I've woken up again on this topic now that the chaos of Sept/Oct and repercussions have faded a bit.

I've put in a request on the TTS forum that we reserve FS-xxx for Forest Service XXX. I will write a draft Wiki with materials I've collected from USFS.

One key resource are the USFS Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUM) that identify specifically where USFS allows use of their roads by public motor vehicles.

http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/program ... maps.shtml is the general page.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/cibola/maps-pubs is an example of a forest-specific page, in this case Cibola Forest where you can see the list of MVUMs.

This is also a potential source of information for Waze Events as they post when particular roads are closed. The actual hard copy maps are inexpensive, about $2.50 each.

A couple pages later, you can get down to the specific maps, like this one for around Albuquerque: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/gis/mvum/Cibola ... thMVUM.pdf.

There you will see roads lised like 242DC1 and 05631. Specific information is given that says that certain roads are only open to motorcycles, while others are "Open to All Vehicles / For Motorized Dispersed Camping." This PDF is an example of maps that will give you the exact USFS road name.

I've started a new draft Wiki page at this location:

https://www.waze.com/wiki/Forest_Service_Roads

Something I discovered that I didn't know was new is their Interactive Travel Map. This is a cool GIS system for USFS roads. You can zoom to an area of the US, then click buttons to show which roads work for highway-legal vehicles versus 4x4 vehicles, motorcycles only, etc. The maps show rivers, lakes, camp sites, and other landmarks that might be valuable for travel on USFS roads, camping, etc.

The link to that resource is on the above Wiki page!

I have a good first, incomplete, draft up at the USFS Wiki page. Comments?

https://www.waze.com/wiki/Forest_Service_Roads

Thanks for the comments, good points.

davielde wrote:Very good draft. Two questions:
1) Can you provide a link back to the original site or PDF from which you obtained the maintenance level images? They may be under copyright, but I also recall there being a lot more information on that site in case anyone wants additional detail about maintenance levels. ...

The image under Functional Classification is linked to the original document. Click on the image to see the source PDF. I was going to add a caption to say that at some point, but have not gotten around to it. I pulled the images out of the USFS PDF document.

Because the image is issued by a federal government entity on the Internet and the document has no copyright notices, it is safe to believe that these images have no copyright. They go through formal review processes. These images were likely taken by USFS staff. The document is their property, so it is our property. It is on the Internet. I could add a note about that in small text if it would make it better. I have not seen that practice yet in this Wiki. What do you suggest?

davielde wrote:...
2) The suggested Level 1 road type is "private" for existing roads, and "do not map" for new roads. For consistency, if a Level 1 road is closed to vehicular traffic, why keep any any existing Level 1 roads if we are not mapping new ones?

This issues is probably broader than type-1 closed roads. It is also roads that are not in the Motor Vehicle Use Maps... USFS staff suggested that if roads are not on the MVUMs, then they should be private or not mapped. I guess any type could not be on the maps and therefore not mapped or private. Type-1 are supposed to be decommissioned and not maintained.

There was a discussion that for "closed" roads, we ought to help people who might be on a road get out of the forest, route them to open roads. For that reason I put in this wording. Not sure if it is the best or not. I am open to help here.

In addition, don't forget there are a bunch of roads on the MVUMs that are marked for motorcycle traffic or ATV traffic only. Wazer's could be riding on these. They should probably be dirt road types, but I have not done enough digging into the maps to figure out how to explain them the best way. I wanted to add a section on this, but am still figuring it out.

Couple of comments on the great discussion in the last couple of posts ...

MVUMs and Levels:

• It seems that there is a difference between levels and what is on the Motor Vehicle Use Maps.
• Any level of road not on the MVUMs should not be mapped, from what I am told by USFS staff.
• My guess is that level-1 (closed) roads are not on the map, but there is no guarantee that any other level road would not be on the map.

My approach here was to use the map as an absolute yes/no factor on regular or private and the level as something to decide by discussion here.

Level-1, motorcycle-only

• I like what daknife has to say about this. Good points.
• Perhaps we should think more broadly to the other trail/path types and be consistent with how they are treated. I was a bit conflicted because motorcycles/ATVs could go over them as opposed to a walking trail not meant for any motorized vehicle.
• If we say the rule is that at least a passenger vehicle must be able to go on the road to map it at all, then I think it is clear and more clear guidance could be added to the Wiki page.

I just did a major revision of the functional classification mapping. I realized my approach was very centric to the USFS GIS data and not from the perspective of a Waze editor that was looking at various data sources.

So I changed the USFS-Waze mapping section to reflect the sources of information a Waze editor would have.

Still working on details...

Cbenson -- good point. I've used the GPS layer in WME to look to see if roads are traveled in remote areas as well as how much roads are traveled in cities.

I have been suspicious of that data though because it seems sparse in rural areas and because I think we are getting some kind of sliding window of data, perhaps only the past couple weeks, month, or something like that.

Has there been precedent in the Wiki and forum for using the GPS layer to inform road mapping/editing (other than things like new construction)?

After thinking about GPS a bit, I am wondering if this belongs on a specific page like Forest Service Roads. GPS usage in editing can happen anywhere, remote or local. I would have to put the same thing on Indian Reservation Roads and similar pages.

For specific remote usage techniques, it would not be specific to USFS roads, but any remote road. Seems like such usage tips should be included elsewhere in the Wiki.

I've added a new page on the National Park Service. I've done this because it became clear there is an intersection of the other types of land... USFS, BLM, Indian Reservation, with these roads. Since they're all very much to somewhat related, I've added a link between them.

The National Park Service page draft is here:
https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/National_Park_Service

It is not complete yet, just started it. Let me know if you have any comments.

Of the three road systems Wiki pages I am researching, the USFS page is the most mature and I believe ready to go live.

Are there any comments?

https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Forest_Service_Roads

The most "standards like" element of this page is naming convention of all USFS roads not otherwise labeled with popular names to "FS-XXXX." This would consolidate a number of road naming approaches from the base map into one. Some of the roads do have FS xxxx or F S xxxx, while others have Forest Service, or Forest Rte, and many others.