Closed/Impassable Road Interactive Database?

Howard70

Adventurer
I've been thwarted by locked gates, roads closed by management agencies, and rockfall / washouts on several of our expeditions in recent years. While the rockfall and washouts present challenges that are why I like expeditions, the locked gates and administratively closed roads have caused some large detours and, in one case, kept us from completing a trip.

We do a lot of trip planning via aerial photography, satellite imagery, TIGER road files, etc. Thus it isn't always possible to easily determine if a route will "go" or not.

Would it be possible to have simple on line database where we could post coordinates of locked gates, impassable roads, etc.? Those coordinates could be downloaded and then brought into route planning software as waypoints. If one was found on a potential route of interest then more information could be sought before a trip.

If this seems desirable, would it be easier to simply try and use the existing Geocache web sites (I'm not at all familiar with Geocaching, but it seems like an up and running system that might be exploitable) or would it be better to start something new?

Thoughts?

Howard
 

BajaTaco

Swashbuckler
Howard70 said:
I've been thwarted by locked gates, roads closed by management agencies, and rockfall / washouts on several of our expeditions in recent years. While the rockfall and washouts present challenges that are why I like expeditions, the locked gates and administratively closed roads have caused some large detours and, in one case, kept us from completing a trip.

We do a lot of trip planning via aerial photography, satellite imagery, TIGER road files, etc. Thus it isn't always possible to easily determine if a route will "go" or not.

Would it be possible to have simple on line database where we could post coordinates of locked gates, impassable roads, etc.? Those coordinates could be downloaded and then brought into route planning software as waypoints. If one was found on a potential route of interest then more information could be sought before a trip.

If this seems desirable, would it be easier to simply try and use the existing Geocache web sites (I'm not at all familiar with Geocaching, but it seems like an up and running system that might be exploitable) or would it be better to start something new?

Thoughts?

Howard

Excellent concept. I have experienced the same frustrations. I'm not sure what would be the best database to use though.

Here is one idea... but it may suffer from lack of topo and aerial data...

http://collections.live.com/
 

paulj

Expedition Leader
Many forest service districts have 'current conditions' pages for roads and trails.

Here, for example, is the page from the forest nearest Seattle:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/conditions/road_conditions_report.shtml
Here most closures are due to snow, but this year we also had some bad flooding with washouts, and wind storms resulting in many downed trees.

Ranger stations also have bulletin boards listing conditions.

paulj
 

shane4x4

Supporting Sponsor
I've been using YourGmaps for a while. www.yourgmaps.com

If you wanted to do a full-out nationwide database, you'd want to create a custom database & hook it in to google maps, i would think.

An excellent idea though!
 

Howard70

Adventurer
Thanks for the Ideas

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't know about www.yourgmaps.com. I'll look into that.

Since my original post, I've briefly looked into the geocaching sites. They don't seem setup for what we'd need. However, I did run across http://www.waymarking.com/. It looks potentially useful and I'll check into it in more detail over the weekend.

I realize that a lot of information can be available at Ranger Stations, BLM Offices, etc. The problem is such information isn't always accessible during the route planning stage. A good example was our planning for an expedition to the Arizona Strip in 2005. We wanted to work west from Kanab Point and exit by dropping down the Grand Wash Cliffs. Agencies controlling roads/vehicle trails along the route included the BLM, USFS, USNPS, and combinations of those (The Grand Parashant National Monument). Information available from the agencies was contradictory and incomplete regarding administrative closures, etc.

After returning from the trip and corresponding with others who've explored the region, it seems that there is a lot of information within the Expedition Community that is better than the agency information. Some of that community information can be accessed via our planning forums, but some might be easily organized in an accessible waypoint database - as long as the administration and upkeep of such a database was simple! Maybe the Waymarking site could work.

Howard
 

GeoRoss

Adventurer
Howard70 said:
T
A good example was our planning for an expedition to the Arizona Strip in 2005. We wanted to work west from Kanab Point and exit by dropping down the Grand Wash Cliffs. Agencies controlling roads/vehicle trails along the route included the BLM, USFS, USNPS, and combinations of those (The Grand Parashant National Monument). Information available from the agencies was contradictory and incomplete regarding administrative closures, etc.

I feel your pain, however this is the only way to find out. I will say that I avoid the office staff if I can and try to make contact with actual patrol rangers/personnel, which is not always very easy. It has been my experience that they are much better sources of information, road conditions/closures than any of the office staff.

When tasked by the multi-agency thing, NPS is more restrictive than NFS and the NFS is more restrictive than BLM, both in words and actions. This isn't really helpful, other than I find it is a crap shoot on these types of trips.

Ross
 

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