Hi FransWillem / Frans S. Not sure whether you have ever visited this area but the highway is a very sandy track that will not be passable by normal motor vehicle. I tag the ways based on my knowledge of the area and on the classification found here osm.wiki/East_Africa_Tagging_Guidelines#Road_classification. If you zoom in on Bing imagery you will see that the way consists mainly of two wheel tracks, only one vehicle would be able to pass at a time. I have travelled on many of these tracks in my time. The ones in the Western province in Zambia are extremely sandy (the white you can see in the images) and require a great deal of experience to negotiate. In some places it may appear wide but that is because vehicles have travelled to the side of the main track to avoid getting stuck. As for the residential tag I think it is used incorrectly by remote mappers, if the road passes near a dwelling they will tag it as residential. My understanding of a residential road is a road through suburbs in a town or city not in the bush. I tag for navigability as the OSM data is used in navigation aids such as GPS and Satnavs. People will be directed down unsuitable roads if they relay on 1st world tagging on 3rd world roads. I have left your tagging of unclassified but feel it is not accurate.

Best regards

Before changing road types in this area have a look at the existing tags. these are EXTREMELY rough roads requiring high clearance vehicles and a high degree of off road skills. and it is recommended to travel with more than one vehicle in a group. the temperatures can become extremely hot. By tagging with the wrong type people without knowledge may attempt a trip that thye should not.

Before changing way types in areas you are not familiar with have a look at the existing tags. This road is extremely rough and is more of a track than a road, It requires a high clearance vehicle to travel it.

There is no preferred imagery, it varies greatly even with the same providers. If you zoom in and out with DigitalGlobe Premium imagery you can see the images are taken at different times of the year and slightly different angles. An interesting point is by how much the level of the Zambezi varies at different times of the year, from hardly any water to levels where the gorge is obscured by the spray.

Surface=sand would be better. I have a picture of a typical road in Western Province that I will add to the mapZambia wki so mappers have some idea of just how sandy they are. The picture is of a road towards the Lungwebungu river.

In the days before Independence, when the only road to the area was on the western side of the floodplains from Livingstone there was a sign that said "Choose your rut, you will be in it for the next 200 miles!"

Have a look at DigitalGlobe Premium imagery to see the correct alignment

I can assure you this bridge does not have a curve to it. I have been to it many times. The imagery in this area causes it to appear to have a curve if you download the uploaded tracks in JOSM you will see they are all straight.

This area is a large seasonal floodplain known as the Barotse or Zambezi Floodplain, it is extremely sandy so unless roads are paved and maintained regularly they will degenerate rapidly. Most travel through the wetlands is by dugout along channels kept open by the dugout traffic. The 319 was recently upgraded at great cost and around 30 of bridges built. In the colonial days the only way to get to the west side of the floodplain was from Livingston in the south. I would not bother to map the road at all, most satellite imagery is out of date here so there is a good chance the road has ready dissapeared. If you look at the western end of the road you may see the faint remains of the route. If you ever have a chance of visiting Zambia rather than mapping remotely it is well worth a visit. Google Kuomboka Ceremony and Barotse Floodplain to learn about the area.

This is an abandoned road and owing to the sandy nature of the area no longer passable. It was abandoned after the 319 was rerouted and reconstructed.

Hi, Just a word on the tracks in the Barotse Flood Plain and the majority of the Western Province of Zambia, they are extremely sandy and generally not passable by vehicles unless 4x4. The sand is incredibly white and you can see the sand banks in the clear water of the Zambezi river even in satellite images. The sand squeaks when you walk on it. a very beautiful part of the world. The Lozi people travel great distances in dugout canoes, some of what may appear as tracks are in fact channels through the flood plains kept open by the dugout traffic. The Litunga (paramount chief of the Lozi people) has a winter or dry season palace at Lealui and will travel across the flats by barge at the start of the rains to higher ground to Limulunga where his wet season palace is in a ceremony called Kuomboka. This is a huge tourist attraction. I tell you this as I sometimes think remote mappers have no real idea of the places they are mapping.

You and a number of Apple mappers have realigned way/293153942 that is a completely new road that I had mapped with a GPS. It does not exist in the satellite imagery. To revert it will be a major headache which I am not going to do as the next Apple mapper will just change it again.

Hi,

Don't know how many times I have removed this way. It does not exist. It was the detour while the Ngwerere Road was being upgraded. At the point it is supposed to connect with the Great North Road there is a storm drain, so good luck to anybody who tries to follow it.

Hi,

Often in Zambia where there is a dirt road running very close to a main road this is the remains of a detour during repair works to the main road and not a separate road. The road may be used for a time afterwards but will fall into disuse after some time.

Please have a look at osm.wiki/WikiProject_Zambia with regard to mapping in Zambia. There are some points as regards satellite imagery that may be of some help.

Don't be fooled by the satellite imagery, to get from Kalomo to Ngoma will take the best part of a day if you are very lucky and that will be with a high clearance vehicle preferably a 4x4. Most satellite imagery in this area is out of date. Some of the roads in the western part of Zambia are very sandy and may appear to be well maintained but are not. The route from Kalomo to Ngoma is used by intrepid overland travelers to the Kafue National Park, Ngoma is the park headquarters. Most travelers will stop at Nanzhila Plains Camp to overnight and then head north. It is on the route from South Africa via Victoria Falls to the Kafue Park.

I can assure you way way/523334096 is little more than a track at the best of times.

Just a warning to remote mappers, in Zambia we drive on the left, this is important when drawing the direction of oneway ways. Service way/672350395 has been drawn in the wrong direction. I have corrected it but I also suspect it is not a oneway by looking at the imagery.

You have tagged the Lilayi road with 1 lane this is incorrect as there is 2 way traffic on this road which would be impossible if there was only one lane.

Hi I have changed 'Escarpment Road' to the alt_name as apart from the expat community it is not known by this name. I hope you don't mind. This road was initially a ZESCO maintenance road to maintain the power line from Leopards Hill to Chirundu until Chieftainess Chiawa wanted to upgrade it after the end of the war in Rhodesia in 1980 since then there have been a number of wasted efforts to upgrade. This road was mined during the war and I understand someone a couple of years ago saw a mine that had washed out after the rains.

Hi MapsGR,

I have just had a look at Pretoria in South Africa and the trunk roads are only mapped as such outside of the center of the city. The M4 to the west does not connect as a trunk to the M2 in the east even though the M4 is tagged as such through the center of the city. This is the principal I was following with Lusaka. As for the T2 ref I will follow up on that.