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Avoiding roads with a very low category

Discussion Routing
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#1

Hi. This time the matter is serious. I noticed that despite not allowing unpaved roads, routes are being run on them! Unfortunately I have already found a few of these roads that are basically inaccessible for a non-off-road motorcycle, but Kurviger (app) suggest riding them. It seems to me that because these roads tagged in OSM as ‘highway=track’ are not excluded in this case.

Because no one has ever reported this as an error, as I guess, in different countries such roads may have a good quality, so these roads should not be moved to the unpaved category. But, maybe you can move these roads to a new road avoidance category something like ‘Avoid access roads’? Please… :slight_smile:

Munich Westbound
[Routing Server] Server Update
#2

Hm wait let me check if I understand you correctly:

  1. We all agree that unpaved roads should be edited in OSM to be correctly tagged as gravel
  2. But you want ON TOP of that an avoidance for roads that are NOT unpaved but just very very small or bad quality?

Have you tried “avoid smallest roads” in Kurviger yet? Maybe it helps you already?

I don’t think there’s a need for anything on top of those two checkboxes to be honest. There’s a lot of “unpaved” corrections left to do in OSM, yes, but that’s up to us to do^^

#3

I will try to explain (BTW sorry for my English…) :slight_smile:

The roads I wrote about, and which I know, are really unpaved roads. This is not a map inaccuracy! These track are tagging properly, following the rules set out here https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dtrack

This tag represents roads for mostly agricultural use, forest tracks etc.; often unpaved (unsealed) but may apply to paved tracks as well, that are suitable for two-track vehicles, such as tractors or jeeps.

And here is the problem - the roads are often unpaved, but not always (as I read, it often depends on the region/country in which they are). That is why I suggest giving a choice to the user, depending on the region in which he travels.

Of course I tried, but it seems to me that it affects my favorite roads - very narrow but always paved :smiley:

#4

Could you post an URL of such a road.
I guess that there are some essential tags missing. e.g tracktype= or surface=

If you have checked “avoid unpaved” and nevertheless end up on an unpaved road, this is 99.99% a map error which should be corrected.

But maybe, if a road is tagged as “highway=track” without further Information, Kurviger should treat it as unpaved :thinking:

2 Likes
#5

Hi. You are right. Unless the ‘highway=track’ is tagged correctly (Kurviger draws them with a dashed line), then ‘surface=’ and/or ‘tracktype=’ are missing! For example https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/132741719. I don’t have yet experience with the OSM edition, but some time ago I was involved in a similar mapping project (but with a rather local scope), so I hope I can handle the OSM patches :slight_smile:

So I lost the argument to introduce a separate “Avoid tracks” setting in Kurviger?

I don’t know how often such inaccuracies appear on the map. Because if they are common, I still think that the new avoidance category is worth considering. This would help to avoid unpleasant surprises in the future on unknown, inaccurately tagged roads… Yes, I know, these surprises are an integral part of the adventure we love :smiley:

It seems to make sense to me :thinking:

I have just completed the tags of the path mentioned above in the OSM editor. It’s quite simple and quite pleasant :smiley:

#7

To add a bit here, have you tried the “avoid narrow roads” options, this excludes things like tracks.

Unfortunately, OSM data is often lacking when it comes to small side roads especially if they are a bit away from any major tourism or city center.

#8

Hi. Of course, I tried it, but I’m afraid it will also eliminate the narrow paved tracks that I like the most.
Therefore, it seems to me that the solution proposed by @linux-user is optimal:

Because even in its definition on wiki:openstreetmap the ‘tracks’ are often unpaved, and in addition Taginfo indicates that only 34% track has the specified tracktype=* and then only 15% of these specified are paved grade1 (if I interpret these statistics correctly :wink: ).

Once again, thank you to all (only two!?) Creators of the Kurviger Project for their hard work, and to all Users I wish you health, full of fuel, great weather and safe returns in the New Year 2020! :clinking_glasses:

3 Likes
#9

Just a note in this thread, this is not forgotten. It is on my todo list, similarly to this thread Make road Categories selectable I am working on a few blockers before continuing to push new features.

2 Likes
#10

I really am fully aware of this! But what to do if I hate main roads and unpaved roads equally?.. Please forgive for OT (although not quite) :slight_smile:

1 Like
Munich Westbound
#11

The correct way would be to select the avoid main roads and unpaved option. Arguably, there is some room for improvement for the recognition of unpaved roads :slight_smile:

#12

Definitely yes! I am looking forward to it. Even a neat solution to this problem seems to have been proposed in the current thread :smiley:

1 Like
#13

Tracks without a given tracktype are now considered unpaved :slight_smile:.

1 Like