Anyone knows anything about Ontario logging road classes ?

[EricGagne]

So I downloaded this file to produce a map of Ontario logging roads that can be used with OsmAnd.

MNRF Road Segment

This data has a column called Geometric Standard Class. The description is the following.

The geometric standard road classification. Classes include A, B, C, and D. Guidelines specify minimum-maximum clearing width, speed, roadway width, horizontal curvature, maximum gradient, minimum sight stopping distance, minimum ditch depth, minimum culvert size, maximum aggregate size and granular structure. (PL 10.06.00 ARM-1992). This is the primary classification field for deriving the road value. Note: once this field is filled in we will drop Surface Type and Number of lanes.

I cannot find anything on internet regarding this Geometric Standard Class for Ontarion MNRF Road network so I am hoping someone here can point me to a web page or a document with a detailed description of those classes.

 

[Bookerman]

Found a few references that might be enlightening for you:

1. DRAFT TECHNICAL BACKGROUNDER
Northern Ontario Multimodal Transportation Strategy
HIGHWAYS AND ROADS
Prepared for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Northern Development and Mines

https://northernontariommts.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/ttr_hwys_techbackgrounder_draft-2016-11-29.pdf

Has this on page 16 (#28 of 185):

There are three main types of Forest Access Roads identified in Forest Management Plans. As identified in The Forest Management Planning Manual for Ontario’s Crown Forests (2009), Glossary of Terms-18, these are as follows:

Primary: A road that provides principal access for the management unit, and is constructed, maintained, and used as part of the main road system on the management unit. Primary roads are normally permanent roads.

Branch: A road, other than a primary road, that branches off an existing or new primary or branch road, providing access to, through or between areas of operations on a management unit.

Operational: A road within an operational road boundary, other than a primary or branch road, that provides short-term access for harvest, renewal and tending operations. Operational roads are normally not maintained after they are no longer required for forest management purposes, and are often site prepared and regenerated.

So, I would guess that A, B, C correspond to Primary, Branch, and Operational. D being for "Do not use" LOL
Simply put: A = Best, B = so-so, C = getting sketchy, D = very sketchy


2. You might like these definitions, and there are more, in the Ontario publication
Crown Land Roads Manual – Introduction and Context PL 10.00.00 Draft February 22, 2007

http://ontora.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/MNR_CrownLandRoadsManual_PL-10-00-00_20070222.pdf

(It's not the "Glossary of Terms" but probably close)

Primary road: A term as used in forest management planning, referring to a road constructed, maintained and used as part of the main all weather road system that provides access to the management unit as a whole. Primary roads are essentially permanent roads, regularly maintained, with a lifespan in excess of 15 years.

Access roads: Roads that are not on land owned by a municipality and that are not public highways, but which serve as motor vehicle access to one or more parcels of land.

Branch roads: A term as used in forest management planning, referring to a road that is essentially a branch of a primary road, providing access to areas of operations within a management unit. These roads are not considered permanent and are not normally maintained beyond the five to 15 year period of their use.

Operational roads: A road that is built for short term use (i.e. up to five years), for harvest and subsequent renewal operations. Roads may be unsurfaced or thinly surfaced and are not maintained beyond the period of their use – they are often reforested.


These all seem to jive well with the simplified version presented on the Ontario Forestry access roads page at https://www.ontario.ca/page/forest-access-roads

So probably three classes of usable roads, and one unusable, or retired roads. (Or possibly just old, overgrown skidder tracks.)

 

[Bookerman]

Oops. My bad. Those classes of Primary, Branch, and Operational are the "FMP_ROAD_CLASS" not the "GEOMETRY_STANDARD_CLASS" you're asking about. I think, though, the Forestry Management Plan Road Class probably matches up pretty close to the "geometry" which would be the technical specs of the curve camber allowed, road crown expected, etc, those other technical details, i.e. the higher the class of road, the better built and maintained it is, and the better to drive on.

Reference: Land Information Ontario Data Dictionary MNRF Road Segment (https://www.sse.gov.on.ca/sites/MNR-PublicDocs/EN/CMID/MNR Road Segment - Data Description.pdf)

 

[EricGagne]

Thanks for the references to those documents Bookerman. Unfortunately I had already seen them and they don't give me what I need.

The description of the Geometric Standard Class includes this : [...]Guidelines specify minimum-maximum clearing width, speed, roadway width[...]. The max width, max speed, max weight is the information I am looking for. For the app to be able to properly calculate the "best" route, I need to specify those values for each road segment. Without it, the app has no way of knowing if a length of road will take 1 minute or 1 hour to drive.

Because the description says the guidelines specify this information, I am trying to find those guidelines somewhere.

 

[EricGagne]

Ahhhhh, gotta love that google thing :D

I found this page with links to all documents pertaining to crown land policies. The information I was looking for is in document PL 10.06.00

Crown Land Policies | Ontario Fishing - OntORA

The MNR’s Policies for administering Crown Land are grouped into nine (9) main sections. Each section contains a number of different policies and procedure

ontora.ca

 

[Bookerman]

I found this page with links to all documents pertaining to crown land policies. The information I was looking for is in document PL 10.06.00

There ya go! And yes, it looks like the info you are after is in there. It would be nice if it was a bit more readable. It looks like a scan of an original 1992 document rather than a .PDF created from the source as can be done nowadays.

I'm curious as to how you'll make out with OsmAnd. So far I've got the (1) OsmAnd app (though not using it, and have got 5 free downloads left), (2) Avenza Maps (quite a few free .PDFs of the ZEC regions here in Quebec), (3) Gaia GPS (scored a good deal on a 3-year premium subscription), and, of course (4) Google Maps. Oh, and then there is also my Garmin Montana 650 with about 16GB of maps loaded up. I find the Open Street Maps from Free worldwide Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap answer quite well. (Surprisingly they have almost all of the trails in my area, both official and unofficial.) It's a good idea to have multiple maps available, as well and multiple platforms available for calling them up.

 

[EricGagne]

I'm curious as to how you'll make out with OsmAnd.

OsmAnd has a utility (OsmAndMapCreator) to generate maps for their app. In a nutshell, OsmAndMapCreator takes a OSM XML file and generates an OBF (OsmAnd Binary File) file that one just needs to copy to his/her device. I have already done this for Quebec, I have been constantly developing and improving it for almost 3 years. I have 20 layers of data in that map now, all from open source data.

I am hoping I can do the same for all Canadian provinces and, in the long run, US States.