some tricky judgements to make. There are some roads that I travel on all the time because they are the best way to get to important destinations; yet they move slowly. I know of roads with high speed limits and multiple lanes; yet they aren't the most important, because they're intended to handle rush-hour traffic for a few major companies; the rest of the time, they're empty. Aesthetics matter; you want a proper balance between roads of different priorities on your map; this is a case where considering aesthetics improves utility and vice-versa. -Alan From: "map...@att.net" To: talk-us@openstreetmap.org Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 8:45:28 AM Subject: [Talk-us] Road classification Hi, I hate to reopen an old subject but I'm not in agreement with the US classification system that exists. From reading past archive, it looks like this has been a contentious subject in the past. I propose the following. I have already added it to some web pages as in my experience it's the best/most logical heirarchy that works. I apologize in advance if I'm stepping on any toes. In OSM language the Highway feature is used to designate what we call roads. A motorway is a four+ lane, limited access, grade separated freeway. These can include Interstates, US Highways, State Highways, County Highways or even Farm to Market Roads if they meet certain criteria. These criteria are limited access,the use entrance/exit ramps to access the freeway. Intersections with other roads are at grade seperated crossings or ramps. A grade separated crossing means one road goes over or under the other. (ie. over/underpass) When Motorways meet other motorways they generally use ramps that are classified as Motorway Link. These motorways usually connect to other cities or move the traffic around and through a city. Limited access ring roads usually fall in this feature class also. A trunk is what a motorway becomes when it loses one of it's criteria. This usually occurs to US, State, County highways as they move outside the urban areas. Intersections with other roads can occur at grade and/or when ramps are no longer needed to access the road. Usually they remain 4+ lanes and may or may not be divided by a physical median. A primary road can be a US, State, County Highway or other road that connects two cities or moves traffic from one part of the city to the other. These are the highways that become Main St when they go through a small rural town. They will have traffic signals when they reach more densely populated areas. These are the roads you jump on when the freeway has an accident and you don't want to sit and wait it out. A secondary road moves traffic within a city. It would service only a certain area within a city. A tertiary road connects the residential roads to the higher classes: motorway, trunk, primary or secondary. I hope this clarifys things for some users. I know it's not going to please those who have already used other classification schemes. thanks, pete___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] Road classification
map...@att.net writes: > A motorway is a four+ lane, limited access, grade separated > freeway. Like an Interstate. > A trunk is what a motorway becomes when it loses one of it's criteria. Like NY-17 used to be (haven't driven on it in twenty years, so maybe the grade crossings have been eliminated), or like the Taconic State Parkway. > A primary road As is US-11, particularly relative to Interstate I-81. > A secondary road moves traffic within a city. It would service only > a certain area within a city. Mm, this is somewhat ambiguous. You could have a limited-access highway which only moves traffic within a city; example I-2XX highways. What are the criteria for secondary roads outside of cities? For example, what is US-11B, or US-11C ? They are roads equivalent in quality to US-11, however they are bypasses; are they primary or secondary? > I hope this clarifys things for some users. I know it's not going to please > those who have already used other classification schemes. IMHO (I may be wrong), but the solution to these quandries is: Use More Tags. The more tags you use to accurately describe a road, the less important becomes the "highway" tag. -- --my blog is athttp://blog.russnelson.com | Delegislation is a slippery Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok | slope to prosperity. 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-323-1241 | Fewer laws, more freedom. Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | Sheepdog | (Not a GOP supporter). ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
[Talk-us] Road classification
Hi, I hate to reopen an old subject but I'm not in agreement with the US classification system that exists. From reading past archive, it looks like this has been a contentious subject in the past. I propose the following. I have already added it to some web pages as in my experience it's the best/most logical heirarchy that works. I apologize in advance if I'm stepping on any toes. In OSM language the Highway feature is used to designate what we call roads. A motorway is a four+ lane, limited access, grade separated freeway. These can include Interstates, US Highways, State Highways, County Highways or even Farm to Market Roads if they meet certain criteria. These criteria are limited access,the use entrance/exit ramps to access the freeway. Intersections with other roads are at grade seperated crossings or ramps. A grade separated crossing means one road goes over or under the other. (ie. over/underpass) When Motorways meet other motorways they generally use ramps that are classified as Motorway Link. These motorways usually connect to other cities or move the traffic around and through a city. Limited access ring roads usually fall in this feature class also. A trunk is what a motorway becomes when it loses one of it's criteria. This usually occurs to US, State, County highways as they move outside the urban areas. Intersections with other roads can occur at grade and/or when ramps are no longer needed to access the road. Usually they remain 4+ lanes and may or may not be divided by a physical median. A primary road can be a US, State, County Highway or other road that connects two cities or moves traffic from one part of the city to the other. These are the highways that become Main St when they go through a small rural town. They will have traffic signals when they reach more densely populated areas. These are the roads you jump on when the freeway has an accident and you don't want to sit and wait it out. A secondary road moves traffic within a city. It would service only a certain area within a city. A tertiary road connects the residential roads to the higher classes: motorway, trunk, primary or secondary. I hope this clarifys things for some users. I know it's not going to please those who have already used other classification schemes. thanks, pete ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
