Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-25 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
2014-03-23 20:25 GMT+01:00 vali : > Of course no ordinary car is going to use those tracks. Keep in main the > track definition: > > "Roads for agricultural use, forest tracks etc." > > Cars are not agricultural vehicles and they should not be used as a > reference when we are talking about tracks

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-23 Thread David Bannon
On Sun, 2014-03-23 at 20:55 +0100, vali wrote: > I agree we should find a tag to note "practicability". In an ideal world Vali, I'd agree. But we do need to think about all the roads already in the database. I'd prefer to extend and encourage greater use of an existing, well used tag if possible.

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-23 Thread Fernando Trebien
If it's someone's property, it should have an access=private tag. Some owners may allow passage (access=permissive), in which case tracks would be routable and likely interesting shortcuts. The routing app needs to decide whether the shortcut is worth the trouble. Besides, tracktype can be used on

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-23 Thread vali
I agree we should find a tag to note "practicability". Tracktype would be great, but actual grades are only applicable when there terrain is mostly earth and no rocks. That's the reason I put those pics. Hard surface does not mean anything about "how good" a track is to use vehicles in, and surface

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-23 Thread vali
None of those tracks should be used for tracking, they are not meant for cars. Most of the time they will end in someone's land/property anyways. 2014-03-21 1:29 GMT+01:00 Fernando Trebien : > But at least now I know I need to review my values more > pessimistically. (Which is what I wanted afte

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-23 Thread vali
Of course no ordinary car is going to use those tracks. Keep in main the track definition: "Roads for agricultural use, forest tracks etc." Cars are not agricultural vehicles and they should not be used as a reference when we are talking about tracks. By agricultural vehicles, the main and almost

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-21 Thread Fernando Trebien
It can be a track indeed, my choice would depend on actual width. It's impossible to be sure if a standard car fits it from a fixed photo, perspective can be tricky at such assessments. The wiki articles on mtb:scale and sac_scale state very clearly that these tags can be applied to both tracks an

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-21 Thread Pieren
On Fri, Mar 21, 2014 at 1:09 AM, Fernando Trebien wrote: > If so many people agree that the current values are inappropriate "smoothness" was very controversial from its beginning. It is not used by any data consumer and probably will never be in the future (for the reasons already reported here

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Fernando Trebien
But at least now I know I need to review my values more pessimistically. (Which is what I wanted after all.) On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 9:27 PM, Fernando Trebien wrote: > http://oi61.tinypic.com/6ozcdw.jpg > grade5? In the wiki: "Almost always an unpaved track lacking hard > materials, uncompacted,

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Fernando Trebien
http://oi61.tinypic.com/6ozcdw.jpg grade5? In the wiki: "Almost always an unpaved track lacking hard materials, uncompacted, subtle on the landscape, with surface of soil/sand/grass." So if you guys agree that this is grade5 (or worse), what's written in the wiki is far from accurate. On Thu, Mar

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Fernando Trebien
I believe I understand exactly what you mean, David, and I fully agree. We could start by advising people to use the values for smoothness in their descriptions. If so many people agree that the current values are inappropriate, let's write a proposal for the new values, get it approved (should be

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Dave Swarthout
I generally agree with Martin's assessment. None of these tracks is all that suitable for getting from one place to another in any reasonable amount of time, if ever. The photos point out quite well the limitations of the tracktype definitions. On Fri, Mar 21, 2014 at 6:47 AM, Martin Koppenhoefer

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
2014-03-20 22:26 GMT+01:00 vali : > I have some pics to show what I am talking about: > > http://oi59.tinypic.com/33fala8.jpg > http://oi60.tinypic.com/1zmmrlt.jpg > > These should be trackytpe 2 or maybe 1. > to me the first one looks like highway path and the second one like tracktype grade 4

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Dave Swarthout
Vali, those are some of the nastiest tracks I've ever seen. No ordinary car is going to be traversing those and even most 4WD will be forced to drive very slowly in order to avoid the bigger, protruding rocks. As for tracktype, there is no "grade" type to describe them unless we extend the grade sc

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread vali
Thanks David I don't like smoothness values either. Problem is this key does't take in account other things that can prevent certain type of vehicles from using that type of track. I put an example in the last pic with a track with good surface but everything else is not so good. At first I saw

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread David Bannon
Vali, great contribution to the discussion. The three photos sort of span the things we are talking about, confused a little by the fact that they don't really suit 'cars' ! tracktype= is really focused on [cars, suv, 4x4, trucks] but useful info for bike or walkers. I sort of think 'smoothnes

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread vali
Hi I tried to figure out how to tag these tracks "the right way" but after reading the wiki and this thread it seems the tracks discussed are almost like gravel roads or tracks in farmlands. Most tracks here are old (some of them centuries old), very twisty and the maintenance is almost none. I h

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread David Bannon
On Thu, 2014-03-20 at 11:50 -0300, Fernando Trebien wrote: > Perhaps what people worry about here is "how soft" the surface is. Trouble is Fernando, that in many cases the problem is not in fact 'softness', it could be rocks, ruts, slippery, steepness, angle (left/right) and lots more. The bigges

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Kytömaa Lauri
David Bannon wrote: >"Should I use this road or not ?" > tracktype= does claim to use that approach It's a shame that we, the community, don't excel at documenting. The part about "how well maintained" on the Key:tracktype page was added later after the values. There is a connection, but trackty

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Fernando Trebien
What I mean is that the same idea does not apply so often and so extremely and in such a regular fashion and for long periods to other kinds of roads. That's why I said "in fact, of snow". I would expect to see something very similar in southern Argentina and Chile, in Antarctica, in Greenland, and

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread John F. Eldredge
The Russian "winter roads" situation is not unique. From what I have read, the same situation applies in some parts of Canada and Alaska. On March 20, 2014 10:58:01 AM CDT, Fernando Trebien wrote: > In Brazil, these conditions are somewhat often permanent (or at least > expected to be permane

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Fernando Trebien
In Brazil, these conditions are somewhat often permanent (or at least expected to be permanent) when they happen. Sometimes it's due to poor administration, which changes only every 4 years. Sometimes it's due to poor construction, which costs a lot to fix. Sometimes it's due to weather, which in m

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
2014-03-20 15:50 GMT+01:00 Fernando Trebien : > Perhaps what people worry about here is "how soft" the surface is. > There may be various degrees of "softness" to be measured. > actually to me the problem seems that these properties are somehow dynamic. If the surface is unpaved it will depend a

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Fernando Trebien
In fact, the picture in this article does correspond to the description of grade4: "Almost always an unpaved track prominently with soil/sand/grass, but with some hard materials, or compressed materials mixed in." Perhaps what people worry about here is "how soft" the surface is. There may be vari

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
2014-03-20 11:40 GMT+01:00 David Bannon : > > as the current system from 1 to 5 is an absolute one (5 being worst), > > No Martin, that is not the case. Nothing in the definition to indicate > that grade5 is the worst possible. Fact is that there are very many > roads far, far worse that the grade

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
2014-03-20 12:42 GMT+01:00 Richard Z. : > That means that the description of grade5 in the wiki should be fixed as > similar or worse than the road to Jakutsk: >http://www.ssqq.com/ARCHIVE/vinlin27c.htm > looking at those pictures it seems as if that's not even a track but a road. If it were

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Jean-Marc Liotier
On 20/03/2014 11:40, David Bannon wrote: We both agree it would be a bad thing to redefine existing widely used tags. WRT your answer to Fernando, again, Martin, I suggest, with the greatest of respect, that you may not have experienced just how bad some roads can be. A few months ago, I spent

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Richard Z.
On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 09:40:15PM +1100, David Bannon wrote: > A few months ago, I spent two long days traversing a 250Km section of > the "Kennedy Development Rd" in Queensland. No part of it even > approached the grade5 described in tracktype= . There are many other > roads, world wide, often q

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread David Bannon
On Thu, 2014-03-20 at 09:02 +0100, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote: > as the current system from 1 to 5 is an absolute one (5 being worst), No Martin, that is not the case. Nothing in the definition to indicate that grade5 is the worst possible. Fact is that there are very many roads far, far worse tha

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
Am 19/mar/2014 um 23:35 schrieb David Bannon : >> Please note that the track type scale goes from 1 to 5, there is no such >> thing as a grade6 > Indeed. What I said was I believe there should be 6,7 and 8. There is already > a small number of =grade6 in the database as the current system fr

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-20 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
> Am 20/mar/2014 um 06:53 schrieb Fernando Trebien : > > Wondering if any country would be doing worse than Brazil in terms of > road infrastructure, I found this: > http://global.umich.edu/2014/02/worlds-most-dangerous-roads-are-in-africa-middle-east-latin-america/ OT here, but I'd expect the

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-19 Thread Fernando Trebien
Mapping has a conflict: we want to be precise enough to make a useful map (more tags), but we also want to map quickly (less tags). Describing the surface probably is one of those problems that lies near the middle of these opposing goals, and finding the perfect balance is the challenge. For now,

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-19 Thread Dave Swarthout
I just read (almost) the entire thread about smoothness Fernando mentioned here http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:Accepted_features/Smoothness#Renaming_current_valuesand I must say, it looks like an uphill battle to make substantial changes in any definition of a road's usability for routing

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-19 Thread Fernando Trebien
I think that adding the idea of "risk of degradation" is very enriching to the article. Just to test the concept: if tracktype means durability/endurance more than firmness, what tracktype would you (and others) expect to see alongside with surface=stone? On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 2:14 AM, Dave Swa

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-19 Thread Fernando Trebien
I think you mean that we should redefine the meaning of the values of the tracktype tag. I'm wondering if that's good because the text has been essentially stable since december 2011, when the article got its head paragraphs. Descriptions of tag values have been essentially the same since 2008, whe

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-19 Thread David Bannon
Thanks Martin. On Wed, 2014-03-19 at 13:15 +0100, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote: > grade1 is mostly asphalted, (and comprises also heavily > compacted hardcore with similar characteristics). You are of course quite right. I was paraphrasing the end user. Sorry. > Please note that the track type scal

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-19 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
> Am 18/mar/2014 um 23:36 schrieb David Bannon : > > Please lets think of tracktype= as - > > 1. OK, its unsealed but smooth, level, well looked after. grade1 is mostly asphalted, (and comprises also heavily compacted hardcore with similar characteristics). Please note that the track type sc

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-18 Thread David Bannon
Yes Dave (Swarthout), I share your views here. I'd rather we looked at a rating that reflected how well maintained and usable the road is likely to be. That is what most road users want to know. "Should I use this road or not ?" tracktype= does claim to use that approach and that why its so popu

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread Dave Swarthout
Yes, I agree firmness works better than stiffness for describing a surface. I still would prefer a term that better characterizes what Fernando said above: "To me, the idea [of] a firm/soft mixture seems closely related to "how well maintained" the track/road is, as mixtures that are not so durable

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread Fernando Trebien
"Firmness" sounds good to me: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/firmness I know that "soundness" means the same but has some additional meanings (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soundness), "firmness" is more specific. On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 9:09 PM, johnw wrote: > > > > On Ma

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread johnw
On Mar 18, 2014, at 1:35 AM, Fernando Trebien wrote: > Replacing 'stiffness' > with something else is absolutely fine with me. What about firmness? soundness? Javbw ___ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread Fernando Trebien
Two subjective opinions that agree create "consensus", this is I believe what we seek in OSM when defining tags. Replacing 'stiffness' with something else is absolutely fine with me. I think the word we replace it with will essentially be the definition of tracktype. I'm sure I'm not the best perso

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread Fernando Trebien
But if the surface is rocky or stone, can it really be described as "surface of gravel mixed with a varying amount of sand, silt, and clay" (grade2) or "even mixture of hard and soft materials" (grade3) and so on? On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 12:03 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote: >> Am 16/mar/2014 um 2

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread John Sturdy
On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 1:44 PM, John Willis wrote: > Since OSM uses British English, what word would you pair with road, as in > "dirt road?" > > Earthen road? > > Inquiring minds want to know. Either "compacted earth road" (more specific) or "unsurfaced road" (which I prefer); or "green lane"

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
> Am 16/mar/2014 um 22:07 schrieb Fernando Trebien : > > One question: do you think that an almost flat natural rock path > should be tracktype=grade1 (because it's closer to "compacted") or > tracktype=grade5 (because it's not "constructed")? I think this depends how even/smooth it is, grade1 is

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread Dave Swarthout
I knew I would be opening Pandora's box when I made those statements. As for tracks, I should have prefaced my remarks with *In My Opinion* — I am well aware that it's too late to change the current situation. I would still argue that smoothness is a valuable parameter. Ignoring speed limits and s

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
> Am 17/mar/2014 um 04:47 schrieb Dave Swarthout : > > A track is a track (a rough road or trail, unpaved, mostly un-maintained) > suitable for light use only, and is never a highway. actually in osm a track is a way for agricultural and forestry purposes (if fishing had more importance in t

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-17 Thread David Bannon
Good on you Dave, I do like a good rant ! On Mon, 2014-03-17 at 10:47 +0700, Dave Swarthout wrote: > IMO tracktype should describe the physical > characteristics of a track, not a highway, and it should have nothing > to do with "how well maintained" it is. Great in an ideal world Dave. Ho

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-16 Thread David Bannon
On Sun, 2014-03-16 at 22:11 -0300, Fernando Trebien wrote: > Do you all agree with these wiki edits? > 1. Yes, almost. Not too happy with the term 'stiffness'. Maybe just remove the term 'stiffness' ? 2. Yes. 3. Yes. 4. Yes, I guess so ... However, while a good job Fernando, I still think w

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-16 Thread Dave Swarthout
Fernando, Thanks for your efforts on this troublesome topic. I've been following the conversation but have avoided adding any comments up to now because of the complexity of any solutions I could offer. I have problems with the whole relationship between tracktype, surface, and smoothness and h

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-16 Thread Fernando Trebien
Do you all agree with these wiki edits? http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Key%3Atracktype&diff=1002090&oldid=992679 http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Template%3AMap_Features%3Atracktype&diff=1002096&oldid=971383 http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Key%3Asm

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-16 Thread Fernando Trebien
On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 6:41 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote: > > 2014-03-15 16:29 GMT+01:00 Fernando Trebien : > >> "tracktype" is the "degree of compaction" of the material >> (regardless of material) > > > > I have always more thought of it "how much it was constructed", while > tracktype=1 is a

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-15 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
2014-03-15 16:29 GMT+01:00 Fernando Trebien : > "tracktype" is the "degree of compaction" of the material > (regardless of material) > I have always more thought of it "how much it was constructed", while tracktype=1 is a paved road, 5 will be a track on grass (almost or not constructed at all)

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-15 Thread Fernando Trebien
It's not that straightforward to me since tracktype is described in terms of surface materials, which can have widely varying levels of compaction. But great, I'll update the articles trying to make this distinction clearer, then post back here my changes. On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 1:59 PM, johnw

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-15 Thread johnw
> > > In summary: > - "tracktype tag"="surface:compaction" > - "smoothness tag"="surface:regularity" > - "surface tag"="surface:material_structure" That is how I understand it. the Smoothness is the most subjective one, but the others should be pretty straightforward. Javbw ___

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-15 Thread Fernando Trebien
Please correct me if I'm wrong, after reading what you said, I think that the point that I was missing was this: - "tracktype" is the "degree of compaction" of the material (regardless of material) - "smoothness" is the "degree of irregularity" of the surface (for wheeled vehicles, also regardless

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-15 Thread johnw
On Mar 15, 2014, at 12:50 PM, Fernando Trebien wrote: > How surprisingly similar the landscape in this area is to the place > where I live in Brazil. That's really pretty! > Anyway, back to your place. I believe you'd call this a dirt road > leading into a private property: > https://www.goo

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread Fernando Trebien
How surprisingly similar the landscape in this area is to the place where I live in Brazil. (If you're curious: https://www.google.com/maps?q=Porto+Alegre&ll=-30.228926,-51.066213&spn=0.013942,0.047979&t=m&hnear=Porto+Alegre,+Rio+Grande+do+Sul,+Brasil&z=15&layer=c&cbll=-30.228942,-51.066222&panoid=

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread johnw
On Mar 15, 2014, at 5:05 AM, Fernando Trebien wrote: > Well, any information you add does help. If you could use something > more specific than "dirt" ("gravel" is more precise, for instance) Not when the road is dirt as opposed to gravel. I live on a gravel road in Japan. My aunt lived on a

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread Richard Welty
On 3/14/14 4:05 PM, Fernando Trebien wrote: > Well, any information you add does help. If you could use something > more specific than "dirt" ("gravel" is more precise, for instance), it > would be even better. (That's my point: "dirt" is good, something more > is specific such as "compacted", "ear

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread Fernando Trebien
Well, any information you add does help. If you could use something more specific than "dirt" ("gravel" is more precise, for instance), it would be even better. (That's my point: "dirt" is good, something more is specific such as "compacted", "earth", "sand" or "clay" is even better). The editors h

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread Richard Welty
On 3/14/14 3:11 PM, Fernando Trebien wrote: > Considering that "surface" is loosely defined (it can have any value) > and no rules are imposed on it, I believe that ground and dirt are > acceptable values, but not quite desirable, as their meaning is too > low quality (too imprecise) for applicatio

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread Fernando Trebien
Considering that "surface" is loosely defined (it can have any value) and no rules are imposed on it, I believe that ground and dirt are acceptable values, but not quite desirable, as their meaning is too low quality (too imprecise) for applications such as routing and even rendering of detailed su

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread Philip Barnes
On Fri, 2014-03-14 at 22:44 +0900, John Willis wrote: > Since OSM uses British English, what word would you pair with road, as in > "dirt road?" > > Earthen road? > > Inquiring minds want to know. There is no usage of dirt road in the UK most, if not all, public roads are hard surfaced (altho

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread John Willis
Since OSM uses British English, what word would you pair with road, as in "dirt road?" Earthen road? Inquiring minds want to know. J Sent from my iPad > On Mar 14, 2014, at 10:18 PM, John Sturdy wrote: > >> On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 3:09 PM, ael wrote: >>> On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 09:34:24A

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread John Sturdy
On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 3:09 PM, ael wrote: > On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 09:34:24AM +, jonathan wrote: >> Here's my take from an Englishman! >> >> While the term dirt road is used here, it is much rarer as all > > From another English person, I would say that "dirt" in British English > is unders

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread Richard Welty
On 3/14/14 4:54 AM, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote: > >> Am 13/mar/2014 um 22:31 schrieb David Bannon : >> >> We often describe a gravel road as a dirt road > > > agreed, but would you say it has a "dirt surface"? > i certainly wouldn't. i use unpaved as the more generic term, and dirt or gravel when i

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-14 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
> Am 13/mar/2014 um 22:31 schrieb David Bannon : > > We often describe a gravel road as a dirt road agreed, but would you say it has a "dirt surface"? cheers, Martin ___ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.or

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Fernando Trebien
Keeping up with you: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Template%3AMap_Features%3Asurface&diff=1000695&oldid=1000659 It seems science defines "soil" more broadly, we sure can expect people to choose based on common (not scientific) usage. From Wikipedia: "[Soil] is a natural body that

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread johnw
+1 for dirt. There is a distinct difference between a dirt and gravel roads, as well as sand. In the US, dirt roads - especially fire and forestry roads - are maintained for private and emergency access. Most of these roads are maintained by grading, but are not surfaced with gravel in any way

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Dave Swarthout
I agree with David Bannon when he says " 'earth' and 'ground' are really not very informative terms" when it comes to road surfaces but not what he says about dirt, and with most of what Martin said in his recent post, but especially that a "dirt road does not contain gravel" even though we colloqu

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Fernando Trebien
Well, I've updated the descriptions in the wiki for ground, dirt and earth: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Template%3AMap_Features%3Asurface&diff=1000653&oldid=978363 Does it look ok? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 6:31 PM, David Bannon wrote: > > In Australia, we refer to a "dirt roa

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread David Bannon
In Australia, we refer to a "dirt road" meaning just about any unsealed road. Very rarely use "earth" or "ground". Ground sounds to me more like the level than the surface, I'd argue most roads are at ground level ! We often describe a gravel road as a dirt road, as such a road goes through its n

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
> Am 13/mar/2014 um 20:57 schrieb Fernando Trebien : > > So: > - "earth" is a close synonym of "soil" (though it's not exactly the same > thing) > - "ground" could refer to: soil/earth (no vegetation), soil/earth + > vegetation (say, grass) IMHO if it's grass then the mapper will most likely

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Martin Koppenhoefer
> Am 13/mar/2014 um 15:56 schrieb fly : > > Well, I would consider earth as earth where ground could be earth but > does not have to be. +1, both are probably an indication that the way is travelled frequently enough/compacted to some level that prevents vegetation (ok, this surely depends o

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Fernando Trebien
So: - "earth" is a close synonym of "soil" (though it's not exactly the same thing) - "ground" could refer to: soil/earth (no vegetation), soil/earth + vegetation (say, grass) - "dirt" could refer to: soil/earth, clay, sand, arguably gravel (it may not be correct but it may be a good idea to clarif

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Murry McEntire
On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 11:01 AM, Fernando Trebien < fernando.treb...@gmail.com> wrote: > It seems that: > - if a surface can be grass or paved, asphalt, concrete, > paving_stones, etc., then it seems the only reason to state "the > surface consists of ground" is if it's unpaved and without vegeta

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Fernando Trebien
It seems that: - if a surface can be grass or paved, asphalt, concrete, paving_stones, etc., then it seems the only reason to state "the surface consists of ground" is if it's unpaved and without vegetation, right? - the American usage of "dirt" (as in "your car will get dirty") is a broad descript

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Tod Fitch
While I'd probably colloquially call it a "dirt road", your description of the construction sounds suspiciously like the construction developed by John MacAdam and may well be considered to be surfaced road by a highway engineer. In the early days of motoring that type of road was considered to

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Fernando Trebien
In Portuguese, we have the same false friend as French, and I'd guess Spanish and Italian have it too. At least for Portuguese, literal translations of these terms (ground, dirt, earth and soil) correspond exactly to your description, Steve. If we translate literally, however, we're gonna see peopl

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Russell Deffner
14 10:03 AM To: Tag discussion, strategy and related tools Subject: Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth Am 13.03.2014 15:56, schrieb fly: > On 13.03.2014 15:37, Fernando Trebien wrote: >> But do you think that earth and ground are different kinds of surface? > Well, I would con

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Richard Welty
On 3/13/14 12:02 PM, Georg Feddern wrote: > > So I would get rid of dirt, but keep 'earth' beside 'ground' as a > useful value (smooth walking on hiking trails) . where as for my mapping in the US, dirt is the only one that i use, and common usage is to refer to these roads as dirt roads by pretty

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Georg Feddern
Am 13.03.2014 15:56, schrieb fly: On 13.03.2014 15:37, Fernando Trebien wrote: But do you think that earth and ground are different kinds of surface? Well, I would consider earth as earth where ground could be earth but does not have to be. All together, I think we could get rid of at least on

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Steve Doerr
On 13/03/2014 15:09, ael wrote: From another English person, I would say that "dirt" in British English is understood to mean the substance which causes something to be "not clean". That is it is much wider in meaning than soil or earth. But it is almost never used to mean soil or earth under y

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread ael
On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 09:34:24AM +, jonathan wrote: > Here's my take from an Englishman! > > While the term dirt road is used here, it is much rarer as all >From another English person, I would say that "dirt" in British English is understood to mean the substance which causes something to

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread fly
On 13.03.2014 15:37, Fernando Trebien wrote: > But do you think that earth and ground are different kinds of surface? Well, I would consider earth as earth where ground could be earth but does not have to be. All together, I think we could get rid of at least one out of the three tags after updat

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Fernando Trebien
But do you think that earth and ground are different kinds of surface? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 10:16 AM, fly wrote: > On 13.03.2014 10:34, jonathan wrote: >> Here's my take from an Englishman! >> >> While the term dirt road is used here, it is much rarer as all public >> (adopted) roads in the UK

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread fly
On 13.03.2014 10:34, jonathan wrote: > Here's my take from an Englishman! > > While the term dirt road is used here, it is much rarer as all public > (adopted) roads in the UK are paved in some way shape or form. Most > dirt roads are probably private roads, farm tracks or paths. > > Now, back t

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread jonathan
Here's my take from an Englishman! While the term dirt road is used here, it is much rarer as all public (adopted) roads in the UK are paved in some way shape or form. Most dirt roads are probably private roads, farm tracks or paths. Now, back to the original question. I totally agree with

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-13 Thread Dave Swarthout
I'll weigh in with the common American conception of "dirt road". It is a general term meaning unpaved. As Jaakko correctly pints out, some "dirt roads" are really quite well built. For an example close to my Alaska home, the long lonely road leading to the Prudhoe Bay oilfields, see these images o

Re: [Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-12 Thread Jaakko Helleranta.com
My (non-native) English understanding / ear says that dirt is a general name for all unpaved roads. This may include any loose material, really ranging from soil that just happened to be there to natural or processed sand to industrially produced gravel, possibly with an added layer of "loose" mate

[Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

2014-03-12 Thread Fernando Trebien
Hello, There are 3 values for surface (ground, dirt and earth) that are described as "probably equivalent" in the wiki. The pictures tell a slightly different story: ground seems to allow the presence of "grass" along with "usage marks" (car or pedestrian tracks), as does earth, whereas dirt seems