unnsyede, Thanks for the reply. While on the ground feedback from driver's is valuable, most of your drivers will not be familiar with the OSM highway classification system. They may well have written "it is just a dirt track", and they would be correct in regards to written or spoken American English. However, OSM necessarily uses a more precise terminology than most natural languages, American English included. The question the driver should be answering is, "is this the normal way of accessing a house (or houses)?"

A good rule thumb is that if your driver is using the road, it is not "highway=track" (unless they are delivering packages to people camped in the National Forest - which I don't think they do).

Hi Brian, Thanks for the edits to OSM! I am interested to know with whom at the county you are working. I am trying to get permission from their GIS department to use their data as a reference when editing OSM, but so far I have not gotten a response.
Mike (tekim)
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Published using OSMCha: https://osmcha.org/changesets/85994559

Thanks! I searched the wiki for "seasonal closure", but didn't come up with anything. I will add that tag.
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Published using OSMCha: https://osmcha.org/changesets/86294894

osm.org/way/749362805#map=19/40.39025/-105.31154 should be tagged highway=service, service=driveway as it provides access to a house. The fact that it is unpaved should have no bearing on the highway tag. If you want to note that it is unpaved, add surface=unpaved.

Fantastic! Thank you!

This is a driveway as it leads to a residence. The fact that it is unpaved is not relevant. OSM uses a functional classification system for the highway tag, not a physical classification.

The way that you added is a driveway as it leads to a residence and as such it should be tagged as highway=service, service=driveway. The fact that it is unpaved is not relevant. OSM uses a function classification for the highway tag, not a physical classification.

Both of these ways (osm.org/way/780492787, osm.org/way/780492786) are driveways since they lead to a residence, and should be tagged highway=service, service=driveway. Just because they are unpaved doesn't mean they are highway=track. OSM uses a functional classification system for the highway tag, not a physical one.

Thanks so much for your quick response, and thanks for your service as a fire fighter!

It is great to hear that a local fire department is using OSM. Let me know how I can help.

Thanks for all of the great edits to OSM. I take it that you are into 4x4s. I always thought that OSM would a great tool for off roading.

I notice that you often tag bdouble=yes on tracks. According to the wiki [0], bdouble=yes means that tandem semi trailers are allowed ("A" trailer + "B" trailer), which is probably not what you meant. Perhaps you meant a side by side ATV? It is also possible that the wiki is wrong, or that we have a tag with two meanings.

[0] osm.wiki/Key:bdouble

Thanks for the edits to OSM!
osm.org/way/781994208 is a driveway as it provides access to someone's house. It should be tagged highway=service, service=driveway. highway=track is for roads which are used for agricultural (e.g. field or pasture) access, or forestry access.

Is there really a pond here? I don't see anything like that in the Bing imagery you cited as a source.

AlexC, Thanks for the quick reply. If it hadn't been for your reply I would have thought this was a little prank. What sources do you typically use? Perhaps there is a guidebook that mentions these by name?

What is the source for the names "Tarn A", "Tarn B", "Tarn C." I have hiked this area many times and have never heard those names, nor have I seen any signs with those names on them. The names are not on the RMNP map, nor the USGS Topo Map.

Hello UE_Su, Thanks for making those changes. I live in this part of Colorado, and have visited many of these locations. There are not many "forestry buildings" in this general area (meaning all of northern Colorado), but there are many residences. Regarding "sometimes you do not know": If this is the case a mapper might not want to change the value of the highway tag. In other words, if the mapper sees some buildings but is not sure what they are, and a previous mapper has tagged them as highway=residential, the current mapper might want to assume the previous mapper knew what they were doing and leave the highway tag as is. Also, a name tag, other than "Forest Road...", "FR..." or "FDR..." is a clue that the way might not be highway=track in this part of the world. There are some county roads that are tracks however.

Looks like you did an import of NHD data but didn't add OSM tags (at least not for glaciers)

Hello UE_Su, and thanks again for all of the edits you are making to OSM!

These roads are used for residential purposes, hence they are "highway=residential." It doesn't matter what their physical characteristics are as long as they can provide vehicular access to places where people live, and that is what they are primarily used for. We just had a discussion about a similar topic on the tagging mailing list and the conclusion was that physical characteristics should not matter when it comes to highway classification (except for motorways someone noted). In any event, it is quite common here in Colorado for people to live along dirt roads, either in the mountains, or on our eastern plains.

It also doen't matter what the access restrictions are, as long as at least the people that live along it can use it, in fact, many of these are access=private.

highway=unclassified is actually a higher classification than highway=residential. Since these do not lead anywhere except to people's houses, highway=unclassified would not be appropriate.

No problems that I know of with routing software.

I am sorry I don't read German so I cannot comment on what the German wiki says.

Many of these roads which you have tagged as highway=track are residential roads, you can tell by the houses visible along them in satellite imagery. Just because roads appear to be unpaved doesn't mean that they are "tracks." OSM uses a functional classification for the highway tag, not a physical classification.

Hello again, Thanks for all of the edits in OSM! I see you have changed a number of residential roads to tracks. These should be tagged "highway=residential" because they provide access to people's homes and cabins. "tracks" are for ways that are for agricultural and forestry purposes. osm.wiki/Tag:highway%3Dtrack

Another question. Is osm.org/node/7164807886 really a historic castle? I don't think there are any castles of any sort in Fort Collins. It does look like Dan Binkley is the current owner of this property, are you Dan? We generally don't put individual's names in OSM for privacy reasons, even if it is our own name.