Test Drive - AI-assisted road import by Facebook

Riding my bike thru the province west of Phetburi, I was faced with an annoyingly bad quality of the map.
Many roads were unpaved, some of them actually tracks. Some “residentials” did not have any house along it.
The worst case I encountered can be seen on this photo (click for a larger version):

According to the map, there were “unclassified” roads along both sides of the canal, which I already changed (you may need to look into the history of the ways):
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/514899120/history
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/514899118/history

I suggest that the tagging policy be revised.

  • If a minor road may be unpaved, add the surface=unpaved tag in case of doubt. Finding out that it has a concrete or asphalt cover while expecting an unpaved road is not as bad as the other way round. Note that we assume a residential/service/unclassified etc. to be paved, a track not to be paved if no other information is given.
  • Public roads may end in an agricultural track (and that track may then connect to another public road). In case of doubt, cut the way into pieces with a highway=track inbetween.
  • If you are not sure if it is an agricultural/forestry track or a public road, prefer highway=track.
  • The traffic on “residential” is mainly caused by the people living in that road (or other people visiting them). “unclassified” roads lead to such “residential” roads. So, many of the current “residential” should actually be “unclassified”.
  • If there is no house along the road, it is not a residential.

The first point is most important in my opinion.