Will be doing a train trip shortly and wondered if this is worth wazing - I read in another thread that a “road” can be identified as a “train road” or railway line…
Edit: just saw that a road type can be specified as non-driving road ‘railroad’…
Thoughts ?
Rob
Well, the map already had a bunch of railroads in it a few months ago… and then the guys ran a process that removed them. They’re not at all useful for navigation, so I don’t really see a point.
When you’re in the middle of nowhere and you see on your map what is passing around you, knowing there are railway tracks, lakes, pylons, etc., helps you to affirm your map is correct or pinpoint you to the map where GPS is failing somewhat. Not a good idea to remove cartographic features from a cartograph.
I just have to agree with that! and add a note about railroad crossings… hard to see them without a railroad on the map…
Ok, bringing life back to a old thread now, but since it’s on the topic I thought I might aswell go on here!
I added some railroads now, draw them, set them to railroad and both-directions… but the problem is where it crosses another street on the same level.
I don’t want to add a junction since there’s no way you’ll ever be driving there, but if I skip I get a lot of error: 1, all over the map…
What do you suggest, it feels that railroad crossings would be good to have, since it will influence the traffic. Any suggestions?
I’m not sure about the adding railroads in. On the NA server we actually removed them all in a mass update (along with the creeks).
But from a technical standpoint, I would go ahead and put a node in. Just turn restrict it appropriately. Even though you can’t turn, it could be interpreted as a traffic signal, as when the train goes by it does stop traffic.
Unfortunately, with a wiki-style product like Waze, there will ALWAYS be a few people who insist on Wazing the railroads, which then show up as unknown segments on the map.
If you add them as “railway lines” it at least prevents new segments from being loaded every time the next guy tries to do this, as there’s no other way to stop people adding new segments along the line.
I wondered about this. I added a bunch in West London (by drawing them on the map, not by recording them and picking up a gazillion points by riding on the trains!), because I had a brief fascination with making my section of the map ‘complete’. However, they’re a complete pain, because they clutter up the map, looking like normal streets, and countless times, you click on them instead of the roads which run under/over/next to the track.
I’d like to see rail tracks as a separate layer in the editor so they can be switched off and on - I’m sure there is a use for recording them, but I’m not sure what it is, other than completeness. I’ve added stations as well, as POIs, as that’s fairly useful. Maybe a change of colour to the railway tracks, to a black and white striped pattern would make them more obviously rail tracks. If anybody wanted to zap 'em off the map, I wouldn’t be too upset.
Regards
Paul
In the end, if we want a usable map we will have to have it show every feature there is. Of course the railways are needed as they affect traffic in some respects. It also helps navigation to be able to see them on the map as a railroad crossing is a thing to take into account.
It wold be great though, if the railroads, bicycle paths, walking paths and such were in separate layers so as to facilitate map editing and it would also not be necessary to put turn restrictions on possible crossings as waze will know that this isn’t driveable.
You mention walking paths… I’ve also mapped out a couple of paths in local parks (see here) although I’ve kept them unattached to any roads, just in case someone tries to drive them…
I think adding railway lines to the map is crucial for navigation, as it gives you a fixed frame of reference when adding fresh roads.
One or two of my friends aren’t overly happy about driving over level crossings or under railway bridges, so will drive for a fair around distance to avoid them. Without them on the map, those times when you’re sat at a level crossing for several minutes at a time will show up as multiple traffic jams on that road, and thus affect routing in the long-term.