School Zones - protocol for updates/corrections/etc
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15 years
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Forgive a newbie; couldn't find a relevant FAQ entry.
I downloaded the Schools-Northeast compendium and successfully loaded it into my nuvi 750. I'm finding that there are a lot of local school zones missing from the file, and that there are a lot of entries in the file that might nominally be considered schools, but aren't "school zones" with special speed limits.
I'll be entering a bunch of local school zones into a new cvs file for myself; is there a polite/generally acceptable way here to merge (or offer for merging) these into the big compendium?
But at a higher level, what's the intent of this compendium? Personally, I was looking for a file of school speed zones where I should pay attention to my speed. Looking at some of the local entries, it seems like maybe this file was actually intended more as a guide to finding all the schools and colleges in an area, whether they are in speed controlled zones or not.
If that's the case, is there a different file for just school speed zones, or interest in generating one? OTOH, if capturing speed zones was the INTENT with this file, I could provide the maintainer with feedback on a number of local entries that aren't school zones.
Can anyone help a newbie get his bearings here?
The file that you are
The file that you are referencing is data from the USGS and so far we have not edited these files due to the complexity of upkeep. We will be checking for updates and updating when they do.
Miss POI
Thanks
Thank you, miss poi.
It is a massive file, and if USGS issues periodic updates, I can see how it would be a nightmare to maintain edits to the list when they offer a new extract.
I guess I'll start a true school speed zone file for my local area, and upload that for others once I get it hammered a bit into shape.
I do a small local file as well.
That's what I have done. I downloaded the NorthEast School zone file, but do to reasons you mentioned, have started to maintain my own much smaller POI of local school zones. The bigger file is still useful, but my own are tailored to exact locations I know.
Right now though, none of them are loaded in my Garmin since it is summer and I don't want to hear the alarms.
PT
Garmin nüvi 200 (my first GPS), 780, & 3700 Series. And a Mac user.
Procedure feedback
Ok, I've starting building my local school zone POI file. I decided to cover all of my local county, which is a big enough project that I'd like to seek feedback on what I'm doing to see if I'm off in the weeds before I do too much work.
I have a list of all the school districts in the county, and it turns out that every school district has a website that lists the address of all their schools. Great!
I type each school's address into Google Maps, then use the aerial photo view to positively identify the school (the addresses often don't pop up the exact proper location).
I then get the lat/long of a point on each adjacent road at the spot nearest the school; each school can have 1-4 such points depending on local geography.
I enter these coordinates into a cvs file, using the school's name in the 3rd column, and if there's more than one spot for the school, append the road name in parentheses to uniquely identify that POI in case something needs to be tweaked later.
How does that sound? Am I missing anything important?
Mapping non-public schools is turning out to be a lot harder. I picked up some by doing a Google search for "parochial school Montgomery County Pennsylvania", "Catholic school...", "Private school..." I picked up quite a few additional ones just by noticing them on the map when I was seeking a public school, which lets me know the Google searching wasn't nearly complete. Any tips on getting the non-public schools?
Call in the law enforcement agencies of your county
Ok, I've starting building my local school zone POI file. I decided to cover all of my local county, which is a big enough project that I'd like to seek feedback on what I'm doing to see if I'm off in the weeds before I do too much work.
I have a list of all the school districts in the county, and it turns out that every school district has a website that lists the address of all their schools. Great!
I type each school's address into Google Maps, then use the aerial photo view to positively identify the school (the addresses often don't pop up the exact proper location).
I then get the lat/long of a point on each adjacent road at the spot nearest the school; each school can have 1-4 such points depending on local geography.
I enter these coordinates into a cvs file, using the school's name in the 3rd column, and if there's more than one spot for the school, append the road name in parentheses to uniquely identify that POI in case something needs to be tweaked later.
How does that sound? Am I missing anything important?
Mapping non-public schools is turning out to be a lot harder. I picked up some by doing a Google search for "parochial school Montgomery County Pennsylvania", "Catholic school...", "Private school..." I picked up quite a few additional ones just by noticing them on the map when I was seeking a public school, which lets me know the Google searching wasn't nearly complete. Any tips on getting the non-public schools?
If you are more interested in SCHOOL SPEED ZONES, for safety reasons or compliance reasons, I have a suggestion to make.
How about contacting the law enforcement agencies of your county who have responsibility for school speed zones? If a speed zone exists, they would know. Otherwise, if no speed zone exists, would you not leave that location out of your database?
Just my thoughts to help you know when you have achieved your goal. Hope the idea works.
EDIT: Hmmm, another thought:
In our city, we have a "community relations officer" or some such job title. He is probably the one I'd go to if there is no other office tending the school speed zone enforcement. S/he would be more motivated to help you I think, and it would be within his key work objective, to help the community.
"Making tracks..." {:)-<=| Nuvi 880