Re: [HOT] Highway=residential in Africa

[Alex Bogedain]

Hello All,

I am one of Chad Blevins' interns, and have been one of the more vocal ones
about being in disagreement with the Wiki and would like to do my part to
rationalize out why I am thinking this way.

In terms of the Unclassified/Tracks/Paths debate, in these rural areas
especially, I believe tracks should almost always win out.  I say this
because if these indeterminable lines pass by and connect houses/huts or
fields, then the road type is clearly not unclassified, as it has a
classification of connecting residential or agricultural areas.  Further,
it is indistinguishable for us at a distance to determine between tracks
and paths because one day a family could get a motorbike and start
traveling what could have been considered a path with a motorized vehicle,
or anyone for that matter could drive down the path/track on a motorbike to
access the houses or fields.  From my understanding, out in rural areas,
especially Africa, there are no controls on the modes of transportation as
transportation is limited to what any person is able to acquire within
their means.  Going forward into the future this means that the modes will
be changing as more families get motorbikes or 4 x 4 vehicles, thus,
classifying a road as a track covers all the bases for now and moving
forward.  The local population will be the ones to make the distinction and
things will change as time progresses.

To wrap up my thoughts on this, when viewing OSM (not logged in for
editing) residential and unclassified roads appear the same, but tracks
appear differently as how unmaintained roads would appear on nearly any map
around the world.  In terms of the PMI and other humanitarian initiatives,
it would be disingenuous to classify these narrow roads as unclassified as
the users of the map should be ready for a track, or possibly something
untraversable for their vehicles.  If we are to map in terms of an areas
actual use of roads, to my understanding unclassified would not cover these
types of roads and would not describe them accurately at all for actual
drive-ability.

Please let me know what you guys think!

Thank You,
Alex Bogedain



On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:46 AM, Chad Blevins  wrote:

> Hi John,
>
> You're absolutely correct.  When Courtney and I created the Mozambique
> Tracing Guide the original tasks were urban focused, and the scope has
> changed to rural areas.  Currently a group of interns are mapping those
> districts and I've had several inquiries about road classifications.  The
> guidance I’ve given is to tag all rural roads as unclassified unless they
> are clearly labeled/numbered as a “major” road, or very small pathways.
>
> The Africa roads wiki is great and was referenced when creating the
> Mozambique guide.  Many road examples in this part of the world are
> debatable as "unclassified", "tracks", or "paths".  It’s almost impossible
> to know the use and in some cases classifications may change based on time
> of year.  A subset of interns copied here (Forrest, Julia, and Alex) have
> agreed to review the Mozambique guidance and suggest edits for the rural
> landscape.  This could be a good opportunity for them to review and comment
> on the Highway Tag Africa wiki as well.
>
>
> More to come.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chad
>
> On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 8:01 AM, john whelan 
> wrote:
>
>> OSM has its roots in the UK and Germany, in the UK highways are
>> classified A, B, I think even C and other very minor roads were labelled
>> unclassified by Ordnance Survey historically so that is where the term
>> comes from.  The UK Ordnance Survey was historically important in creating
>> everyday maps.
>>
>> By using a standardised set of tags for highways it makes the rendering
>> systems life easier.  OSMand for example is used everywhere in the world
>> and if it had to know about a different set of tags for each country the
>> software would be much more complicated.  If you’re mapping in OSM of
>> course there is nothing to stop you tagging highways in any manner you
>> like.  The only problem is that the features will not be rendered by the
>> normal systems.
>>
>> If you’re mapping in a HOT project then you’re expected to follow the HOT
>> guidelines for tagging.  ie building=yes etc.
>>
>> The problem here is the instructions for a group of projects only contain
>> a subset of the highway types used for mapping in Africa as defined by the
>> African Highway Wiki and the examples shown are all urban areas so the
>> instructions although correct are incomplete as the project covers both
>> urban and rural areas.
>>
>> Cheerio John ​
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ___
>> HOT mailing list
>> HOT@openstreetmap.org
>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/hot
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *Chad Blevins*
> GeoCenter
> U.S. Global Development Lab
> USAID
> 202-712-0464
>
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[HOT] HOT Newsletter

[Cheryl Shaw]

Dear HOT Friends and Colleagues,

If you haven't had a chance, check out the recent HOT Newsletter and share
it with your friends.
http://eepurl.com/b20rL5
-- 

*Cheryl Shaw*
Operations Coordinator
cheryl.s...@hotosm.org 
@CShawHotosm

*Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team*
*Using OpenStreetMap for Humanitarian Response & Economic Development*
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[HOT] HOT Newsletter Edition 4

[Cheryl Shaw]

*Edition 4*
*HOT SUMMIT 2016 - Registration Open*

*Brussels* - Registration is now open for the Second Annual HOT Summit 2016
to be held in Brussels Thursday, September 22nd at the BTC Conference
Center - Espace Jacqmotte right before State of the Map-International.
This year’s theme is *OpenStreetMap, The Global HOT Community, and
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals*.

The Summit will bring together people from around the world working to make
open geographic data available to improve the places they live and work
through OpenStreetMap.  The Summit features two separate tracks to focus on
technology and community building based on the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals

that
emphasize participation from all sectors of society to meet ambitious
targets around the world’s most critical challenges by 2030.

Whether you’re a community builder, development professional, educator,
geographer, humanitarian, journalist, philanthropist, programmer, volunteer
mapper, or want to learn more about open data and OpenStreetMap -- you’re
invited and welcome!
 More information and registration




* World Humanitarian Summit *

*Istanbul* - HOT will participate in the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS)
May 23-24 as an exhibitor and participant in the Innovation Marketplace and
Side Events.  Selected as one of the 115 side event presenters, the side
event represents each of the five core responsibilities named in the
Secretary-General's Agenda for Humanity and are geographically balanced and
encompass a broad range of multi-stakeholder coordination.

HOT's side event will focus on "Urban Fragility, Vulnerability and
Resilience: Tools for assessment from Macro to Micro scale".  If you plan
on attending WHS be sure to stop by the HOT exhibit booth, innovation
marketplace and attend our side event.  Hope to see you there!

M
ore
information


*A Message from the Board of Directors Board Election Results*

  “While Tyler, Katja and Heather along
  with three HOT voting members Geoffrey,
  Iyan and Fred are in Istanbul at the World   Humanitarian Summit,
the  “Executive
  Director’s Desk” message falls to me.

*Blake Girardot-HOT Board President*

Filling my desk is HOT's response to the Sri Lanka flooding for the past
few days, and our thoughts are first with those enduring that crisis,
Ecuador’s earthquake aftermath and the countless other crises around the
world right now. But also filling my inbox are numerous emails dedicated to
how humanitarian mapping, open data and open tools are making a difference
around the world every single day and how we can all do more to support
that.

HOT elected a new Board of Directors and I am humbled to say I was elected
to the Board and as President of the organization. My colleagues on the
Board are Heather Leson, Katja Ulbert-Treasurer, Jorieke Vyncke-Secretary
and Dale Kunce-Vice-President.

On behalf of the new Board and those members of the world wide humanitarian
community that I speak with on a daily basis, I want to pass on our thanks
to the OSM Community. I hear it everyday and I wish you could too. The
successes I see everyday are only possible thanks to you and our fellow OSM
Community members.”

*Disaster Mapping - Ecuador Earthquake*
The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and
buckled highways along its Pacific coast, sending the Andean nation into a
state of emergency. HOT is supporting the response by assisting the local
OSM community to engage the global volunteer community and interface with
international aid organizations and imagery providers. *Updates
*
*Community Building*
*NARYN, Krygystan *- The Kyrgyz Mountains Environmental Education and
Citizen Science project

aims
at developing simple tools and activities for teachers to learn and conduct
scientific investigations on the water resources around their village, and
make the collected data publicly available. Read more



*DAR ES SAALAM, Tanzania* - All policy students are obsessed with the
effectiveness and feasibility of policies and programs that governments
implement. That is how we felt when we embarked on our Graduate Capstone
Project to evaluate the Humanitarian OpenStre

Re: [HOT] Sierra Leone contacts

[Heather Leson]

Thanks for sharing! And, welcome if they are on the list

Heather
On 15 Jun 2016 08:50, "Pete Masters"  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Rupert (rupertmaesglas), Nick (Tallguy) and I have just returned from
> Sierra Leone where we've been working with Red Cross and MSF on training
> for data collection and mapping. Some news from these specific projects to
> come, but I just wanted to mention to the HOT community a couple of people
> we met while there.
>
> The first is Morris [5 ], who has
> founded Sierra Leone's first innovation tech hub [1
>  & 2 ].
> Morris is working to provide a space, community, tech and training for
> locals to upskill in a whole load of different things, from ICT to
> entrepreneurship. He is really pushing open data and open source and is
> looking for collaborators. We ran a small mapping party on Monday evening
> and presented OSM / HOT and Missing Maps at a data boot camp run by code 4
> Africa yesterday and the appetite for OSM is big. If any of you are
> involved in projects in Sierra Leone (and especially if you are going
> there), do get in touch with the hub - there is not a huge amount of OSM
> expertise in the current community and they would love to get more people
> involved.
>
> The second is Slum Dwellers International (SDI) Sierra Leone [3
> ] and their data
> officer, Richard [6 ]. Richard works with
> SDI training slum communities to map themselves in order to better advocate
> for services and facilities from government ministries. This feels to me
> like a perfect fit for HOT. The data is not sensitive and a lot of it is
> very appropriate for OSM. The communities there use gps devices and smart
> phones to map their areas, the data is aggregated and then the people
> living in the area then validate the data together. These communities are
> amongst the most vulnerable when it comes to disease outbreaks and the data
> they hold could be of enormous benefit to NGOs and MoH when responding.
>
> Richard is another person to get in touch with if any of you are going to
> Freetown, but I also mention him because I wondered whether anyone else had
> any experience of working with SDI? They have launched a project recently
> called Know Your City [4
> ], which is a
> platform aimed to assist with advocacy and knowledge sharing. I am
> surprised I hadn't heard of it
>
> Apologies if that is a bit of a ramble, but just wanted to share these
> particular contacts with the HOT community
>
> Cheers,
>
> Pete
>
>
> [1] http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4230771354
> [2] http://sensi-sl.org/
> [3] http://sdinet.org/category/countries/sierra-leone/
> [4] http://www.knowyourcity.info/map.php#/app/ui/world
> [5] https://twitter.com/MORRISMARAH
> [6] https://twitter.com/riboc92
>
> --
> *Pete Masters*
> Missing Maps Project Coordinator
> +44 7921 781 518
>
> missingmaps.org 
>
> *@pedrito1414* 
> *@theMissingMaps* 
> *facebook.com/MissingMapsProject*
> 
>
> ___
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>
>
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[HOT] Sierra Leone contacts

[Pete Masters]

Hi all,

Rupert (rupertmaesglas), Nick (Tallguy) and I have just returned from
Sierra Leone where we've been working with Red Cross and MSF on training
for data collection and mapping. Some news from these specific projects to
come, but I just wanted to mention to the HOT community a couple of people
we met while there.

The first is Morris [5 ], who has founded
Sierra Leone's first innovation tech hub [1
 & 2 ].
Morris is working to provide a space, community, tech and training for
locals to upskill in a whole load of different things, from ICT to
entrepreneurship. He is really pushing open data and open source and is
looking for collaborators. We ran a small mapping party on Monday evening
and presented OSM / HOT and Missing Maps at a data boot camp run by code 4
Africa yesterday and the appetite for OSM is big. If any of you are
involved in projects in Sierra Leone (and especially if you are going
there), do get in touch with the hub - there is not a huge amount of OSM
expertise in the current community and they would love to get more people
involved.

The second is Slum Dwellers International (SDI) Sierra Leone [3
] and their data
officer, Richard [6 ]. Richard works with SDI
training slum communities to map themselves in order to better advocate for
services and facilities from government ministries. This feels to me like a
perfect fit for HOT. The data is not sensitive and a lot of it is very
appropriate for OSM. The communities there use gps devices and smart phones
to map their areas, the data is aggregated and then the people living in
the area then validate the data together. These communities are amongst the
most vulnerable when it comes to disease outbreaks and the data they hold
could be of enormous benefit to NGOs and MoH when responding.

Richard is another person to get in touch with if any of you are going to
Freetown, but I also mention him because I wondered whether anyone else had
any experience of working with SDI? They have launched a project recently
called Know Your City [4
], which is a platform
aimed to assist with advocacy and knowledge sharing. I am surprised I
hadn't heard of it

Apologies if that is a bit of a ramble, but just wanted to share these
particular contacts with the HOT community

Cheers,

Pete


[1] http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4230771354
[2] http://sensi-sl.org/
[3] http://sdinet.org/category/countries/sierra-leone/
[4] http://www.knowyourcity.info/map.php#/app/ui/world
[5] https://twitter.com/MORRISMARAH
[6] https://twitter.com/riboc92

-- 
*Pete Masters*
Missing Maps Project Coordinator
+44 7921 781 518

missingmaps.org 

*@pedrito1414* 
*@theMissingMaps* 
*facebook.com/MissingMapsProject*

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Re: [HOT] [OSM-talk] [Talk-us] Reporting Attribution Issues on Mapbox maps

[Serge Wroclawski]

On Tue, Jun 14, 2016 at 10:24 PM, Mikel Maron  wrote:

>
> > Webpages not hosted by Mapbox that are
> > using Mapbox tiles with
> > OSM-derived data would be responsible for
> > their own attribution, so
> > you'd need to contact them like with any other site.
>
> Actually, our support team will work to resolve attribution issues with
> maps using Mapbox tiles anywhere. Expect that this will resolve issues more
> expediently, since we likely have contact directly to responsible people
> for the site.
>
>
Glad to hear it.


> I believe Serge was wondering about attribution issues with sites using
> tiles or data not from Mapbox. That would include tiles from OSM.org.
>

I was specifically asked about a MapBox user who goes to MapBox, downloads
a map and then does not have proper attribution.

I'm glad to see that MapBox is pledging to handle these issues.

- Serge
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Re: [HOT] [OSM-talk] [Talk-us] Reporting Attribution Issues on Mapbox maps

[Mikel Maron]

 blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px 
#715FFA solid !important;  padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white 
!important; } 
> Webpages not hosted by Mapbox that are > using Mapbox tiles with 
> OSM-derived data would be responsible for > their own attribution, so 
> you'd need to contact them like with any other site.
Actually, our support team will work to resolve attribution issues with maps 
using Mapbox tiles anywhere. Expect that this will resolve issues more 
expediently, since we likely have contact directly to responsible people for 
the site.
I believe Serge was wondering about attribution issues with sites using tiles 
or data not from Mapbox. That would include tiles from OSM.org. I don't have a 
solution, but would like to figure it out. I do believe that the more 
coordinated and respectful we make the process, the more likely issues will be 
resolved, and stronger relationships will develop with users of OSM data.

Mikel

On Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 4:49 PM, Paul Norman  wrote:

On 6/10/2016 3:03 PM, Serge Wroclawski wrote:
> But I'm a little concerned about non-MB hosted maps. If not this URL, 
> where can we report  attribution issues related to non-hosted Mapbox 
> maps and  can you link to that other place we can report attribution 
> issues related to that other kind of customer from the same web page?

Webpages not hosted by Mapbox that are using Mapbox tiles with 
OSM-derived data would be responsible for their own attribution, so 
you'd need to contact them like with any other site. If someone isn't 
comfortable doing this or not having success, they can forward the 
information to le...@osmfoundation.org and the LWG can look into the issue.

Also, if someone wants to contact Mapbox about an issue on mapbox.com 
and doesn't want to use the webform, they could use one of the contact 
methods for their designated agent for notifications of claimed 
infringement at http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/m/map-box.pdf.

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Re: [HOT] Highway=residential in Africa

[John Whelan]

First you are using OpenStreetMap and so anything can be tagged any 
value no ifs no but about it.


Second when you view OSM you are never looking at the raw database.  You 
are looking at what a rendering system shows.  On my machine JOSM shows 
unclassified and residential in different colours.


Maperitive for example can be used to display anything in any way so how 
the roads are displayed to you is irrelevant.  Routing software may take 
into account the highway classification.


Before the African wiki was done a very wide range of inconsistent 
values where used to tag highways in Africa.  It was people working in 
HOT who struggled to come up with a more consistent way to classify 
highways and the African wiki is what they arrived at.


I think Pierre was involved and a lot of discussion including locals 
took place over the issues.  I think the final outcome was more let's 
classify the highways according to their function, ie if it leads only 
to a field its a track.  That's probably why the use of path rather than 
footway was chosen, as Suzan has mentioned motorcycles use these paths.


I don't think you are aware of why unclassified is used as a tag.  It 
goes back in time to the roots of OSM which started in the UK and 
Germany.  Ordinance Survey set up shop in the UK with the idea of 
creating maps for military use.  They classified the major highways as 
A, B, so A1 led from London North to Scotland etc.  The minor roads 
which weren't given a number were labelled quite simply unclassified and 
that's the origin.  In the UK it means a minor road and its use to mean 
the same has been widely adopted within OSM.  There are error checking 
systems that throw errors up if a residential highway does not have a 
name by the way, unclassified highways don't get flagged the same way.


There are definite advantages to using a standardised approach but it 
isn't mandatory at all, in fact its only in HOT with its tiling and 
validation system that the rules as such are followed and even then if 
the highway has been mapped outside of HOT ie before the HOT tiles I 
will leave it exactly as it has been mapped when validating.


I think you have to take into account different points of view, a dutch 
mapper mentioned to me that he would never map a dirt road as anything 
but a track in Holland, true enough but in Africa some dirt roads are 
much more important than others and so what is relevant in Holland or 
the US is not so relevant in Africa.


In OSM what the locals decide is correct is taken as gospel, and their 
views were taken into account in the wiki.  If the Peace Corp chooses to 
use OSM then I think it should abide by the very few OSM rules there 
are. You are always free to set up your own servers and create your own 
mapping database but I think you'll do better within OSM than outside 
it.  If you're interested in tagging highways that a Peace Corp van or 
car can use then car=yes is an option etc. Certainly within JOSM, with 
iD you may have to live within the limitations of the software.  If you 
do so tag the highway by the way you'll need a rendering system to show 
them.


Again the Peace Corps may come up with its own set of instructions that 
do not follow the wiki.  Fine but remember you're working with 
volunteers and old fogies like me have got used to the wiki so we're 
quite likely to quietly drift off and map / validate other projects.


Have fun

Cheerio John


Alex Bogedain 
June 14, 2016 5:51 PM
Hello All,

I am one of Chad Blevins' interns, and have been one of the more vocal 
ones about being in disagreement with the Wiki and would like to do my 
part to rationalize out why I am thinking this way.


In terms of the Unclassified/Tracks/Paths debate, in these rural areas 
especially, I believe tracks should almost always win out.  I say this 
because if these indeterminable lines pass by and connect houses/huts 
or fields, then the road type is clearly not unclassified, as it has a 
classification of connecting residential or agricultural areas.  
Further, it is indistinguishable for us at a distance to determine 
between tracks and paths because one day a family could get a 
motorbike and start traveling what could have been considered a path 
with a motorized vehicle, or anyone for that matter could drive down 
the path/track on a motorbike to access the houses or fields.  From my 
understanding, out in rural areas, especially Africa, there are no 
controls on the modes of transportation as transportation is limited 
to what any person is able to acquire within their means.  Going 
forward into the future this means that the modes will be changing as 
more families get motorbikes or 4 x 4 vehicles, thus, classifying a 
road as a track covers all the bases for now and moving forward.  The 
local population will be the ones to make the distinction and things 
will change as time progresses.


To wrap up my thoughts on this, when viewing 

Re: [HOT] [OSM-talk] [Talk-us] Reporting Attribution Issues on Mapbox maps

[Paul Norman]

On 6/10/2016 3:03 PM, Serge Wroclawski wrote:
But I'm a little concerned about non-MB hosted maps. If not this URL, 
where can we report  attribution issues related to non-hosted Mapbox 
maps and  can you link to that other place we can report attribution 
issues related to that other kind of customer from the same web page?


Webpages not hosted by Mapbox that are using Mapbox tiles with 
OSM-derived data would be responsible for their own attribution, so 
you'd need to contact them like with any other site. If someone isn't 
comfortable doing this or not having success, they can forward the 
information to le...@osmfoundation.org and the LWG can look into the issue.


Also, if someone wants to contact Mapbox about an issue on mapbox.com 
and doesn't want to use the webform, they could use one of the contact 
methods for their designated agent for notifications of claimed 
infringement at http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/m/map-box.pdf.


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[HOT] Call for Proposals-HOT Summit 2016

[Cheryl Shaw]

We invite you to propose a talk for the Second Annual HOT Summit 2016 to be
held in Brussels September 22.  Deadline is June 30!  Please share with
your friends and colleagues.
  We want to hear from you!  Check out the link for more details and pass
it on!

https://hotosm.org/updates/2016-06-13_call_for_proposals_hot_summit_2016

-- 

*Cheryl Shaw*
Operations Coordinator
cheryl.s...@hotosm.org 
@CShawHotosm

*Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team*
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Re: [HOT] Highway=residential in Africa

[andy Gardner]

Thanks Suzan.
Andy
 

On Tuesday, 14 June 2016, 7:50, Suzan Reed  wrote:
 

 The phrase “mainly by pedestrians” can mean a path can also be use by a car, 
horses, or a motorbike as well. 

A mapper has to use good judgment, hopefully based on well written, clear and 
complete instructions, and in this case, the Africa wiki. If the instructions 
aren’t clear, it just takes much more time to get a project completed. Someone 
maps incorrectly because the instructions aren’t well written, then a second 
person has to clean it up or invalidate it, and so on and so on, and this 
causes a lot of wasted time by a lot of people. The original mapper feels badly 
because the work is invalidated and so on it goes. So whomever writes the 
instructions has a responsibility to all the other mappers who come to their 
project to help them do a good job the first time through. Rewriting the 
instructions when it’s discovered they aren’t clear should be easy. 

I really don’t like having to fix other people’s work when the Instructions 
could have been written more clearly and thats what I’m hearing from other 
people, too. 

Hope this is helpful. 

Suzan 


On Jun 13, 2016, at 1:36 PM, andy Gardner  wrote:

It says on the highway tag Africa wiki for highway=path "Paths not large enough 
for cars and mainly for pedestrians".
I take your point about motorbikes Suzan but how do you tell from the image 
that a path sized way is being used as a road? would you go by density of 
buildings?


On Monday, 13 June 2016, 20:35, john whelan  wrote:


>so limiting to a certain size vehicle is putting too much of a restriction on 
>mapping in Africa, in my opinion.

and I think that was the conclusion of the people who created the African 
Highway wiki, if the highway is wide enough for two trucks side by side you can 
guess its not a path, but other than that it is difficult to know, especially 
as the visible width may change with the seasons.

Cheerio John

On 13 June 2016 at 15:14, Suzan Reed  wrote:
In some rural areas people have a lot of different vehicles for transport. Some 
adapt motorbikes with cargo carriers making them into little trucks and 
motorbikes can be loaded in various ways and are used as transport, and these 
can travel on many tracks and minor/unclassified roads, so limiting to a 
certain size vehicle is putting too much of a restriction on mapping in Africa, 
in my opinion.

Suzan


On Jun 13, 2016, at 11:54 AM, andy Gardner  wrote:

Hello there, Should the limit for a road perhaps be the width of  a vehicle and 
under for a path? (A Land Rover's roughly 2m wide). There's a scale on JOSM and 
ID. Couldn't see one on Potlatch.

Andy


On Monday, 13 June 2016, 17:48, Chad Blevins  wrote:


Hi John,

You're absolutely correct.  When Courtney and I created the Mozambique Tracing 
Guide the original tasks were urban focused, and the scope has changed to rural 
areas.  Currently a group of interns are mapping those districts and I've had 
several inquiries about road classifications.  The guidance I’ve given is to 
tag all rural roads as unclassified unless they are clearly labeled/numbered as 
a “major” road, or very small pathways.

The Africa roads wiki is great and was referenced when creating the Mozambique 
guide.  Many road examples in this part of the world are debatable as 
"unclassified", "tracks", or "paths".  It’s almost impossible to know the use 
and in some cases classifications may change based on time of year.  A subset 
of interns copied here (Forrest, Julia, and Alex) have agreed to review the 
Mozambique guidance and suggest edits for the rural landscape.  This could be a 
good opportunity for them to review and comment on the Highway Tag Africa wiki 
as well.

More to come.

Thanks,
Chad

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 8:01 AM, john whelan  wrote:
OSM has its roots in the UK and Germany, in the UK highways are classified A, 
B, I think even C and other very minor roads were labelled unclassified by 
Ordnance Survey historically so that is where the term comes from.  The UK 
Ordnance Survey was historically important in creating everyday maps.

By using a standardised set of tags for highways it makes the rendering systems 
life easier.  OSMand for example is used everywhere in the world and if it had 
to know about a different set of tags for each country the software would be 
much more complicated.  If you’re mapping in OSM of course there is nothing to 
stop you tagging highways in any manner you like.  The only problem is that the 
features will not be rendered by the normal systems.

If you’re mapping in a HOT project then you’re expected to follow the HOT 
guidelines for tagging.  ie building=yes etc.

The problem here is the instructions for a group of projects only contain a 
subset of the highway types used for mapping in Africa as defined by the 
African Highway Wiki and the examples shown are all urban areas so the 
instructions although correct are incomplete as the project covers both u