Servie roads in the Chiang Mai University Campuses

Hi all,

I’ve taken up birdwatching and bird photography so I have been spending quite a bit of time at the Chiang Mai University Huay Kaew Campus as well as its Agricultural/Veterinary Campus on the Canal Road. Presently, all the ways inside those campuses are tagged highway=service.

These “service” roads are in some cases 4 lane highways with sidewalks, traffic signals, bike lanes, and most even have names. Seeing as my idea of a service road is closer to a driveway rather than what we have on those campuses, I’m wondering if anyone would object to me retagging the major roads as highway=unclassified. Strictly speaking, these roads are also private but most have pretty much 24/7 public access so I don’t feel we need to deal with the access tag for any of these roads.

I am not pushing for this change; it isn’t a big deal for me one way or the other. It’s just that those highways don’t fit well with my concept of a service road.

Cheers,

Dave (AlaskaDave)

If there are gates that may be closed from time to time then they should remain service. Otherwise, residential, or they will be higher classification than many roads that actually go somewhere.

Only my 2c…

Hi Dave - talk about great minds …
Just last week, was making sure all the roads along the main Mae Taeng irrigation canal had the right surface tags, as it changes a lot over the length of the road …
but took a detour into the main “dual carriageway” around Chiang Mai Rajabhat University Saluang Keeluk Campus.
Its obviously been improved lately, some of which is reflected in the aerials. But with the lack of gates and the fact it essentially it forms a ring road open to the public around the Campus, I went ahead and changed these to unclassified, barely 3 days ago, aligning with your thinking. The smaller roads leading to buildings, etc. I left as residential, which I perhaps think shud be service, as they form roads within the Campus.
But in essence, I agree with your thinking… so by all means, change the other University sites that are similar. :slight_smile:

Thanks for your input folks. I don’t intend to change ALL the service road classifications, just the major through routes that I’ve been using as shortcuts for years. As for Beddhist’s (Peter?) concerns, there are indeed gates (five gates I believe, to which I’ve recently added names) but they have never been closed AFAIK. The several main roads that go through the Chiang Mai University main campus have destinations outside the campus and traverse it in its entirety to get there. They are commonly used by hundreds if not thousands of vehicles every day for that purpose.

The other roads that are present in your case Russ should IMO be classified as service roads. If it’s the same one I’m thinking of, the one just off of Route 107, I’ve been there and in fact was the one who first put the dual carriageway on the OSM map many years ago. My thinking is that even those ways serving dormitories are not what we traditionally think of as residential ways. Consequently, they should be retagged as service roads.

Best,

Dave

Hello there,

Just wanted to add some more information regarding Chiang Mai University since I’m a member of staff there.

Chiang Mai University - Huay Kaew Campus is, technically, a restricted area with guards at the 3 main gates. You ought to have a permit to access otherwise you’ll need to exchange your ID to get a pass. Guards suppose to enforce this but that is another story. Main roads on campus all have official names - for internal use. They used to have proper signs too but since they were first put up in 1964-5, they were long gone - rusted away, taken out. Chiang Mai University started to change their policy and “open” the campus for general public to access around 1989-1992. Before that it was pretty much a twilight zone for Chiang Mai people. People used to get “lost” when they drive around the campus.

For Agricultural/Veterinary/ERDI Campus, the land actually belongs to The Forestry Department and is split in two halves by a public (dirt) road. CMU has gates, manned, I’m not sure whether access is strictly prohibited or not during the night but during the day you are pretty much free to roam.

Best regards,

Natee T.

Another issue where the road classification is mixed with other properties of the road.

I had this discussion decades ago when it was about whether unpaved roads, potentially requiring 4x4 forming the grid by being the only access to a village should be track or not.

Please add at least the lanes tag for all roads having more than two lanes. A renderer can honor this by rendering the road wider.

Just wanted to add some more information regarding Chiang Mai University since I’m a member of staff there.

Hello Khun Natee,

Somehow I missed your reply to this post. I think, considering what you’re saying, that those roads I have tagged as “unclassified” should probably be changed back to service and access set to permissive. I use those roads frequently and have never been asked for ID or been prevented from driving through. However, in the interest of best accuracy, I no longer believe the new “unclassified” tags are appropriate. If you have time, would you be able to add road names to the ways that currently have no name? That would be a huge help in our effort to make a usable and accurate map of those campuses.

To answer Stephan’s concern, I will add lane tags to roads as I obtain the data during my visits.

And also, thanks for the clarification on ownership of the Ag/Vet Campus. I visit that campus almost daily to do bird watching and photography. Those roads are all unnamed as well.

Best,

Dave