Talk:Virginia
Highway Functional Classification System
Highway Functional Classification System has been discussed in other places for US road classification tagging, but hasn't gained traction for one reason or another (inaccurate/out-of-date maps according to NE2). However, looking at areas of VA that I'm familiar with, [HFCS for VA] seems to be accurate and reasonably in-date (2005). The mapping table on the Highway Functional Classification System looks good, though I'd like to move other freeways and expressways to trunk which would make SR 150 and SR 288 in Richmond trunks; Hull St (US 360) which is mapped as trunk for some reason would be a primary until it left the urban area. --Cdombroski 16:25, 4 August 2011 (BST)
- Interesting, I had never heard of HFCS before. Taking a look in my area, the attribute mapping doesn't seem too bad, however we must keep in mind that we need to use the classifications as defined by OSM, which may or may not agree with HFCS. However, if there is disagreement or ambiguity about what classification to use, you can certainly use HFCS as supporting information. Additionally you could add an HFCS specific key to indicate the classification (though I think there are some problems with the in-use HFCS=* key). -- Joshdoe 11:53, 18 August 2011 (BST)
- Old discussion, but something to be aware of - HFCS is a bureaucratic creation to serve a specific purpose, and that purpose is helping to prioritize road funding. It is very useful, because someone (at City or County level) has already done the classification for you, and you're right, it's going to be accurate and reasonable at least 95% of the time.
- The caveat is, don't get too hung up on the HFCS. I spent about eight years editing on the Waze map, and that's actually one of the reasons I left. A decision was made to use the HFCS as an authoritative document, with about three levels of review among the volunteer bureaucracy if you wanted to tag anything different from the HFCS indication. The problem with this is, when the county does its HFCS determinations, there are rules regarding what percentage of your mileage you tag with each FC, and these rules force errors that the Waze volunteers wouldn't recognize. A perfect example is a road near me that is tagged rural local, but used as a rural minor collector, because the county ran out of RMC allowed mileage. The current group of Waze editors at the state level refuse to allow a change, because the county must be right. Meanwhile, because their routing engine prunes rural local routes for trips over a certain distance, this causes a persistent routing error - this road is about 1 mile long, but the app tells you to turn left off the app onto another RMC for 1.5 miles, then right onto a different RMC for another 1.5 miles, giving you a 3 mile route to bypass the 1 mile road anyone who actually lives here knows to take.
- If there's a moral to this story, don't trust those FC maps too much! They were created for a purpose, and actual, usable mapping isn't it!
Labelling county/state roads
In most other states, there's a clear delineation between "state routes" and "county roads", with the latter being entirely designated and maintained at the county level; but in Virginia the non-primary roads (numbered >600) are officially state routes, and are designated and maintained at the state level, but have different signage from the primary state routes, are numbered uniquely only within each county (numbers get reused in different counties), and are thus more like the other states' "county roads".
So far, so good, but where this becomes an issue is in what to use for the ref=* tag for them. I have seen reference numbers both of the form "CR 6xx" and "SR 6xx", and it's not clear which is the better choice. I tagged a few myself with just plain "6xx" before it occurred to me that I should ask around and see what other people thought. :) I do think the simpler form "6xx" is the cleanest, but any of the options could be defended, I think. Thoughts? --Blahedo 07:19, 23 November 2012 (UTC)
- I'll add that for the "real" state routes, the ones numbered <600, I've seen both "SR 3xx" and "VA 3xx", so there's inconsistency there too. I suppose it's plausible that there are "VA 6xx" out there for the county routes as well, although I haven't noticed any. --Blahedo 07:56, 23 November 2012 (UTC)
- A further addition. I was looking at the MapQuest Open render and saw that it shows different badges for roads based on whether they start with "VA" or "SR" on the one hand (rounded triangle) or "CR" or plain numbers on the other hand (rounded rectangle). (As an aside, this is somewhat state-specific---other states have unrounded rectangles, circles, PA even has its characteristic keystone shape.) My point here is not to suggest tagging-for-the-renderer, but it does remind us that if the tags don't make a distinction, the renderer can't make a distinction. So: even absent other comments here, I think I have good reason to change "SR 6xx" and "VA 6xx" to something else (I'm leaning to plain "6xx" as this is what appears on the signs). However, I won't delete existing "CR" or change existing "SR" to "VA" (or vice versa) until I figure out what the broader consensus is, if any. --Blahedo 02:29, 28 January 2013 (UTC)
Independent City Boundaries
I'm fairly new to Open Street Map, and have been using a fair bit of the data, mostly in reverse geocoding. One thing that is driving me crazy is that when I reverse geocode several of the Independent Cities, it comes back with a county. Here's the list I have so far. I would like to fix this myself, but it's beyond my current skill for Open Street Map. Here's the list, however, of Independent Cities, along with the county I'm getting in my Reverse Geocoding call:
| Independent City | County reported |
|---|---|
| Chesapeake (city) | Portsmouth (city) |
| Emporia (city) | Greensville County |
| Harrisonburg (city) | Rockingham County |
| Manassas (city) | Prince William County |
| Newport News (city) | York |
| Petersburg (city) | Colonial Heights (city) |
| Suffolk (city) | Isle of Wight |
| Waynesboro (city) | Augusta County |