Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Highways/Oceania/Archive 1

Archive 1

Proposal to geotag all highway articles

There is currently a proposal to modify WT:RJL to allow geotagging of highway articles in the junction lists, at specified important points along the route. Your input is welcome. --Rschen7754 03:46, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

RFC on coordinates in highway articles

There is currently a discussion taking place at WT:HWY regarding the potential use of coordinates in highway articles. Your input is welcomed. --Rschen7754 01:48, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Proposal for new junction list table design

I have made a proposal for a new junction list table design, for Perth freeways, highways, and major roads. See an example at Talk:Great Eastern Highway Bypass, and add your comments to the discussion at WT:WA. - Evad37 (talk) 05:18, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

Maps

Most New Zealand highway articles are lacking maps. Does anyone know how to create maps for highways? Videomaniac29 (talk) 09:13, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

You can take a look at WP:USRD/MTF for how the U.S. road articles maps are made. --Rschen7754 03:11, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

But is there anyone who is able to make maps relevant to this taskforce. It seems that the only user who made multiple maps for NZ highways, decided to leave Wikipedia. Videomaniac29 (talk) 08:43, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Not to my knowledge, unfortunately. --Rschen7754 03:32, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

I have worked out how to edit maps. I have uploaded one so far (NZ SH29). It is surprisingly simple. Save wikipedia image of another map. Open in paint. Paint other old map line. Add in new map line. Upload. Videomaniac29 (talk) 22:25, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Ideally you should be basing maps off something like Open Street Map, though GIS data of the appropriate resolution would be strongly preferred. An accurate hand-drawn map is better than nothing though. -- Nbound (talk) 09:50, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

I try to be as accurate as possible when creating maps, but it will never be as good as one created using GIS data. Is there any software that can make accurate maps suitable for inclusion on Wikipedia? Videomaniac29 (talk) 10:36, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Most of us use QGIS for rendering GIS data. I use Inkscape for vector graphics. Using a vector based editor would be preferred even for "hand-drawn" mapping, you'll get a cleaner result, and it can be changed easily even once drawn. Inkscape is also good for tracing OpenStreetMap (OSM) imagery, just remember to attribute OSM. My preferred raster (standard) editor is The GIMP, but I rarely if ever use it for mapping. -- Nbound (talk) 10:49, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing these out; how much time does it take to create maps using them? Videomaniac29 (talk) 10:54, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Depends on the road, but usually measured in the 10s of minutes. You'll be slower to start off with if you havent us GIS programs before -- Nbound (talk) 11:06, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

BTW if you want some "on-demand" advice - get onto the IRC Channel :) - and stop me from getting bored while the Americans sleep! -- Nbound (talk) 11:06, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

A-Class nomination

Mitchell Freeway has been nominated for promotion to A-class. You are are welcome to participate in the discussion. - Evad37 (talk) 15:55, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

RfC:Infobox Road proposal

WP:AURD (Australian Roads), is inviting comment on a proposal to convert Australian road articles to {{infobox road}}. Please come and discuss. The vote will be after concerns have been looked into.

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Australian Roads/RfC:Infobox Road proposal

Nbound (talk) 10:30, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Scope of Project

Now that WP:Australian Roads exists, I'm fairly sure that all Australian road topics are no longer within this project's scope. Therefore the 'oceania=yes' tag will need to be removed from all affected articles and will need to be replaced by something like 'australia=yes' will need to be created. So should we remove the 'ocenia=yes' tags from the articles now or wait until an 'australia=yes' is created? Videomaniac29 (talk) 04:20, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

WP:AURD will have its own banner. Technically AURD still falls under the HWY scope, but it will not be included in the assessment stats (similar to how the US and Canada are treated). --Rschen7754 04:18, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

When will WP:AURD's banner be created, and should we begin removing the Highway banner from WP:AURD articles? Videomaniac29 (talk) 04:20, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

It's already been created - I would let the AURD people do it, or otherwise some articles might get lost in the process. --Rschen7754 04:21, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

It has been created, and AURD members are in the process of switching out the templates now. They might have completed that already, actually. Imzadi 1979 → 04:22, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

I've just noticed that on some articles the WP:AURD tag has been added to the bottom of the WP:Australia banner, and the WP:HWY banner has been left there. On these articles, should WP:HWY banner be removed?Videomaniac29 (talk) 04:28, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm in the process of replacing the WP:HWY banner on Australian roads, and road parameters with the WP:AUS banner, with the {{WP AURD}} banner. I've done all GA/B/C/List -class articles, and all top/high/mid -importance articles. The remaining articles and non-article pages will be done over the next few days. (This process is being done manually as it would be very complicated to get a bot to do it correctly, and we had some trouble with the previous addition of road parameters to the WP:AUS banner) - Evad37 (talk) 04:42, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

But on the articles where WP:AURD has already been added, but WP:HWY is still there; should the WP:HWY banner be removed?Videomaniac29 (talk) 04:47, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

If there is a {{WikiProject Australian Roads}} banner (or {{WP AURD}}, a redirect), then yes, the WP:HWY banner can be removed. If the WP:AURD tag is just within the banner for WP:AUS, then I would prefer you leave it. I will fix it up as I go through the remaining articles - Evad37 (talk) 05:14, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

OK Videomaniac29 (talk) 07:49, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

It seems that redirects to WP:AURD articles did not have the HWY banner removed, so I just removed them.Videomaniac29 (talk) 08:30, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Can I suggest that you more specifically state on the project page what the scope is? Is it just state highways and major arterials, or any old road that has its own article? Do bridges fall within the scope? Schwede66 19:03, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

We've typically stuck to major roadways, especially those that are part of defined highway system. In the US and Canada, city streets have their own projects, and bridges are not covered. The main HWY project page states: "WikiProject Highways is a wikiproject that aims primarily to standardize the format used in articles about highways, including freeways, expressways, throughways, and other major forms of road." Imzadi 1979 → 19:28, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Yup, WP:HWY has historically stuck to highways and arterials. An editor below is proposing creating an NZRD wikiproject, in this case the scope could then be expanded to cover the other roads, streets, tunnels, and bridges. - Nbound (talk) 23:18, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

With that being said, by including bridges in your project, that implies that your project will help with the articles... which can be difficult for bridges since there is a lot more civil engineering involved. --Rschen7754 23:21, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware, WP:HWY does not include city streets or bridges within its scope. But a future WP:NZRD would include highways, streets and related structures such as bridges; similar to the scope of WP:AURD. Videomaniac29 (talk) 09:23, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

NZ Shield Generator

Ive created {{NZshield}} to automatically display NZ shields, depending on input parameters. It is essentially a modified copy of the existing {{AUshield}}.

I dont know too much about the road system there, last time I went to NZ was via cruise ship, but this could probably also be modified to include tourist routes, etc. - Nbound (talk) 05:25, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

The breakdown of the subpage components is about the same:

• Template:NZshield - parameter handling
• Template:NZshield/core - this is where you can link route types to image sets.
• Template:NZshield/default size - this is where you can control default icon sizes for each route type.
• Template:NZshield/doc - documentation
  

Nbound (talk) 05:32, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Using {{Jct}} (or {{Jctname}}) is also an option, which is what most of the rest of the world uses. The relevant New Zealand subpages would need to be set up, but this template would automatically add SH##, and link it to the appropriate article. - Evad37 (talk) 05:59, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Yup, definitely. Though {{NZshield}} would also allow linkage to the local name of the road for whatever reason, if desired, rather than a generic State Highway descriptor. - Nbound (talk) 06:14, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Push to Improve Articles

It seems that since the Australian Roads WP split from this WP, there has been almost no activity. But there are still a lot of articles under this WP that desperately need some work done on them. It is important to realise that these articles are actually being read by a large number of people. In the last 3 months, NZSH1 has been viewed over 6000 times.

So, I think that over the next few weeks, we should really push to improve the articles that come under this WP. To start us off, I'm currently reorganizing the 'importance' ratings of the articles. Videomaniac29 (talk) 07:49, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi, Videomaniac... Im an AURD member, but I would like to see NZ roads, and all other Oceania based roads articles do well. If you need some more shields or maps let me know, and Ill see what I can do to help. As a long term goal I would like to see to do some more substantial work on NZ articles aswell, but still cleaning up our own backyard this side of the ditch, and my total time spent in NZ can be measured in weeks - still its an amazing country with some very interesting roads.

Presumably, given you are NZ based - that is you're preferred stomping ground for roads... it might be worth looking for some likeminded editors on the Wikiproject NZ talk page. Similarly, if you think there is enough editors to support such a project, an NZRD wikiproject would certainly help give some focus.

Anyway, they are just some ideas... Keep up the good work, and perhaps we'll see each other on an article in the not to distant future. -- Nbound (talk) 12:24, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that is exactly what this WP needs; focus. Creating an NZRD WP would help, but as an easy way to create some focus, I'm currently re-assessing the importance/class of the articles under the WP. Videomaniac29 (talk) 19:28, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

While a lot of us are based in other countries and primarily edit there, if you need advice, feel free to ask. --Rschen7754 20:16, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

I was kind of afraid that the formation of AURD would gut this task force of any vitality. If a NZRD project is formed at some point, I'm going to suggest that whatever is left in the HWY/O be merged over to the Asia task force because there won't be much left to sustain a task force. With USRD and CRWP there's a reason why we didn't try to do separate task forces for the remainder of North America and all of South America; a Latin America definition, while imperfect, worked better to keep a large group of articles an potential editors together. That's also why Antarctica doesn't have have TF; the lone road there wouldn't make a meaningful subdivision of the HWY project, and since it was built by Americans primarily, USRD "adopted" that roadway for maintenance and assessment. Imzadi 1979 → 20:34, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

I think that an NZRD WP would actually be a very good step towards improving Wikipedia's coverage of New Zealand roads. It would make it easier to collaborate with editors from similar WPs (eg: WP:NZR and WP:NZ), and it would allow over roads (non-highways) to fall under the project's scope. The big issue is that, as has been seen with the creation of AURD, it can be quite a long and complex process to transfer everything over to a new WP. Videomaniac29 (talk) 04:15, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

User:Evad37 did alot of the foundational work at AURD. Get in touch with him if you'd like some pointers. He and I both offered some minor help with the recent Hong Kong Roads project aswell. NZ is probably the last major english speaking nation without a roads subproject. So if this does go ahead, welcome to the club! -- Nbound (talk) 04:24, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Would it be any easier to create NZRD, compared to other RD WPs, considering that there are only around 100 articles in the WP?Videomaniac29 (talk) 04:53, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

I don't think that would make any difference. It would mean fewer articles to retag, but a quick AWB run can retag articles in a short period of time. Imzadi 1979 → 04:54, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict)It might reduce tagging time, but most of the other things will still take a little while. Of course copying/modifying some of the administrative content from existing projects may help lighten the load too -- Nbound (talk) 04:55, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

So, who would be interested in getting involved if NZRD was created? Videomaniac29 (talk) 05:51, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

As improving coverage of NZ roads is a major focus for me on Wikipedia, I would definitely be able to play a major role in it; creating/editing articles, finding references, creating maps, and performing other tasks related to the project. Videomaniac29 (talk) 06:23, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

I would join in a support role, could help with maps and shields too, some work on articles would be a long term goal -- Nbound (talk) 06:12, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Turn WP:HWY/O into WP:NZRD

Would it be possible to turn WP:HWY/O into WP:NZRD, and then move any non-NZ articles into WP:HWY/AS Or would that not be possible? Videomaniac29 (talk) 09:32, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

I think that would be unfair to other oceanian nations (not to mention inaccurate - they arent part of Asia). Why not just create NZRD in a similar fashion to either AURD or HKRD? -- Nbound (talk) 10:56, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

It would be ideal for NZRD to be created, but does anyone know how to create it? Videomaniac29 (talk) 21:51, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Probably best to copy another country's project, and then go back and fix everything. --Rschen7754 21:52, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Would AURD be the best WP to base NZRD off of? Videomaniac29 (talk) 21:57, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Probably, due to the geographical proximity and because the US, Canada, and the UK would have a lot of stuff that needs to be removed. Note that New Zealand uses Infobox road, unlike Australia. --Rschen7754 21:59, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

So is it best to copy from WP:AURD, edit it on user pages, then 'publish' it, when it's been edited? Videomaniac29 (talk) 22:02, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that works. Let us know if you need help or have questions - I've been through the process, though it was several years ago. --Rschen7754 22:03, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

OK, I'll get started on it later today. Videomaniac29 (talk) 22:06, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

NZ Highway History

History sections in articles about NZ highways are very poor, and in many cases the lack of a history section is preventing an article from reaching a higher quality class. The issue is that it is very hard to find information about the history of highways in New Zealand. So, perhaps if we listed the sources that we each use to write history sections, then other editors might be able to discover/use those sources too, and the quality of history sections might improve. Videomaniac29 (talk) 23:47, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

This is a problem in some AU states too, Ill add some pointers. (feel free to strike out anything not applicable) -- Nbound (talk) 00:09, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

• For events prior to 1945 the Papers Past archive is full of information. (http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=p&p=home&e=-------10--1----0--) Videomaniac29 (talk) 00:03, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
• For changes to highways since the 1950s, some council GIS viewers are quite useful, but they only cover major towns and cities. Videomaniac29 (talk) 00:03, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
• I find hardcopy maps extremely useful; I use hardcopy NZ maps from 1974, 1984, 1985, 1991, 1993, 2003 and 2005, and I use hardcopy Auckland maps from 1956, 2000 and 2005 and 2011. Videomaniac29 (talk) 00:03, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
• The Government Gazaette will likely list dates when roads were officially declared as highways/motorways, names changed, alignments changed/extended and other useful information. (Though {{infobox road}} does not have the capability at this stage for the gazetted label. Unlike {{infobox Australian road}}.) -- Nbound (talk) 00:07, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Where can the government gazette be viewed/accessed? Videomaniac29 (talk) 02:17, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

[1] for recent ones, you may need to view hardcopies at the national library/archives for older editions as NZ doesnt appear to have digitised them (neither have most AU states). - Nbound (talk) 02:44, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

• Historic contexts are sometimes published in EISs, or other material, when deviations etc. are studied. -- Nbound (talk) 00:07, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
• Some transport departments have historically released a public journal detailing their major works and research -- Nbound (talk) 00:15, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
• If you are really desperate, Hansard may also make mention of things. -- Nbound (talk) 00:15, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
• It would be worth exploring every nook of the NZTA website if you havent already. Its surprising what transport authorities put in random areas of their websites -- Nbound (talk) 00:36, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Here are a couple of links I found:

• NZ road history from Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand - mostly general information, but sill interesting and probably useful.
• Historic heritage topics – Transport – road from Department of conservation - some info on some roads and bridges

and you should consider searching through your local library and/or the National library for book sources. - Evad37 (talk) 01:29, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

• Highway Information Sheets (click on the links at the top for other regions) show dates of bridges and pavements, as well as other useful information.
• maps past show one inch maps from the 1940s (and a few earlier). By comparing maps it's easy to see where routes have been changed.
• From 1925 to 1950 the ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD is in the Minister's annual reports. They can be searched and include work done and some photos. Johnragla (talk) 01:02, 3 June 2017 (UTC)

New template: infobox highway system

The US has had {{infobox state highway system}}, but now there is a more generic {{infobox highway system}} designed for a more globalized use. Imzadi 1979 → 22:00, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Citing a map

Please join us at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. Roads#Citing a map for a discussion on possible updates to the format of map citations in Citation Style 1 using {{cite map}}. Imzadi 1979 → 16:43, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

New Zealand state highway navbox

There is a discussion going in Template talk:New Zealand State Highway navbox as to whether or not the SH prefix should be included in front of all state highway numbers (eg SH 1). Would like a consensus before we start editing the full look and feel of things as another editor recently tried to do. Ajf773 (talk) 21:05, 6 July 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Highways#Proposed A-Class Review rule changes

There have been some proposed changes to the A-Class review process at the discussion above. --Rschen7754 20:50, 5 November 2017 (UTC)