Dirt Roads

[ispyisail]

Hi all

I'm looking for a better definition of dirt roads?

At first I thought they were roads for 4 wheel drive vehicles off road

In New Zealand we have many/some roads that are not paved but have gravel on them and in some cases these roads are highways.

These roads require more skill to drive and require much lower speeds.

Would these roads be the definition of dirt roads?

[gettingthere]

Unpaved roads is a good way to think about it. And they generally should be something that the target audience of Waze could drive their vehicle/car on. If they are for 4x4 off-road only, they may not belong on the Waze map at all since Waze is not a navigation solution for off-roading. (even though it says 4x4 in the description of the road type...)

[fvwazing]

The defining distinction of a 4x4-road in Waze is that it can be included/excluded from the routing per option in the navigationsoptionsmenu. Are these special skills needed a reason for drivers to select an alternative route? Then 4x4 may apply, as drivers can select to avoid those roads. If there are no alternatives anyway then forget about 4x4.

Also you mention that they have a status equal to highway. I take it then that they can go for stretches longer than, say, 25km? I would not be surprised if routing has trouble with very long stretches of 4x4 - just as it can have issues of very long stretches of plain streets. Alas, I can not make sure, can not test such behaviour in routing as my country is far too dense for such situations to occur.

[gettingthere]

I also saw your thread in the NZ forum. Based in what you are saying there maybe dirt roads is not the correct option of these roads are common for everyone to use.

The dirt roads option is more to have the average Wazer with the default setting of 'avoid dirt roads' to avoid these roads.

[ispyisail]

Just for reference

2012-06-08_15-03-21_139.jpg (236.57 KiB) Viewed 1019 times

Does this class a a dirt road?

I know its a good WRC road!

[ispyisail]

The dirt roads option is more to have the average Wazer with the default setting of 'avoid dirt roads' to avoid these roads.

To be fair many people would prefer to avoid these roads but in many places it is necessary.

Also you mention that they have a status equal to highway. I take it then that they can go for stretches longer than, say, 25km?

100km would be more accurate in places

[invented]

One of those subjective things.

Personally, if I'm not able to navigate it with my car, I won't connect it to a junction. If it's a gravel rd then it is classed as a dirt road so wazers can manipulate the "use dirt roads" function in the options to suit their needs.

[crazycomputingdotnet]

You may have to get with other NZ editors and come up with a consensus. I know that the way things are done in the US is different than in UK and ect. Where I live now is in the country and our roads out here used to be gravel with old crickity wooden bridges. In the last 20 years the county has converted them all to nice asphault roads with concrete bridges and it is hard to find a county maintained gravel road anymore around my parts. We are too spoiled around here anymore.

[daknife]

One of those subjective things.

Personally, if I'm not able to navigate it with my car, I won't connect it to a junction. If it's a gravel rd then it is classed as a dirt road so wazers can manipulate the "use dirt roads" function in the options to suit their needs.

That's kind of a dangerous method of thinking since my "car" is a 4X4 truck and there are many places I can drive to just fine that you may not want to take your car on. So I try not to be subjective about it. If it's dirt it's dirt.

Additionally I live in Utah; every year we get a car or two that gets lost in the southern deserts because the drivers(always from out of state) blindly trusted their GPS when it took them on a dirt road, that gradually faded into a very rough jeep trail or even disappeared entirely on them. Usually these events end with a rescue, but not always, thus I am staunchly of the opinion that dirt is dirt, Because if I don't know where I'm going I shouldn't be driving there on a dirt road, or at least not trusting some gadget to lead me there over dirt roads.

Now as to the situation in NZ, it's up to the editors there to decide, but I would lean towards just calling those roads streets, they are obviously cared for and maintained. Whereas dirt roads may or may not be cared for.

[jwcart]

I, admittedly no expert, try to keep it simple. Dirt roads = Dirt roads. If the road is dirt then that's how I label it and I leave it to the Wazers to figure it out otherwise. Often times dirt roads are the only way to get somewhere in the country landscape, and it's much like the picture included in the above comments.

There might be a benefit to creating a road classification "4x4 trails" separate from "dirt" roads. It would be most useful out in the country (where I am) but probably basically useless in more suburban/urban landscapes -- and would potentially bog down the Waze servers with even more specific information.