Firstly, it’s not an insult, I’m a European myself and had no concept of what the landscape looked like before I arrived here. As I’ve spent the last few weeks mapping rural Colorado, I’ve really noticed a few things that right now I am having real problems with. I’m going to try to list them out here, maybe expand these diary entries out as I work these out.

Roads

Is it 60% of Colorado roads that are unpaved? something like that. I’ve a lot more to say, but gotta go to work, back later

Rural route numbers

I’ve been ref tagging County Roads as “CR 123” but it seems some are tagged as (123). Some routes also have Forest Service numbers which are important and I think these should be ref tagged as “USFS 123”. These could be extremely useful navigation aids.

Arroyos

An important part of the Colorado landscape. I’ve mapped them out as intermittent streams (which is what they are in some sensed), but I’ve experimented with using riverbanks to tag them. (see Ludlow, Colorado). I think they are important because:

1. They are easily recognizable on imagery.
2. They are often named on maps, making them a good navigation aid
3. The beds are often as wide as riverbank mapped rivers.
4. They are important enough to require full-size rail and road bridges
5. Minor road crossings are often de-facto fords, with the same issues as approach angle etc.
6. They can seriously impede walkers and cyclists.
7. They are extremely dangerous in flash-flood season.

Mapping them out as rivers seems wrong, but there seems no alternative