Highway Data Discussion (CHM/TravelMapping)

[oscar]

The following regions are up for grabs wrt maintanance due to Tim's absence (some of these are me making room for Tim's European systems):
- Arizona
- DC
- Delaware
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Lousiana
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Quebec

Should Oscar not want them I can volunteer to take on a couple of these.  Arizona and New Jersey come to mind but I'll take on a couple more if help is needed.

The only one of these I've claimed so far is Quebec (just for maintaining existing systems -- developing a Quebec provincial highways route set wasn't something I was planning on, and would cheerfully yield to someone else), which has immediate maintenance needs since MTQ has been busy expanding its Autoroutes system. Others are maybes, but I can see some of them going to new(er) team members instead.

[bejacob]

I wasn't sure where to put this, but this topic seemed to be the right place.

I noticed as I was driving on US 23 just south of Columbus, OH that OH 762 now continues east of US 23, formerly the eastern terminus of the route. I haven't had a chance to drive the new section, but plan to do so within the week. Here are a couple of links I found detailing the newest section.

http://www.circlevilleherald.com/news/extension-of-state-route-causes-change-in-road-names/article_6bf372ad-233a-5a0d-87eb-6f9c33ed688c.html

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Pic-East-West/Documents/Planning%20Documentation/Duvall%20Journal%20Entry.pdf

Perhaps this is already in the queue for updates to the Ohio state highways, but if not, I wanted to pass it along.

[rickmastfan67]

We mostly still (for now) post any highway changes to the 'old forums'.  This will probably change once we're ready to get the new website up running fully and install a forum there since (IMO) it would be easier in a 'true' forum to keep track of these changes instead of in GitHub.

Anyways, OSM does show the new route extension, while Bing & Google don't even show the new alignment over the new bridge yet.

[bejacob]

We mostly still (for now) post any highway changes to the 'old forums'.  This will probably change once we're ready to get the new website up running fully and install a forum there since (IMO) it would be easier in a 'true' forum to keep track of these changes instead of in GitHub.

Anyways, OSM does show the new route extension, while Bing & Google don't even show the new alignment over the new bridge yet.

I tried signing up for the old forum late last year but never got activated and I wasn't sure if I could post without a registered user name. I'll drive the new route as soon as I can and try to get a few pictures if that is useful. I wasn't sure exactly where to share this info with the new site not yet up and running yet and the old CHM site essentially inactive.

[Jim]

I know we very likely won't use GitHub for end-user reported issues, but to keep track of this one, I've opened a GitHub issue so we don't lose track of it.

[mapcat]

I've been spot checking the TM data against the old CHM data and have run into one error I can't figure out.

CHM shows a total mileage in Wisconsin as 11,783.1 mi.  TM has it at 11,778.89, a difference of 4.21 miles.  CHM rounds data to the nearest 0.1 mi in the tables, and TM rounds to the nearest 0.01, but this shouldn't result in a difference that great; no other states are off by anywhere near that amount.

Comparing individual route systems, the totals are (CHM/TM):

Interstates: 748.9 / 748.96
US highways: 2902.8 / 2902.83
US auxiliary highways: 118.2 / 113.73
MN state highways: 0.5 / 0.49
WI state highways: 8717.9 / 8718.10

Obviously most of the 4.21 mi difference is coming from the US auxiliary highways.  And I found one error in that set: in TM, US53BusSol shows up as the same route as US53BusSup.  However, the difference between the correct mileage (4.5 according to CHM) and the mileage in TM (3.02) is only a mile and a half, not 4 miles.

Given the way data are presented in clinchableroutes.log, I've been unable to detect a missing entry in TM.  Maybe CHM has the error; it's hard to say.  I even compared the sum of CHM's individual routes from the tables to the total US auxiliary mileage, and although there is a difference (118.2 vs 124.3), it's actually the wrong direction (i.e., even further from TM's total).

Anyone else want to give this a shot?

[Jim]

Si has submitted a bunch of highway data updates I'd like to bring in to start getting things more up-to-date.  I think it makes sense to have at least a couple people have a look at any changes like these before they get pulled into the master on GitHub.  Would a few of the people with CHM highway data experience be willing to check it out?  I think anyone should be able to see and comment upon the pull request in GitHub.  It's the "Update test branch 2" pull request in the HighwayData repository in the TravelMapping organization.  If you're interested in doing this and can't see and/or comment on the pull request on GitHub let me know so I can try to figure out how to set it up so you can.

[Bickendan]

I'm working on getting Oregon up to date. There isn't too much, but I've moved US 30 off of I-84 onto Hist US 30 between Troutdale and Cascade Locks as that matches in the field signage. If we decide to do a Hist US route system, US 30 will move back to I-84.

[Jim]

I have a first draft of instructions on how to manage highway data changes using GitHub.  I'd like a few people to try it out, ideally by making just one or two small (and not "newsworthy") fixes to highway data in a region you maintain.  I put the instructions themselves in GitHub on a wiki page:

https://github.com/TravelMapping/HighwayData/wiki/Fork-&-Pull-Instructions-for-Highway-Data-Updating

I'm sure there will be a learning curve, and I'm certainly not sure if what I outline here is the best way for us to manage this.  However, I do think having everyone who will be creating and maintaining highway data learn and use enough git and GitHub to manage these processes will make things more efficient once we get rolling.

[oscar]

I have a first draft of instructions on how to manage highway data changes using GitHub.  I'd like a few people to try it out, ideally by making just one or two small (and not "newsworthy") fixes to highway data in a region you maintain.  I put the instructions themselves in GitHub on a wiki page:

https://github.com/TravelMapping/HighwayData/wiki/Fork-&-Pull-Instructions-for-Highway-Data-Updating

I'm sure there will be a learning curve, and I'm certainly not sure if what I outline here is the best way for us to manage this.  However, I do think having everyone who will be creating and maintaining highway data learn and use enough git and GitHub to manage these processes will make things more efficient once we get rolling.

I've printed out the instructions, to review more closely when I'm more awake. But they seem to be based on DOS-like command lines (in the "GIT shell" that got installed on my PC when I opened my GitHub account?), rather than the Windows version of GitHub I've been trying to use (which might be the source of all the problems I've been having). I'll have to figure out whether the steps you outline can be done within the Windows environment, or whether I need to get used to a new command-line environment only partially similar to the DOS environment what I abandoned many years (or decades) ago.

If the latter, I'll need to figure out how to move new or revised files edited in a Windows program into where they need to be for a pull request. If at least that part can be done within Windows, so much the better.

[Jim]

I am sure everything can also be done in the Windows program, and some steps right through the web.  More likely, the git shell will be easier long term.

[rickmastfan67]

oscar, if you figure out how to do this via Windows, let me know.  Might be the only way I can do it since I don't have a Linux OS, and don't have the extra space at this time for a virtual Linux OS copy on my HDs.

[Jim]

If nothing else, there seems to be the "Git Shell" for Windows that would let you run the commands.  I think the command-line interface is faster once you get the hang of it.

For simple updates, changes should also be able to made right on the GitHub copy (your fork of it, anyway).  If I have a chance, I'll pick another fix that needs making in my regions and see if I can do it entirely through the web interface.  If so, I'll add that to the instructions on the wiki.

[rickmastfan67]

If I have a chance, I'll pick another fix that needs making in my regions and see if I can do it entirely through the web interface.  If so, I'll add that to the instructions on the wiki.

Thanks Jim.  Hopefully it's straight forward on how to do this it via the web interface.

[Thing 342]

oscar, if you figure out how to do this via Windows, let me know.  Might be the only way I can do it since I don't have a Linux OS, and don't have the extra space at this time for a virtual Linux OS copy on my HDs.

I don't use Windows all that frequently, but I think the commands listed can be run in the command prompt. I'm not really familiar with Github's GUI for Windows (however I have used other Git clients in Linux before)

[english si]

Thanks Jim.  Hopefully it's straight forward on how to do this it via the web interface.

It's very straightforward if you are doing a simple change. Becomes a lot more annoying if you are editing a lot of files.

[yakra]

Man oh man. GitHub. Gee whiz...
I entered a username and password to sign up. It wanted a credit card number for billing purposes, which I didn't particularly care for. It wouldn't let me proceed, or so I thought. So I nixed the whole process. Only to later find a confirmation the next time I checked my email. Only, the links therein don't work. Nothing on the email verification page seems to actually do anything. It *could* be a browser upgrade thing, but... GRRR.

[Jim]

I'm 99% sure I've never given GitHub a credit card number.  Maybe you wound up somehow at a section of the site for paid project hosting or something like that?

[yakra]

Well, it did give me the option of selecting a free account (no private repositories, only public, IIRC), but still informed me the credit card number was a required field.
So I closed the browser window and abandoned it all. Only to find it seems it went ahead and created the account for me anyway -- only, I'm just stuck at the email verification step.
Ugh. One would think this whole thing could be made a bit more intuitive.

[rickmastfan67]

Well, it did give me the option of selecting a free account (no private repositories, only public, IIRC), but still informed me the credit card number was a required field.
So I closed the browser window and abandoned it all. Only to find it seems it went ahead and created the account for me anyway -- only, I'm just stuck at the email verification step.
Ugh. One would think this whole thing could be made a bit more intuitive.

When I created my account to signup and access some OSM related repositories to report bugs, I wasn't asked for a credit card.

Thanks Jim.  Hopefully it's straight forward on how to do this it via the web interface.

It's very straightforward if you are doing a simple change. Becomes a lot more annoying if you are editing a lot of files.

Hmmm, I may just give it a try on a simple fix.  All I know I want to do really first is get my last updates that I had sent into Tim into the database.  Then I can start doing more 'major' changes to get my data up-to-date in the states I maintain.

Is it really hard to 'delete' a route?  I know there is one I need to axe in SC.

EDIT:  Ok, looks like the online GUI looks easy enough to use.  So, I'll start out with an exit number fix in Georgia on I-16. http://clinched.s2.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?t=2297&mforum=clinched  Don't know if this would count as something that should be mentioned on the 'update' page because of the moving of '1' to I-75 since it's in use @ the first exit (which is really 1A, not 1).

[SD Mapman]

So is US 310 supposed to go to Greybull? Or is it just an error?

(I think this is the right place for these types of things, not sure)

[oscar]

I'm 99% sure I've never given GitHub a credit card number.  Maybe you wound up somehow at a section of the site for paid project hosting or something like that?

I also never gave -- and was never asked for -- a CC number when I set up my account. I'm still trying to get the hang of GitHub -- haven't had a chance to use the mini-tutorial Jim assembled over the weekend -- but did manage to copy two of GitHub's repositories to my computer, so it's working for me at least to that extent.

[oscar]

So is US 310 supposed to go to Greybull? Or is it just an error?

If it's an error (which I think it is, from my own travels there earlier this summer), it's one carried over from the CHM database. Looks like something else to add to our updates to-do list. 

[english si]

I gave Jim's tutorial a try yesterday, and (while I got a repository on the PC, which was a problem with the 'for Windows' interface I was having) failed to get anything meaningful to happen.

I still massively prefer the web interface to the shell interface, and prefer the 'for Windows' interface over both.

The web interface I can see what I'm doing even if it is clunky to add a ton of files, whereas the shell one I'm a step further removed telling my computer to do what I'd do on the web interface. It's not the outdatedness of the command line operation that bugs me, it's that it's neither quicker nor better and is alien to me.

The 'for Windows' one is just so much more logical than the shell interface - I copy a file (or a folder) over from my Dropbox folder to the Github folder, it shows me clearly what changes I've made and then I can commit and sync with a few button presses. I can edit .wpt and .csv files in the way I have done for years and I don't need to learn all these Linux commands.

But the web one is good enough for general maintenance, so I'm sticking with that.

[SSOWorld]

Well, it did give me the option of selecting a free account (no private repositories, only public, IIRC), but still informed me the credit card number was a required field.
So I closed the browser window and abandoned it all. Only to find it seems it went ahead and created the account for me anyway -- only, I'm just stuck at the email verification step.
Ugh. One would think this whole thing could be made a bit more intuitive.

No need for one - you must have tried to sign up a private repository - which is not free.