Railroad crossing POI's

I will be making this a POI Package so that all the links are on the same page.

Miss POI

I think your going to need all the help you can find. read this article.

There are approximately 223,000 railroad crossing points throughout the nation. Approximately thirty seven percent, or 82,000 crossings, are not gated. The risk of a railroad crossing accident is seven times greater at crossings without gates than at crossings with gates. Crossing gates are those which lower as a train approaches in order to prevent pedestrians and vehicles from entering into danger.

IMHO - I think it will be an extremely immense
task to verify coordinates. I think that unless the coordinates are verified the file locations could be suspect.
I only verified approx. 1700 sets of coordinates for one of my files and it took unbelievable amount of time.
The problem is - the railroad crossing coordinates will be much more important to be accurate than the ones I did.
Just my thinking !

I downloaded the Minnesota Railroad POIs, but I saved them as "RedLight-Minnesota RR Xings". It will be interesting to hear it alert while I approach railroad crossings tomorrow. I was also thinking this might be a fun application to have a .BMP file with a locomotive on it. I was also pondering the possibility of a custom MP3 file. Something with a unique train sound or song. At first I though a train whistle would be cool, but then I was worried that it may confuse people. I also had a thought about the old Folsom Prison Blues Lyrics by Johnny Cash. That way when you approach the railroad crossing you would hear, "I hear the train a comin'
It's rollin' 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine,
Since, I don't know when..."

That's why it's important to prioritize what data is in the POI file.

It would be IDEAL to have a POI with ONLY road-rail (non-pedestrian) ungated crossings.

Most people don't need to know a modern gated crossing is ahead. It'll become like a nuisance "STARBUCKS AHEAD" soon enough. However, take a driver who drives almost exclusively through "gated crossings" and send them on a trip into the country with non-gated crossings. Now that POI alert could be very important. At least a "heads up dummy" you aren't in the city anymore.

If someone REALLY wanted a POI of every crossing, make 2. One POI with a simple "bing" for your standard crossing, pedestrian, gates, etc... and the second POI for non-gated crossings with an mp3 that blares some warning message.

If I could sort the data well enough, that's what I would do. Alas, I'm not adept enough at excel.

Tom

I did set up my Minnesota RR File to alert last night and I tried it out today. It did seem to work pretty well, although I may decrease the distance at which it alerts. I still may try to find a special MP3 file to have a custom sound for this.

How about breaking them out by region [Midwest, Southeast, New England, Pacific Coast, etc.] or perhaps by time zone ?

Just my .02

--

it's the dog's fault

Wow!!!!...I first wrote in May about the idea of starting a poi with railway crossings.The first couple of replies i got was that it was a good idea but it would b a Huge project.I did start on that project but it kinda fell along the wayside, computer problems not to mention.But i thought the idea had died off and no one would br posting on it anymore...to my surprise, i logged back on to the site after being away for a long time and just decided to look at it, and it looks like some people are working on it.I was very touched at the notion that people are running around in the back ground and getting info and making contributions.You guys are amazing.Kinda feels like we're a big family on here.Well after i read most of the posts on the railroad crossings i will get back to the job and make my contributions.I did finish one project, the city of Brandon MB, and i got half of Winnipeg completed.Thanks to you guys you snowballed the idea and its taking off.

The manageable upper limit on the size a csv is about 64,000. This is due to the program (EXCEL)that would be used to make and update the data. Something this big is still a little unwieldy.

Another thing is, "What is your definition of regions". Not knowing which states are to be installed into which region. I wouldn't know where to begin.

My idea is for you to combine the files as you see fit into the regions you want. This way you control your data as you personally would like to have it. No fuss no muss.

So the bottom line is that I will supply the data by states.

This will be called the: "RR XING DATA KIT"

Now from the kit you will be able to produce any configuration of data you want.

I wounder if Miss POI can make a exmpt for these then.. Maybe have them compressed 2 ways, one for PC's and one for the mac.

This way you can still download them all in 1 single download.

I myself like the 1 big file, so much easier for me all around. I do know a lot of folks here do like the by state too. oh what a desion!!

I think this is going to be the bigest file that we will have here on POI-Factory!!

Good work to all that did this!

I will have to talk to Jon about this idea, this is out of my jurisdiction

Miss POI

The total size of the combined files would be 32.6MB.

Total Xings 286,108.

I think this would be toooooooooooo big to handle.

could you send me a zip of all of the states please??!!

Hey.. its just a thought.. hehe..

I did download the file located here http://www.poi-factory.com/node/4476 to my computer and named it the same as the POI File with "RedLight" in the name. It works pretty well and I hear a train bells ringing when I approach a railroad crossing now.

I grew up in major cities, so forgive me for asking this, but don't these crossings have signs or some other warnings besides lights and barriers to warn drivers?

I just completed files for all states and the District of Columbia(Total 49 files).

These new files will only show RR Xings that are:

"PUBLIC" at "GRADE" with NoSignSig(No sign or Signals).

I will start uploading them some time later today.

The files have xings that range from only 3 xings in a state to several hundred xings in a state. It depends on which state you look at.

I can not vouch for the accuracy if the data in the file. I got it from the Federal Railroad Admin. database files. There may be some of the xings listed that have a sign or signal. And there may be more xings that do not have a sign or signal, but these are the only ones listed.

I am NOT going to combine the files into 1 file. If you want to do this you can at your own leisure. Some may only want a few states others may want all states. I am leaving this up you you to do.

Disclamer:
Use the Xing POIs at your own risk. The data is from the Federal Railroad Administration.
Just remember your GPS is only a suggestion not your brain.

HOW ABOUT KEEPING THE FILES as is , but zipping them into a big folder it would make it much easier to d/l!!

that would make it very easy to d/l them instead of the hour it took me to d/l them off the site.

thanks for all of the help

The GPS wouldn't have time to process routing with trying to keep up with a file this size, me thinks.

I AM going to load each states files as needed, what i am asking for/need is for hhanna, to zip all of the states into one folder, not combine the states and send it to me via email. i know that a COMBINED file will be too big, i just would like to have all of the states to use as needed , but i dont have the time to d/l each state at a time, soooo, if he could just zip all the state files and send them over is what i am asking for?!

thansk

Just a question. Do they include bridge clearance heights for RR Over? That would be really useful to truckers.

that would be GREAT info.??!! would like to know that also

Sorry no that information is not available in this database.

It seems that you are going to load each file as needed, then all you have to do is download each file as needed!!!!!!!!!!

I don't want to take your joy of accomplishment away, so I am leaving you a little something to do on your own.

I see you are on here a lot so it seems you have the time to do some of the work for yourself.

And NO I am not going to combine the files or even ZIP them. I am leaving that up to the individuals to do. So they can customize them any way they want.

I agree with HH why d/l 49 states if you only plan on using the eastern or midwest states or which ever. That is almost the same with the rest stops and walmart files. If you are not planning on going say from the west to the east coast then you don't need all the states. Just an opinion.

i am here for a 1-2 from time to time, very bust this time of year (realtor) i do travel from west to east to north and south, so yes, i need all files, i carry a laptop with me, i dont alway have good connection when i travel SO for me, it is better to d/l them have them, less hassle, .

but no worries, thanks for all of the help in the MAKING of the files. hhannah, have a great day!

See there is always two sided to a story same as with a need. sounds like you use the gps alot. good traveling

yeppers ..
thansk

Werskine,
I see you have been posting from 11:25am to 1:20pm my time, that is about 2 hours. If you would have been downloading the files you want during this time you would have had time to download them all.......... at least once.

1 minute here a minute there

have a great day

Ok everyone (werskine) don't panic, H Hannah has not really updated all of his files, I have just been busy packaging them up.

Miss POI

Ok I am done playing with these POI Packages for now, here they are:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/16526

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/16524

H Hannah, let me know if I got the titles right please.

Miss POI

avoid them

Miss Poi,

Yes, they look Ok to me.
Are they still going to be listed under transportation? Or are you going to make a separate category called "Railroad" and move all railroad associated item into it?

They will be in transportation for now and only the POI Package front page shows up so people are not scrolling through all 104 files to find the other items in that category.

Miss POI

Both the idea (RR Crossings) and the file format are great!

Mike

this is a great one to take on, it is a safety issue for many people to be able to know a railroad crossing before you get there, great work!

What an undertaking!

Thought you might like to know that 'POI Verifier' found 3 coordinates swapped in the "All States RR Xings NoSignSignals.csv" ... lines 1827, 1828, & 1829.

Since these are in MA, I checked "Massachusetts RR Xings NoSignSignals.csv". They're also swapped ... lines 47, 48, & 49.

RT

Thanks RetiredTechnician,

I corrected all 3 Massachusetts files.

I also ran the 480,xxx xings for all states and found 6 xed in Nebraska, so I fixed those also.

VERY NICE !!!

H.Hanna. when I went to the link for the RR files and selected Florida, and when downloading it and tried to open it, (not saving it) it took me to the poi edit program, but from there it went downhill got a couple of errors

3 to 3 values expected on line 3236
and clicked thru it got this error.

'RRXing-FLORIDA CITY__N.W. 2ND AVE' is not a valid floating point value

hope this is correct.

Not sure what you are getting.

I just went to the "Florida RRXing DATA" and downloaded it into my computer and then opened it with EXCEL---- No problem.

I then just opened it online using "OPEN WITH"EXCEL and it opened in Excel with no problem.

I tried again to open it online using "OPEN WITH" default PoiCsv, and it opened and no problem.

I did the same thing with the "Florida Xings NoSignSignals and still had no problems.

Not sure what is happening to your trying.

Why don't you just download it and then open it in Excel and see what happens. Or if you don't have Excel download it and then use PoiLoader to load it into your GPS.

See if that doesn't work.

I just added the state abbreviation to the individual xings names in the state NOSignSig files, and the state DATA files.

I added it just after the RRXing.

It now looks like this:
RRXing-AL-MOBILE__DOG RIVER DR.

The above is for Alabama, the rest of the states are named appropriately.

This should help those that load more than 1 state.
The NoSignSig Combined file already has the state abbreviations.

Miss Poi,

I have taken the All States combined file and have made 2 files with line breaks:

"All States RR Xings NoSignSignals-WithLineBreaks in comment field" for those GPS's such as the Nuvi7xx series.

And.

"All States RR Xings NoSignSignals-WithLineBreaks in comment field" for those that only accept as line breaks.

Please move them to the following link:

RR Xings NoSignSignals all States Separate and combined

I have that up now, thanks.

Miss POI

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have been working with the Angels on Tracks organization and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to create a POI of all the railroad crossings in Ohio that are on public roads, in use, at road grade, and do not have crossing gates.

This POI can be used as an alternative to the POI that H Hannah posted from the Federal database.

Supposedly, the PUCO database is accurate and field verified.

AJ

This was posted here, but I am now going to resurrect my own post. In the past I had an interest in the coordinates for railroad crossings, but two days ago I rode my ATV on a recreational trail that was formerly Soo Line Railroad. They were still railroad mileposts along the trail. That would he helpful to me and others to save those either as Favorites or Custom POIs. So now I am wondering where I can find the GPS coordinates of these mileposts. I suspect it might be at the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration), but I am wondering if anybody here has done this. In a broader sense, if the data can be found, this may be applicable to many old rail lines that have been converted to recreational trails of whatever type. Although I am interested in ATV trails, others may be interested in bicycle trails
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/18816

Is this POI still active?

Here's a webpage that coordinates Mile markers and GPS data in a table for the Washington and Old Dominion Trail railroad.

http://www.wodfriends.org/elevations.html

we are required to stop at all RR crossings by federal law. So we are always scanning for the RR crossings.