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The large Ellington to Cambridge A14 reroute and upgrade is almost complete and it has an opening date of 9th Dec 2019 ( about one year prior to planned date, so well done Highways Department and staff) When should road=construction tags be removed, will routers benefit as the road is complete and only closed with barriers should barriers just be mapped instead. Would that help the routers by chaging the data a few days early? Or do routers react to road/barrier opens = date.

asked 24 Nov '19, 16:01

andy%20mackey's gravatar image

andy mackey
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accept rate: 4%


I'd suggest waiting until it's actually open before marking it as "open" in OSM.

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answered 24 Nov '19, 22:23

SomeoneElse's gravatar image

SomeoneElse ♦
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accept rate: 16%

I've accepted it (even though I wrote it!). The "accept this answer" is a grey tick below the downvote button. Click that, and it should "accept" and turn green.

Depending on your browser and what's on the Internet between you and the site, you might find that you can't stay logged in. If that's a problem, maybe try an alternate way of connecting (maybe a mobile phone connected via 4G rather than wifi)?

(25 Nov '19, 16:36) SomeoneElse ♦
1

For reference see what we did back in 2011 with the A46: https://sk53-osm.blogspot.com/2011/05/along-fosse-way-mapping-new-road.html

(25 Nov '19, 16:51) SK53 ♦

Thanks SK53

(26 Nov '19, 15:14) andy mackey

For info Re. My Thumbs up down and comment problem. I had Chrome zoomed in too much and although I had logged in to edit the map which worked fine when i switched over to Help QA page It logged me out (without me knowing). Reducing the window to 100% revealed the log in out, which had been just off the top of window, of the Help QA page. AOK now sorry and Thanks.

(26 Nov '19, 15:30) andy mackey

I have removed the construction tags apart from on the lead in sections, so it can be seen but won't get used by routing engines. I hope is ok.

(03 Dec '19, 22:58) andy mackey

It looks like you've opened it about a week early ...

https://map.atownsend.org.uk/maps/map/map.html#zoom=14&lat=52.31414&lon=-0.21926

(03 Dec '19, 23:54) SomeoneElse ♦

Andy Townsend when i scrolled your map the url co-ords of the map didn't change, am i doing something wrong?

(04 Dec '19, 08:49) andy mackey

The problem is that a casual user will look at the map and think that the road has opened. That's why the answer was "waiting until it's actually open".

(04 Dec '19, 10:59) SomeoneElse ♦

My thinking was for users to be ready for the route change.We now know that the Highways Agency are planning on closing the old road between Godmanchester and just north of Huntingdon on the same day, any vehicles not taking the new road will be trying to go through St Ives or Godmancheaster and Huntingdon, the route between the latter can't take HGVs and they can't turn around once at the weight limited, old river bridge. A little later 25th/26th Dec the Railway Bridge is being demolished. Xmas as is the only time Railtrack dare shut the East Coast rail route for long enough without upsetting season ticket commuters. It is vital that as many vehicles as possible take the new route.

(04 Dec '19, 17:11) andy mackey
1

Making roads appear open before they actually are will not make data consumers "be ready for the route change" - it'll just confuse people.

People on the ground will manage fine I suspect - I'm guessing that Highways England might put the odd sign up here and there explaining the change that's going to happen (or has just happened).

There's a separate discussion to be had about things like temporary closures - it's common practice not to mark roads as "highway=construction" for weekend closures because people might download a map and use it in the following week, but marking roads as opened before they actually are sounds like a bad idea to me - it breaks "the principle of least surprise".

(04 Dec '19, 17:39) SomeoneElse ♦

I assumed that most would use a routing engine. I also assume most routers won't work for several days after all the ways are connected. Zooming in reveals the breaks and construction link roads. Those that are misled by my edit i think will be vastly out numbered by those going the wrong way after the opening.

(04 Dec '19, 19:40) andy mackey

(for the avoidance of doubt) I'm aware that parts of the old A14 is being permanently closed - I was just trying to give a different example of "the principle of least surprise". It makes sense to mark the parts of the old A14 that will close as such at the point that they close - not some time before, not some time after, but at the point that HE make the change.

(05 Dec '19, 00:34) SomeoneElse ♦
2

Having been given a link to this question in a message, I'm now even more surprised that the you decided to mark the road as mostly open almost a week open. I don't understand why you would ask a question, get an answer recommending you wait until Monday, and then proceed to mark it as open early anyway with no further discussion. I would suggest that changesets 77903602, 77902225 and 77902052 should be reverted (both to show that it is still closed, and to fix some of the bad tag changes and way splits). Then on Sunday night (if I were making the change I'd probably do so at around midnight) it should be properly as open, along with all the other changes that need to be made simultaneously (lots of road renumbering, junction renumbering and marking stuff elsewhere as under construction on the new alignments).

(05 Dec '19, 03:01) ACarlotti

I just wanted users to be be informed.

(05 Dec '19, 07:00) andy mackey
2

@andy_mackey - please don't second-guess data consumers like this. Make sure the data in OSM is correct. That, right now, means "the road is under construction". If data consumers think it's important then they'll run an update once it's open.

(05 Dec '19, 12:08) Richard ♦
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question asked: 24 Nov '19, 16:01

question was seen: 1,241 times

last updated: 05 Dec '19, 12:08

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum