Major Highway vs Minor Highway on National/US roadways
I'm a new AM and I have some questions on when should I call a National/US Route a Major Highway vs a Minor Highway.
I recently changed some (two lane and non-divided 4 lane) segments of the National Highways in my area from Minor to Major for connectivity purposes. After which I received an message from a fellow AM informing me that I "totally screwed up" the area by doing so. I am a cartographer by trade and in my professional experience I have learned that the constant changing back and forth of feature classification/symbolization is not very user friendly. But my level of cartographic expertise is not in "turn by turn navigational mapping" so I am asking for help in clarifying this issue for me.
My experience up to this point lead me to believe that National Highways are in most cases the major route for travel through an area and should be highlighted as to reduce confusion with less important routes. I would lean towards collecting most US routes as Major Highways however when reviewing the Wiki on the subject it seems to indicate that speed and lane size should dictate when to change the classification and not the real life road classification.(County, State, US)
When reviewing the National Highways in my area I noticed many inconsistencies in the way that the road classifications changed. In some cases the classification will change from Major to Minor, or even Primary, (regardless of the number of lanes) when traveling through a populated area, and then change back to a Major Highway as soon as it returns to a more rural environment. I'm assuming that the editor feels like the speed of the Highway is lessened as the highway approaches more populated areas due to stop lights and increased intersections.
In other cases two lane national highways change to four lane dual divided as they travel through small towns. The Highway classification is upgraded from Minor to Major for these small segments regardless of the increase in expected delays.
My question has to deal with the constant switching back and forth between Major and Minor Highways that I am noticing.
When I noticed the inconsistencies the current collection. I consulted the Wiki for guidance. This quote from the Wiki seems to indicate that the switching back and forth of road classifications should be avoided when no connectivity to other Major Highways or Limited-Access Highways exist.
So here are my questions:
I recently changed some (two lane and non-divided 4 lane) segments of the National Highways in my area from Minor to Major for connectivity purposes. After which I received an message from a fellow AM informing me that I "totally screwed up" the area by doing so. I am a cartographer by trade and in my professional experience I have learned that the constant changing back and forth of feature classification/symbolization is not very user friendly. But my level of cartographic expertise is not in "turn by turn navigational mapping" so I am asking for help in clarifying this issue for me.
My experience up to this point lead me to believe that National Highways are in most cases the major route for travel through an area and should be highlighted as to reduce confusion with less important routes. I would lean towards collecting most US routes as Major Highways however when reviewing the Wiki on the subject it seems to indicate that speed and lane size should dictate when to change the classification and not the real life road classification.(County, State, US)
When reviewing the National Highways in my area I noticed many inconsistencies in the way that the road classifications changed. In some cases the classification will change from Major to Minor, or even Primary, (regardless of the number of lanes) when traveling through a populated area, and then change back to a Major Highway as soon as it returns to a more rural environment. I'm assuming that the editor feels like the speed of the Highway is lessened as the highway approaches more populated areas due to stop lights and increased intersections.
In other cases two lane national highways change to four lane dual divided as they travel through small towns. The Highway classification is upgraded from Minor to Major for these small segments regardless of the increase in expected delays.
My question has to deal with the constant switching back and forth between Major and Minor Highways that I am noticing.
When I noticed the inconsistencies the current collection. I consulted the Wiki for guidance. This quote from the Wiki seems to indicate that the switching back and forth of road classifications should be avoided when no connectivity to other Major Highways or Limited-Access Highways exist.
When a user turns off the highway notation in their app, remember, it will STOP routing on "Minor Highways." So if you label a "Major Road" a "Minor Highway," it will be INCREDIBLY detrimental to the users directions.
So here are my questions:
- When dealing with US routes when is the appropriate time to downgrade a road from Major to Minor and what other factors, if any, should be taken into consideration?
- Other that the visual annoyance of the constant changing classification of Highways is this a problem when it comes to routing?
- What types of recommended map sources (other than the Wiki) should be used while making general "grey area" turn by turn mapping decisions?
- Is there any case where it is acceptable to have a two lane road listed as a Major Highway?
- Is there any case where it is acceptable to have a non-divided four lane road listed as a Major Highway?
. In Texas you have good, very fast surface roads used for long distance travel that could only be major highways. I guess my bottom line is that starting from "best next-step-down" is good but then look at actual use ... there could easily not be any MH in a significant area.
Re: Major Highway vs Minor Highway on National/US roadways