Road Atlas of BC

Detailed Road Description

 

Road & Intersection Data

 

This document is narrative description complete with the full listing of the code lists of the roads data of the Road Atlas of BC. For a compact, schema-data type definition of the road data refer to Road Data - Brief.

Rev 2.0

last revised: 18 February, 2004

 

Notice: Standards and Specifications subject to change without notice

 

 

ROAD GEOMETRY

GEODETIC DETAILS

The Mapping System geodetic details are as the following.

  • DATUM: NAD 83
  • WORKING PROJECTION: BC Albers
  • DELIVERY PROJECTIONS: Anything supported by FME. Typically including UTM or unprojected (Lat-Long)
  • WORKING ENVIRONMENT: primarily MicroStation, MS Access, and FME. Supplemental use of AutoCad, ESRI and MapInfo products.
  • DELIVERY ENVIRONMENTS: Anything supported by FME. Typically including ESRI Shape or e00, and MapInfo Tab files.

WEEDING AND ROUNDING

All road data vertices have been "rounded" to one decimeter (1/10th of a meter) with the BC Albers projection. Depending upon the format provided, any projections, and precision of the GIS used, there may be a small shifting, rounding or truncation effects.

All road data segments have been "weeded" to a one & 1/2 meter tollerance, calculated from within the BC Albers projection. This means that there are no co-linear vertices where co-linear is plus or minus 1 1/2 meters. The practical impact of this is a vertice needs to deflect the road by a distance comparable to the distance between the yellow line and the middle of a vehicle travelling normally beside the yellow line. The overal result is that the Road Centreline as defined within the Road Atlas is both smooth enough to be realistic, yet thinned enough to allow for good GIS display performance even when the entire province is being displayed.

VECTOR DIRECTION

The vector direction of each segment, hence the interpretation of left and right is based upon the following.

  • If a segment is addressable, the vector direction of that segment will be in the direction of increasing addresses.
  • If a segment is NOT addressable, and is a one way road (such as ramps and bridges), the vector direction of the segment will be in same direction as the direction of travel.
  • If a segment is NOT addressable and has two way traffic, the vector direction of the segment will be the same as those with a similar orientation in that area. There is a difference is idea between a segment being NOT addressable, and one simply not having an address at this time.

ROAD ATTRIBUTES - DETAILED DESCRIPTION

ROAD NAMING

 

Road name-ALIAS NAME

Should a particular feature also contain an alias name, this will be recorded. At this time, we provide only one alias.

  • An alias is a well know, common name, an alternate, historical, or commemorative name.
  • The road has been renamed (such as Stadium Rd to Griffith Way), and we will retain the old name as an alias where such an alias does not add to the confusion (such as where three small segments are consolidated into one segment).
  • In our opinion, there is a high potential for confusion as to the exact location of a name change. In such cases, we will record the correct official name to the name change, and may extend the alias name for a distance to improve geocoding.
  • We have found an instance where the street sign is different than the official name, such as a Some Pl instead of Some Crt. In these cases, we will alias the road as per the street sign.
  • The road segment is a special segment of another feature, such as a named bridge within a named road.
  • The road is a boundary between two addressing authorities, with slightly differing road names. For example, one calls the road a "Rd" while the other a "Dr"; or where the numbering on one side forces a directional (W 10 Av), and the other side is just (10 Av).

 

HIGHWAY ROUTE NUMBER

Should a road segment be part of the Provincial Numbered Highway system , this in managed in the HWYRTE field. The "number(s)" are recorded as a plus "+" delimited text field, in ascending order. The use of the plus "+" instead of a comma was to minimze any conflicts where road naming data is exported to other applications using the standard CSV format. For example, some segments of King George Hwy are routes "1A+99A".

 

HIGHWAY EXIT NUMBER

Exit name/numbers area managed in the EXIT_NUM field. The "number(s)" are recorded as one text field. If there are two exits for one number, an "A" and a "B", then the name will be the number"AB". For example, if there is only one exit for exit "28", this field will be "28". For example if there are two exits for exit "28", and they are recorded as exits "28A" and "28B", then this field will be "28AB".

 

ROAD NAME PARSING

Depending upon the particular GIS format, and in some cases the particular application software, the form and format of the road name will vary. This is not a data supply standards problem, it is a reality of the differing expectations of GIS, 9-1-1 or other application software systems. For example, MapInfo wants one field only for the street name, and it must be called "STREET". ESRI Shape files want 5 fields (PreDir, PreType, StreetName, StreetType, SufDir). Some applications want numeric road names with the phonetic suffix (eg. "2nd" Ave), and others just want the number (eg. "2" Ave). Some applications want the road type to be based upon the Canada Post standards, while other applications are based upon a standard defined use within 9-1-1. Finally, none of the above systems handle extensions to the standard name, such as "xx Bridge". For example, is it "Granville St Bridge", or "Granville Street Bridge". There is no way to have one universal answer. To empower our users, we manage the "road name" in a highly parsed format. This enables both GIS Innovations and/or our users to restructure the "road name" to meet their needs.

Primany Column

Alias Column

Data Type

Remark

Example

STNAME_ID

ALIAS_ID

integer

unique ID

12345

STREETNAME

ALIASNAME

char(40)

full name concatenation

W 2nd Ave NW Bridge

STPREDIR

ALIPREDIR

char(2)

directional prefix

W

STPRETYPE

ALIPRETYPE

char(4)

type prefix (Rue, Rd, Hwy)

 

STNAME

ALINAME

char(40)

The name withOUT the phonetic suffix

2

STNAMESUF

ALINAMESUF

char(40)

the name WITH the phonetic suffix

2nd

STTYPE

ALITYPE

char(10)

road type used in this project

Ave

STSUFDIR

ALISUFDIR

char(2)

directional suffix

NW

STRUCTURE

ALISTRUCT

Char(12)

Descriptor of structure

Bridge

 

Road name-ID's

The road naming system has a unique numeric ID for every unique road name. The table managing the ID's for the names is managed outside of the road feature system. To facilitate data management, and road re-parsing, each road segment as the ID for both the proper STREET NAME, managed as the STNAME_ID, and for the ALIAS, managed as the ALIAS_ID. Note: the following conventions have been used in the assignment of road name ID's. Numeric avenues are numbered below 1000, numbered streets between 1000 and 1999, numbered highways between 2000 and 2999, and improper names are above 99900. For example, "2nd Ave" is ID=2, "2nd St" is ID=1002, and "Highway 2" is ID=2002.

 

Road name-CONCATINATED NAME

Depending upon the GIS format the final concontinated road name provided (if any) and the alias name (if valid) may be presented as a single field managed as STREETNAME and ALIAS_NAME respectively. For MapInfo users, this field is named STREET. The default format provided by GIS Innovations is a simple concatination of (StPreDir + StPreType + StNameSuf + StType + StSufDir + Sturcture). Upon request from clients, a Canada Post matching format can be provided which would be: (StPreType/StNameSuf + StType + StPreDir OR StSufDir + Sturcture).

 

Road name-STEET NAME

The feature name and corresponding unique ID number, where the feature can be roads, parks or any named feature. Each feat_name within the province will be assigned a unique numeric ID. The feat_name column is in mixed case, to correctly describe names with mixed case. The name recorded is the NORMALIZED VERSION name as posted on the street sign. This is significant because this occasionally represents a difference with what is on official file. In some cases, after confirming the "official name" with the appropriate authority, we will us the official name and alias the name as per the sign where we have an indication that the authority intends to change the street sign. Also, in rare cases, if the road mapped is under active construction, or the street sign is missing, and we have documentation or "local knowledge" as to what the name will or should be, then that name is used.

By "normalized", we mean that our naming standards are applied to the name. For example, if the road sign is "An Avenue", we will manage the name as "An Av". Secondly, all numbered streets and avenues are recorded only as the numeric (e.g. Second Av becomes 2 Av). Thirdly, any punctuation other than the dash is simply removed or converted to a word, such as "L and A Rd" for "L & A Rd". Punctuation, such as dots (e.g. St. Pauls), ampersand (e.g. L&A), apostrophe (e.g. O’Brians) , number (e.g. #2) can wreck havoc on computer data loading and handling.

 

Road Name-TYPE

The streety type portion of the street name and/or an alias name in managed within the STTYPE and the ALITYPE fields, respectively. There is a simple truth, the vast majority of road types used in the English speaking world are: Avenue, Street, Drive, Road, Place, Crescent, and Court. In fact these types probably account for over 95 % of all roads. All the other road types combined account for the last 5 % of roads. Generally, GIS Innovations uses the road type abbreviations as published by Canada Post, and as a secondary source, the NRN (National Road Net) road type code as published by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). GIS Innovations has incorporated some types used in common practice in BC, that are not defined by Canada Post; with Bridge, FSR, Frtg, Mainline being the most significant. Finally for selective accounts, such as the 9-1-1 accounts, GIS Innovations maintains additional road type cross reference tables. Refer to our cross reference to the types as used by GIS Innovations, Canada Post, and NRCan. Finally, be advised that this list may change without notice.

Code

Interpretation

Access

Access

Acres

Acres

Alley

Alley

Ave

Avenue

Bay

Bay

Beach

Beach

Bend

Bend

Blvd

Boulevard

Bridge

Bridge

Bypass

By-pass

Ctr

Centre

Cir

Circle

Close

Close

Common

Common

Crt

Court

Cove

Cove

Cres

Crescent

Cross

Crossing

Cds

Cul-de-sac

Dale

Dale

Dell

Dell

Divers

Diversion

Dr

Drive

End

End

Espl

Esplanade

Estates

Estates

Exten

Extension

Forest

Forest

FSR

Forest Service Road

Fwy

Freeway

Frtg

Frontage Rd

Gdn

Garden

Gdns

Gardens

Gate

Gate

Glade

Glade

Glen

Glen

Green

Green

Grounds

Grounds

Grove

Grove

Harbour

Harbour

Ht

Height

Hts

Heights

Hwy

Highway

Hill

Hill

Hollow

Hollow

Island

Island

Key

Key

Knoll

Knoll

Landng

Landing

Lane

Lane

Lkout

Lookout

Loop

Loop

Mainline

Mainline

Mall

Mall

Meadow

Meadow

Mews

Mews

Mtn

Mountain

Parade

Parade

Pk

Park

Pky

Parkway

Passage

Passage

Path

Path

Pines

Pines

Pl

Place

Plaza

Plaza

Pt

Point

Prom

Promenade

Quay

Quay

Ramp

Ramp

Reach

Reach

Ridge

Ridge

Rise

Rise

Rd

Road

Rte

Route

Row

Row

Run

Run

Sq

Square

St

Street

Stroll

Stroll

Subdiv

Subdivision

Terr

Terrace

Trail

Trail

Trnabt

Turnabout

Vale

Vale

View

View

Village

Village

Vista

Vista

Walk

Walk

Way

Way

Wharf

Wharf

Wood

Wood

Woods

Woods

Wynd

Wynd

 

Road Name-DIRECTIONAL Prefix & Suffix

The prefix directional of the street name and/or an alias name in managed within the STPREDIR and the ALIPREDIR fields, respectively. The suffix directional of the street name and/or an alias name in managed within the STSUFDIR and the ALISUFDIR fields, respectively. A word of caution, occasionally a road name has an embedded directional. For example, "North Bend" may be recorded as both words into the STREET_NAME field, with no directional value.

Abbr

Fully Spelt

E

East

N

North

NE

North East

NW

North West

S

South

SE

South East

SW

South West

W

West

 

Road Name-STRUCTURE

The "feature" extensions of the street name and/or an alias name in managed within the STRUCTURE and the ALISTRUCT fields, respectively. The intent of having the STRUCTURE field is to allow for parsing of a street name to be as per normal columns for names like Georgia St Viaduct, Granville St Bridge, Willingdon Av Onramp. In some cases, the usage is for roads that are officially unnamed, or at least not properly signed, such as Alice Lake Prov Park. Note that the list of "structures" will grow over time.

Abbr

Common

Interpretation

1100

 

trailing portion of name to a Strata Complex

1000

 

trailing portion of name to a Strata Complex

400

 

trailing portion of name to a Strata Complex

420

 

trailing portion of name to a Strata Complex

350

 

trailing portion of name to a Strata Complex

300

 

trailing portion of name to a Strata Complex

Access

Y

Access (Rd)

Airport

 

 

Airstrip

 

 

Bridge

Y

 

Campground

 

 

Causeway

 

 

Dam

 

 

Diversion

 

name extended

Ext

 

 

Ferry

Y

 

Frtg

Y

Frontage Road

Marina

 

 

MHP

 

Mobil Home Park

Offramp

Y

 

Onramp

Y

 

Overpass

 

 

Park

Y

 

Prov Park

Y

Provincial Park

Ramp

Y

 

Restarea

Y

 

Recsite

 

 

School

 

 

Snowshed

 

 

Terminal

Y

 

TrailerCrt

 

 

Trailhead

 

 

Tunnel

Y

 

Underpass

 

 

Viaduct

Y

 

Weighscale

 

 

 

ADDRESSING

ADDRESS RANGING

The address range data is the standard format of range left and range right, as managed in the fields: FROMLEFT, TOLEFT, FROMRIGHT, TORIGHT.

In general there are no legitimate zeros in addressing schemes. On the other hand, because the address rand data provided is numeric, some value must be given, and the usual numeric NULL is zero. The address range data provided generally contains a continuous sequence of range data in the from-to/left-right columns. The continuous extension is a robust extension compared to recording only the current actual values. If one side of a segment has address ranging, and the other side does not, an attempt is made to copy the address range data onto the null side, factoring in even/odd parity. Note no extension across the centreline into the median (inside) is done if the road direction is classified as DIVIDED. Instead both sides of the divided road have their "outsides" addressed, and the insides NULLED.

The objective of this approach is to reduce the chance that a legitimate address may "fall between the cracks." A user must understand that an entire 100 block can be "missed", if no addresses are observed, or planned for where we have had access to the planned addresses, or otherwise interpretable by our understanding of the master addressing plan. Consider a design that uses "actual" addresses. What happens if a corner house is torn down and the new one is built/addressed off of the cross street. The previous range of the cross street would now fail to find the new house.

There are several situations where our GIS professionals "over-rules" the algorithm. This is a judgement to pull back from the extensions deduced by the algorithm where such extensions are just not "reasonable". Examples of this include:

  • Where the road system "branches" into two, and the numbering of both branches is a continuation of the single stem.
  • Where the road ends in such a way that it is really unlikely to extend and get additional houses. Examples of this are Cul de Sacs, and dead ends against significant barriers such as rail lines, hydrography, cliffs, and so forth.
  • Where the address grid is strongly adhered to, and the road system is such that certain roads are ended before they intersect other grid roads, then the foreshortened roads may have their ranges pulled back to remove the implication from the numbering that the two roads intersect.

In all cases, the decision to overrule the default algorithm is based upon the GIS professional making a judgement call as to the best representation of the road range, while being conservative enough to be sure the overruling will NOT result in a new address exceeding the range interpreted.

The determination of the last house number left and right, is subordinate to even and odd numbering where the two conflict. For example, if the even numbering wraps around a Tee, a dead end or a cul de sac for a few houses, before matching up to the odd numbering, the highest (lowest) even and odd numbers prevail regardless of the actual positioning along the road. While not common, this situation occurs in many situations where the address planner chose to split even & odd at some other feature, like an alley or footpath-right-of-way, rather than the geometric end of the road.

If the address of corner lots is obscured (or not posted at all), there is a chance that the numeric interpretation will interpret a break such that the house may be ranged to the other side of the intersection. Similarly the determination of which side of an intersection to post the house at Tee intersections is open to interpretation. From a "locate or navigate" usage, any such interpretations would still result in the closest intersection to such an address.

Very small segments are simply not addressed, such as turning islands, the segments crossing through medians of divided roads, and so forth.

Finally, some ranges are known to have problems. In some situations, the local authority has created situations where the premise of ranging cannot be implemented without notably misrepresenting where some addresses should be. As we discover these, we do our best to identify these to the local authority. It is the responsibility of the local authority to address/readdress property, and they may chose to leave the addressing as is.

 

ADDRESSING STYLE

The fields that describe the style of addressing left and right are ADDRTYPE_L ADDRTYPE_R respectively. The style is indicating Even, Odd, or something more creative.

N

Not addressed or unknown

E

Standard Even parity, addresses increase in the vector direction

O

Standard Odd parity, addresses increase in the vector direction

C

Continuous numbering, (e.g. 1,2,3,4…), increasing in vector direction

o

Odd parity, but decreasing in vector direction

e

Even parity, but decreasing in vector direction

c

Continuous numbering, but decreasing in vector direction

S

Single Addressing data model

The master rule is that the road vector direction is set to be in the direction of increasing addressing. In the real world, places and addressing have evolved in ways that do not readily fit into the simple rule of increasing addressing, one side is even and one side is odd. Some examples of this include:

  • Some cul de sacs are intentionally numbered all even or odd in a pattern that goes up one side and wraps around the end and continues back to the entrance, creating Ee, eE, oO, Oo pairs.
  • Some roads are even/odd for a distance and then come to a T, where the left and/or right sides wrap around their extensions as all even/odd. Sometimes this wrap rejoins the main road and the addressing then continues on as opposing even/odd (e.g sequence EO, EO, Ee, EO).
  • Some roads are the boundary between two addressing schemes, where one side is selected to be the controlling side for vector direction. The addressing directionality and parity of the other side may be the same or the opposite, depending upon the schemes used. This may create any of EO, OE, Eo, Oe, eO, oE, Ee, eE, Oo, oO, or any E O e o and N.
  • Some roads are simply numbered consecutively, 1,2,3,4 and so forth, especially within trailer parks and strata developments. (CC, cC, Cc, CN, NC)
  • Sometimes the "hundred" block or the eve/odd parity of a road are changed as the road direction moves from one main direction to another.

 

SINGLE_ADDRESS

This data model has been extended to include a "single address" for a given segment, managed in the field SINGLEADDR Within these segments, there may or may not be additional range columns, where these columns are UNITS, PADS and so forth. As such a full address might be "12-1234 Mountain Hwy, My Town". Note: the standard data delivery sets the 4 address range values to 0 where the SINGLEADDR is non-zero.

The additional ranges, the sub-ranges really, area only available upon special request. UNLESS YOUR ADDRESS MATCHER CAN USE THIS EXTENSION TO THE SIMPLE ROAD RANGE SYSTEM, there is no value in using this data. In fact, including the data WILL provide many instances of an apparent address range overlap based just upon the standard range values. For example, development 2020 Hwy 3, may have several strata addressed segments going from 1-99. A second development 2040 Hwy 3, may also have several strata addressed segments going from 1-99. If you ignore the "single" address, you have two sets of "Hwy 3" addressed from 1-99. Worse, these addresses are sub-addresses of the two developments, 2020 & 2040 on Hwy 3, and these may overlap a real addresses range of 1-99 on Hwy 3.

Examples of where this is used are developments like trailer parks and modern strata or townhouse developments. In these cases, typically there is one common entrance to the development, and one address based upon the main road. Within the development may be many lanes with "sub" numbered development. Be aware that very frequentyly, the sub numbering does NOT always follow the local standards for numbering. Therefor, the sub-address ranging in these developments is either a best attempt, and may not be very reliable or accurate, or may be determined to be too non-conformal and be zeroed out. It is common for these developments to use consecutive numbering (resulting in random even-odd pairs), and disconnected groups. Occasionally, we will NULL one side where the actual numbering would result in overlaps, but the full outside range (min to max) reasonably approximates which segment and the distance along, even if the left/right side is misleading. Otherwise no solution may be possible.

 

 

ROAD CLASSIFICATION

 GIS Innovations classifies roads based upon the current functional usage of a road in a way that is consistent with other published road classifications.  This basis of current functional usage may or may not be the same as the legally planned class for a road / right of way.  The core of the classification is based upon the two conflicting purposes of a road, to provide for efficient mobility between places, and to provide for access to adjacent lands.  The classification process is not an exact science but none the less attempts to classify along the continuum of road usage of: freeway, highway, arterial, collector, local, and lane; along with some special case roads such as strata, ramp, ferry, service, resource, recreation, trail and restricted roads.

 

RD_CLASS & RD_CLASSID

The road classifications provided is a fairly standard one for single line road centreline data. This is managed in the field RD_CLASS The classification of any given road is based upon any classifications provided by a local authority plus any interpretations by GIS Innovations Ltd. of road usage and significance.

The field RD_CLASSID is an integer code value for the RD_CLASS. This is provided to facilitate the sorting of roads by road class

RD_CLASS

RD_CLASSID

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

freeway

1

controlled access, typically divided carraigeway

highway

2

a primary or secondary provincial highway, may be single or multilane each way

arterial

4

a thoroughfare with generally large traffic capacity, frequently multilane each way, and almost always has the general right of way

collector

6

a road to collect traffic from areas and/or to cross town with general right of way, usually one lane each way

local

8

local, residential roads

strata

9

residential roads with potential public restriction, trailer parks, first nations, strata developments

lane

10

Alleyways for access to the rear of properties

ramp

11

ramps for highway access, or turning lanes

restricted

12

a restricted road, generally not accessible to the general public

ferry

13

a crossing made by public or private ferry boat

recreation

14

a road to access back country or recreation sites

resource

15

a road for resource extraction

trail

16

a pathway for pedestians or bikes, not for vehicles

service

17

roads with no formal name that access facilities or places

 

RD_SUBCLASS & RD_SUBCLID

In major centres where additional road classification has been provided by a local authority, a more detailed classification will be provided. The information reported will be based upon that of the authority, but may not be the same. GIS Innovations Ltd. will modify the subclass to reflect the apparent traffic volume and general right of way observed.

RD_SUBCLSS

RD_SUBCLID

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

freeway

1

controlled access, typically divided carraigeway

highway_major

2

a primary provincial highway

highway_minor

3

a seconday provincial highway

arterial_major

4

a major thoroughfare with a generally large traffic capacity, may have more than 1 lane each way

arterial_minor

5

a thoroughfare with medium traffic capacity, has one lane each way)

collector_major

6

a road to feed traffic within town with right of way, may have more than 1 lane each way

collector_minor

7

a road to feed areas of local traffic, has one lane each way

local

8

local, residential roads

strata

9

residential roads with potential public restriction, trailer parks, first nations, strata developments

lane

10

Alleyways for access to the rear of properties

ramp

11

ramps for highway access, or turning lanes

restricted

12

a restricted road, generally not accessible to the general public

ferry

13

a crossing made by public or private ferry boat

recreation

14

a road to access back country or recreation sites

resource

15

a road for resource extraction

trail

16

a pathway for pedestians or bikes, not for vehicles

service

17

roads with no formal name that access facilities or places

 

SUB CLASS

FULL DESCRIPTION

freeway

A functional road class for an unimpeded, high-speed controlled access thoroughfare for through traffic, generally with: no at-grade intersections; ramp access only; no access to adjacent land; and no pedestrians. Sometimes referred to as a dual carriageway.  Access to adjacent land is prohibited, full importance is given to mobility.

highway_major

A functional road class for a high-speed (minimum 80 kph) thoroughfare primarily intended to move traffic between towns, generally with a mix of: controlled access; acceleration and deceleration lanes; level crossings; and some direct access to adjacent land.  Sometimes referred to as the primary provincial highways.  Access to adjacent land is limited and is generally discouraged, with primary importance given to mobility.

highway_minor

A functional road class for a high-speed (typically between 70 and 90 kph) thoroughfare primarily intended to move traffic between towns, generally with a mix of level crossings and direct access to adjacent land.  Sometimes referred to as the secondary provincial highways.  Access to adjacent land is common, but primary importance is given to mobility.

arterial_major

A functional road class for a moderate speed (typically 50 to 70 kph) thoroughfare with a generally large traffic capacity, primarily intended to move traffic across town.  Typically the key route through town or a reduced speed zone of highway as the route passes through a built up area.  Access to adjacent land is subordinate to mobility.  Arterial_major roads may have more than 1 lane each way over key intervals.

arterial_minor

A functional road class for a moderate speed (typically 50 to 70 kph) thoroughfare with a generally moderate traffic capacity, primarily intended to move traffic across town.  Typically the key route through town or a reduced speed zone of highway as the route passes through a built up area.  Access to adjacent land is subordinate to mobility.  Arterial_minor roads rarely have more than 1 lane each way over any intervals.

collector_major

A functional road class for a moderate speed (typically 50 to 60 kph) thoroughfare with a generally moderate traffic capacity, primarily intended to: (a) enhance mobility in/out of residential neighborhoods, or (b) access to commercial areas, or (c) as collectors and distributors of residential traffic to higher level roads.  Access to adjacent land and mobility are of equal importance.  Collector_major roads may have more than 1 lane each way over key intervals.

collector_minor

A functional road class for a moderate speed (typically 50 to 60 kph) thoroughfare with a generally low to moderate traffic capacity, primarily intended to: (a) enhance mobility in/out of residential neighborhoods, or (b) access to commercial areas, or (c) as collectors and distributors of residential traffic to higher level roads.  Access to adjacent land and mobility are of equal importance.  Collector_minor roads rarely have more than 1 lane each way over any intervals.

local

A functional road class for a thoroughfare primarily intended to provide to access to adjacent land. with little or no through movement.  All roads not classified by some other classification will be classes as Local.

strata

A functional road class for a low speed thoroughfare primarily intended to provide to access to adjacent land but where the general public has explicit or implicit roadway access restriction, such as a mobile home or trailer park, a strata/townhouse development, a private estate, or first nations lands. 

lane

A functional road class for a very low speed (typically less than 30 kph) throughfare primarily intended to provide access to the rear of properties; through travel is greatly discouraged.

ramp

A functional road class for a freeway/highway entrance and exit ramp, or for a turning lane.  Typically there are NO adjacent properties to access.

restricted

A functional road class for a thoroughfare where travel by the general public is controlled or denied.  Also used for virtual (non-existing) roads created as road features for other purposes such as geocoding.

ferry

A functional road class for a crossing made by public or private ferry boat.

recreation

A functional road class for a thoroughfare primarily intended to access the back country, recreation sites or facilities.  Often these were initially resource roads that are no longer actively used for resource extraction.

resource

A functional road class for a thoroughfare primarily intended for resource extraction or for access to the back country.

trail

A functional road class for a pathway for pedestrians or bikes with no public vehicular traffic.

service

A functional road class for thoroughfare with no formal name that access facilities or places, such as weigh scales, lookout and rest areas.

 

NAVIGATION ATTRIBUTES

 

DIRECTION OF TRAVEL

The direction of vehicle travel is managed within the field: DIROFTVL. This field is really a composite field representing whether the travel is one way versus two way; and if one way, is the direction of travel forward versus reverse relative to the vector direction of a road segment.

Code

Remark

B

Both directions of travel permitted, the usual case

1F

One way traffic, traveling in the direction of the segment vector.

1R

One way traffic, traveling in the opposite direction of the segment vector.

2F

Soft divided road, with one way traffic, traveling in the direction of the segment vector.

2R

Soft divided road, mapped as one way traffic, traveling in the opposite direction of the segment vector.

DF

Divided road, with one way traffic, traveling in the direction of the segment vector.

DR

Divided road, with one way traffic, traveling in the opposite direction of the segment vector.

Divided and Soft divided Road remark: a divided road is one where the same road name has been mapped showing two vectors, versus a single line vector. This will always be the case where there is a substantial median separating the flow of traffic, such as a boulevard, concrete barriers, or retaining walls. Occasionally a road without a divider may be mapped as "soft divided", for clarity of navigation, or where there is a wide seperation between the lanes but there is no barrier at this time, or where there is a good likelihood that concrete dividers may be placed to separate traffic. These are attributed as 2F and 2R. Note that it is very unlikely that the interior zone of 2F &2R, or DF & DR roads would ever be addressed. Also note that a road is not divided just because there is a short barrier deflecting traffic such as for turning lanes.

 

ACCESSABILITY

The public accessability of a road is managed in the field RD_ACCESS. If the road is always freely available for public access, the numeric code value will be "0" (zero). Any non zero code means some form of restriction. The numeric code value "1" (one) is the generic value for some form of restriction to the public. In the future, numeric code values greater than "1" may refer to specific restrictions such as: footpath, pedestrian mall, transit traffic only, first nations, DND, watershed, industrial site, and so forth.

Code

Interpretation

Remark

0

Unrestricted

 

1

Restricted

generic code for a restriction

> 1

Specified Restricted

Future usage, linked to specific or catagorized restrictions

 

SURFACE MATERIAL

The surface material of a road is managed in the field RD_SURFACE. This field applies to the majority length of each segment. For example, if the first 10m of a road is paved and the remaining 90m are "loose", the entire segment is coded as "loose".

Note that some low traffic roads in BC are built with a material locally known as "seal coat", which is an inexpensive paved like surface that can be easily confused with a loose as the bitumin degrades and surface becomes very "gravel" like.

Code

Interpretation

Remark

paved

asphalt or concrete

a permanently hard surface, also wooden bridges

loose

gravel

a maintained gravel road

rough

dirt - 4x4

a UNmaintained gravel road, or a dirt road

boat

ferry

some form of boat or tram

ice

winter only

reserved for future use

 

SPECIALTY ROUTES (Disastre & Truck)

Two specialty route fields are managed, DISTR_RTE and TRUCK_RTE. The first specialty route field, DISTR_RTE, describes road segments that are defined to be part of the Disastre Response Route system prepared by the BC Ministry of Transportation. Roads within this system have their DISTR_RTE field coded with a "Y", versus an "F", if they are intended to be kept clear by the public to facilitate rapid response by emergency vehicles in the event of a major emergency. The second specialty route field, TRUCK_RTE, will flag the designated truck routes. At this time TRUCK_RTE is NOT used and is reserved for future usage.

 

MAXIMUM SPEED

The maximum speed is managed in the field MAX_SPEED. Typically this is the posted speed limit in kph (10,15,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90,100,110). These are the dominant speeds of a segment. For example, if the first 80% of a segment is 50 kph, and the last 20% of a segment is 30 kph, the segment is recorded as 50.

 

NUMBER OF LANES

The number of lanes is managed in two fields, one for the left side of the road: NUMLANES_L, and and another for the right side of the road: NUMLANES_R. Left and Right is relative to the vector direction of a road segment. The "number" is the number of through traffic in each direction/side. Through traffic means lanes of travel assuming every car that can be legally parked on a road is parked, leaving the number of clear lanes remaining for the through traffic. On major roads this typically is the number of lanes as designated by the road lanes painted on the pavement, not counting parking or turning lanes. It is our observation that nearly all highways, arterials and collectors have a painted centre line, while nearly none of the local or stata roads have a painted centrel line. The effect is tht on most paved without a yellow paint centre line, this number of lanes is an estimate. It is generally easy to clearly document when an unpainted road is really narrow (code "R"), or is clearly really wide enough for 2 trucks to pass (coded "1" lane each way). The challenge is to accurately document a road wide that is in the intermeadiate area, nearly 1 lane each way but still oncomming traffic needs to yield (code "N"). This is the most common case in most residential neighbourhoods; oncomming traffic needs to weave past each other somewhat.

For Loose of Rough roads, the guideline for the determination of the number of lanes is based upon the number of "wheel ruts" in the road. A two rut road will be coded as "R" for both left and right. A three rut road will be coded as "N" for both left and right. A four rut road will be coded as "1" lane each for left and right.

Users should be aware that there may be a change of lanes should parking restrictions change, or the width of a road change such as by a curbing project. Note that the number of lanes left or right is a function of the segment vector, which is usually a function of the direction of addressing. As such an X lanes left and 0 lanes right is possible on a one way or divided road addressed opposite to the direction of travel. Note that by definition, a road will have either numeric rating (0,1,2,3,4) that is independent for the left and right sides, or both left and right will have the same R or N as these codes indicate a "shared" usage of the passage.

 

Code

Remark

0

No lanes of travel on that side of the road

R

Restricted width, typically a road with only one lane for travel with few to no pullouts, easily blocked by any temporary structure or parked vehicles. Large trucks not likely to pass through

N

Narrow thoroughfare, with one lane free and frequent pullouts; typical residential road with parking on both sides leaving room for one truck to pass down the middle

1

One thoroughfare lane of travel on that side of the road, typically a 1:1 configuration. Traffic can drive without regard for oncoming traffic.

2

Two through traffic lanes on that side of the road

3

Three through traffic lanes on that side of the road

4

Four through traffic lanes on that side of the road

 

TRAVEL IMPACTORS (stops)

The travel impactors, such as stops and traffic lights, are managed in two fields FR_STOP, and TO_STOP. These two attributes define whether or not there is a travel impactor at the from or to end of each segment.

Traffic lights: Note that part-time traffic lights, such as pedestrian control lights or other styles of actuated lights are not included. Consider that a pedestrian can cross any street at virtually any intersection without a pedestrian controlled light and all vehicle traffic must yield to that pedestrian The impact is that any pedestrian contol light is simply a safer, on demand version of a any intersection without a pedestrian light.

Roundabouts: Roundabouts are recorded any time there is an obstruction to travel in the "centre" of an intersection or at the "centre" of a cul de sac. Generally speaking, roundabouts are record as an attribute versus being mapped with short segments of road creating the circular path that is the roundabout. Exceptions are made and all the short segments are mapped in as road vectors when a particular roundabout is a well known landmark.

Code

Interpretation

Remark

null

no restriction

 

Y

YIELD

 

S

STOP SIGN

 

L

TRAFFIC LIGHT

full time lights only

C

CUL DE SAC

 

R

ROUNDABOUT

has some obstruction in the centre forcing traffic around

U

UNDERPASS

the under side of a separation of road height

O

OVERPASS

the top side of a separation of road height

 

MAXIMUM WEIGHT, HEIGHT & WIDTH LIMITS

The restrictions relative to the maximum allowable weight, height and width are managed in six fields: FR_WEIGHT, TO_WEIGHT, FR_HEIGHT, TO_HEIGHT, FR_WIDTH, and TO_WIDTH. The use of FROM and TO fields for each restriction type resolves which end of each segment the restriction applies to, relative to vector direction. This enables a user, such as a heavy delivery truck, to be able to determine a path that will route up to the restriction. In cases where there are multiple lanes, each with their own limit, such as differing height limits at an underpass for each lane of a highway, only the "largest" limit is recorded. While a driver of a large vehicle may have to change lanes to fit through, these fields record the largest vehicle able to pass the restriction. The units of measure for the weight, height and width limits are in: metric tons, meters and meters respectively.

 

TURNING RESTRICTIONS-DAYS OF THE WEEK

The information related to turning restrictions is managed within 12 fields; 6 describing the day(s) of the restrictions, and 6 describing the time-of-day of the restriction. Within the 6 day and the 6 time restriction sets, there are 3 fields each that describe the FROM end, and 3 for the TO end. At each end (FROM or TO) are 3 fields relating to: going LEFT, going STRAIGHT, and going RIGHT.

The 6 fields that describe the turning day restrictions, ie the FROM-TO pairs relating to go LEFT, RIGHT or STRAIGHT are: FR_TURNL, FR_TURNR, FR_STRGHT regarding the FROM end respectively, and TO_TURNL, TO_TURNR, TO_STRGHT regarding the TO end, respectively.

The directional perspective is as if a vehicle is leaving the segment at that FROM or TO end, where FROM and TO are relative to vector direction.

Example 1, on a south to north road segment, heading north, a TO_TURNL indicates no turning to the west at the north end.
Example 2, on a south to north road segment, heading south, a FR_TURNL indicates no turning to the east at the south end.
Example 3, on a south to north road segment, heading south, a FR_STRGHT indicates no continueing straight at the south end.

Code

Interpretation

Remark

null

no restriction

 

MF

Monday to Friday

common

MS

Monday to Saturday

not common

SS

Sunday to Saturday

7 days a week, common

 

TURNING RESTRICTIONS-TIME OF DAY

Based upon the same format just described in TURNING RESTRICTIONS-DAYS OF THE WEEK, the 6 fields that describe the turning time-of-day restrictions, ie the FROM-TO pairs relating when can't you go LEFT, RIGHT or STRAIGHT are: FR_TL_TIME, FR_TR_TIME, FR_ST_TIME regarding the FROM end respectively, and TO_TL_TIME, TO_TR_TIME, TO_ST_TIME regarding the TO end, respectively.

CODE

Interpretation

Remark

null

no restriction

 

AM

AM rush hour

typically between 0700 and 0900, but does vary

PM

PM rush hour

typically between 1500 and 1800, but does vary

AMPM

Both AM and PM

typically 0700-0900 and 1500-1800, but does vary

DAY

The AM until the PM

typically 0700-1800, but does vary

24

always

0000-2400 always

 

SPEEDBUMPS & RAILCROSSING

The SPEEDBUMPS and RAILCROSSING are suspended and under review. Should the decision be made to support these data types, they will describe the number of speedbumps / cattleguards or rail crossing each segment has. For example, a road segment with two speedbumps or two cattleguards will have NAV_SPEEDBUMPS=2.

 

NETWORK TOPOLOGY

 

FROM_NODE & TO_NODE

The FROM_NODE/TO_NODE data is an element of the topological structure of the road network. A node is a point feature representing each end of each segment. Where two or more road segments intersect, only one node will be created. Also, each free end point, such as deadends, will have a node. A supplemental nodes table will be available containing:

Column

Datatype

interpretation

Node_id

Integer

The unique ID

Utm_zone

Integer

The utm zone of the node

Utm_n

N.1

The coordinate norrthing

Utm_e

N.1

The coordinate easting

 

ORIENTATION

The orientation of each segment is managed within two fields: AZIMUTH_FROM and AZIMUTH_TO. These fields define what angles of entry and egress are for a segment, relative from north, as calculated from within the BC Albers projection. relative to segment vector direction. Note that for a very small percentage of road segments, a minor deflection of the true angle is created in the map for clarity, or to trim out minor offsets across intersections.

 

SEGMENT LENGTH

The SEGMENT_LENGTH field defines the length of each road segment in meters decimal millimeters (nnnn.nnn) as calculated from within the BC Albers projection

AREA RELATIONSHIPS

 

CITY_LEFT & CITY_RIGHT

The CITY LEFT and CITY_RIGHT attributes defines the city left and right of the segment. This is the most difficult attribute to assign, in areas outside of the GVRD and CRD. This is our best interpretation of the city persons on the road relate to. For example, persons living just outside the "Oliver" city limit still refer to Oliver as the place they live in, and the postal station they use, BUT they are not officially in Oliver.

 

REGION_LEFT & REGION_RIGHT

The REGION LEFT and REGION_RIGHT attributes defines the formal regional district left and right of the segment. This is the common abbreviation of the district, such as GVRD, NORD, CORD, RDOS, CRD and so forth. A simple text file will be supplied to translate the abbreviation to the full name.

 

other_LEFT & other_RIGHT

Additional LEFT and RIGHT attributes are anticipated. These MAY include census, neighbourhood, land zoning, phone book city or exchange, and more.

 

 

META DATA

In addition to the core and optional tables, additional data objects to facilitate geocoding with the more popular packages, such as MapInfo and ArcView are available at no charge.

 

In addition to the core, optional and geocode-lookup tables and files, additional data objects can be purchased. If a user requires something new, please feel free to call and discuss it with us.

ROAD POSITIONING

A join table describing the most significant cross street at both the from and to ends of each segment. Be aware that this is not as robust a system for locating intersections as the Intersection_Xref table, but is useful for simple descriptors.

 

UPDATE ZONE

A join table describing all the road names meeting at each intersection. The table is:

NodeId, feat_id_A feat_id_B

Where feat_id_* is a reference to the feat_name table. The table will contain two records for each typical intersection, A cross B, and B cross A. If either has an alias, a pair of records will be provided covering the alias as well. For example, if B has an alias, "C", then that nodeId will have for 4 pairs: A cross B, B cross A, A cross C, and C cross A. Likewise, if the either has a route number, then more pairs will be generated.

last updated: 14 Dec 2005, bj spellings and grammer

last updated: 30 Dec 2005, bj added service road to road class/subclass classid-17