User:Falco sparverius/Road Types USA/Railroads View history

Revision as of 00:03, 1 January 2016 by Falco sparverius (talk | contribs) (removed initial bullet points (do not map items))

This page is a work in progress - do not use as a reference

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The  |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Railroad |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|  road type serves three purposes in Waze.

  1. Help drivers with visual orientation.
  2. Prevent corruption of speed data on nearby roads.
  3. Help routing server determine delays at that crossing.

What and When to Map

  • Like Parking Lots, map railroads and rail yards simply. Do not map every piece of parallel track, such as in sidings or yards, or industrial spurs that don't cross any roads.
  • Do not map underground railroads. In urban areas where underground rail lines are common, their appearance on the map is confusing to drivers.
  • Set the elevation just as you would a drivable segment. When tracks junction a road on the ground, the Elevation should be set to Ground.

Basic, ground-level

  • Name "Railroad" - see Advanced RR Topics
  • Always select "None" for the city name. This avoids city smudging.
  • Lock the segment at L2.
  • Elevation - Ground
  • Create junctions between drivable roads and railroads.[rr]
  • Set railroad direction to 2-way
  • Check all turns through the intersection (AGC). Ensure all turns to and from the railroad segments are restricted. Ensure all road to road connections are allowed (as appropriate).
  • When mapping railroad tracks, focus on those near drivable roads.

^rr Note: The routing server will properly account for delays at railroad crossings through a segment without a junction. However, with a junction, the historical data for the rail crossing will be more accurate.

Advanced RR Topics

Urban Rapid Transit and Light Rail
  • For urban rapid transit and light rail systems, rather than apply the default "Railroad" name, you may optionally use the name of the transit authority and the name of the line, separated by a hyphen (e.g., "MBTA - Green Line", "RTA - Riverfront Streetcar").
    • If a system has only one line, of course, use its name alone (e.g., "Detroit People Mover").
    • If multiple lines share the same track or run on parallel tracks, include all lines (e.g., "Metro Rail - Red/Purple Lines").
    • However, if a rapid transit system is so complex that including all line names would lead to an absurd result on some railroad segments, use the name of the system alone (e.g., "BART", "MTA") throughout the system.
  • Federal DOT Railroad GIS: http://fragis.fra.dot.gov/Apps/GISFRASafety/


Advanced Naming

Use the following guidelines when naming railroad segments:

  • For commercially-controlled right-of-ways, rather than apply the default "Railroad" name, you may optionally use the owner's full legal name spelled out without acronyms or abbreviations (e.g. "New Orleans Public Belt Railroad"). Some owners' names incorporate what appear to be or once were acronyms but are actually part of the legal name (e.g., "BNSF Railway", "CSX Railroad").
    • Do not name a railroad segment for a passenger operator that uses it, regardless of how many passengers or how little freight it may carry, unless you are absolutely certain that the passenger operator owns the track. For example, do not name a segment "Amtrak" unless Amtrak actually owns the track (it usually does not, except in the Corridor and in a few other areas).
    • Do not apply "fallen flags" (former owners that no longer exist due to bankruptcy or merger) in the alternate field.
    • Keep in mind that should the name of the owner change, due to bankruptcy, merger, or other business decision, you or another editor will need to come back and fix all now-incorrect segments. Railroads can change names often; for example, BNSF Railway has been known by that name only since 2005, and its previous name was in use for only eight years.

Map Problems

As of July 2015 the automated Map Problem search algorithm will identify suspected errors at railroad crossings. It is common to see the “restricted turn might be allowed” error where a railroad crosses a drivable segment nearby to where another drivable segment also crosses. These kinds of map errors should be marked as “Not Identified” so that they are not shown again at that location. Do not enable turns at railroad crossings.

Waze - Support

Railroads should be labeled as such in the editor. For the time being they won't make it to the client indeed, but in the future we might want to use them for display purposes.

The "railroad" road type in the editor is under "non drivable" so it should not cause any issue to the routing.

For specific recommendations in other countries outside the United States, please see the entry for the country in question here.