Delorme Street Atlas 2006 (road colors)

[Jason Boggs]

I forgot how frustrating this little problem can be until I chased Monday. I use Delorme SA 2006 and I wonder why some of the farm to market roads are colored gray like dirt roads. Why aren't all the paved roads colored a different color than dirt roads? Is SA 2007 or 2008 any different than this? This isn't really that big of a deal when someone is with me, but when I'm by myself I like to be able to glance at the map and distinguish road type by the color of the road. Anyone have a fix to this or am I going to just have to deal with it? Here is an example of what I'm talking about.

EDIT: I just looked at google maps for the heck of it and it shows quite a few more paved (colored roads) than SA does.



GOOGLE MAPS

STREET ATLAS

 

[Scott Roberts]

Same result in SA 2007 as the 2006 screen shot you posted...FM 2395 looks like a dirt road. Haven't installed 2008 yet, so can't answer that.

 

[Blake Michaleski]

Street atlas 2008 looks identical.

 

[J Kinkaid]

Street atlas 2008 looks identical.

Yes it does but it still is better than Streets and Trips 2008

 

[Gene Moore]

I forgot how frustrating this little problem can be until I chased Monday. I use Delorme SA 2006 and I wonder why some of the farm to market roads are colored gray like dirt roads. Why aren't all the paved roads colored a different color than dirt roads? Is SA 2007 or 2008 any different than this? This isn't really that big of a deal when someone is with me, but when I'm by myself I like to be able to glance at the map and distinguish road type by the color of the road. Anyone have a fix to this or am I going to just have to deal with it? Here is an example of what I'm talking about.
GOOGLE MAPS

STREET ATLAS

I just brought up the Olney sector on my DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2007 and it has more roads that your Google example. I think you didn't zoom in on the area enough, I get dramatically more roads than you did, a hundred if you will.

Like I stated in another mapping thread here, DeLorme uses satellite to find secondary roads and with that method it's difficult to tell improved (gravel) from dirt. In Texas, its been my experience that numbered Ranch Roads or Farm to Market roads are hard surface. For example, zooming down to the area near Lake Olney I find FM 2178, I know that one is paved, been on it. But nearby Koester Rd, or Gilmore Rd is likely not hard surface. All these roads were red on my version. I tend to use the night (black) background quite a bit for the better contrast on my chase laptop.

 

[Jason Foster]

Some other options

I don't know how difficult it would be, but how about using some aerial mapping. If you got internet access, and really, really need to know what the road type is, I'm sure a Google Earth or something else may solve that problem.

There's also the old way....paper maps like the Gazetter.

Otherwise I use the high contrast setting (aka Mobile colors) in Delorme. Doesn't change the road color, but to me it it looks like the road thickness is different for all mud, or mixed mud/gravel and paved.

 

[Tony Laubach]

Street Atlas 2008 has to get in pretty tight as well.

In Texas, its been my experience that numbered Ranch Roads or Farm to Market roads are hard surface.

And just an FYI... I was bored one day and was researching the US/State highway system (I have a strong interest in the history of the US highway/interstate systems) and stumbled across this..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_state_highways

All Texas State Highways, including Ranch and FM Roads are part of the state highway system and thus ALL of them are paved.

All state highways, regardless of classification, are paved roads.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_to_market_road

However, in Texas, the terms "Farm to Market Road" or "Ranch to Market Road" indicate a road that is part of the state's system of secondary and connecting routes, built and maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). This system was established in 1949 as a project to provide access to rural areas. The system consists primarily of paved, two-lane roads. Roads occurring west of U.S. Route 281 (or Interstate 35 in some locations) are designated ranch-to-market roads, while those occurring east of U.S. 281 are generally designated farm-to-market roads, though there are exceptions to this naming system.

An interesting note and worth knowing in case you're wondering about a road on a map.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Just for the hell of it, here's how my old (2003?) MapSource Topo software displays Olney. I set the background to this dark-blue color, but it needn't be that color. I'm actually not even planning to use this mapping software this year, since I have just d/l'ed a ton of Tiger shapefiles into my GR3.

The MapSource Topo isn't intended for driving navigation purposes, but it's always served me just fine.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

It's not a matter of whether the road are paved or not, it's a matter of who maintains the roads. In Wisconsin, 95% of backroads are paved (this is due to our ungodly high taxes), and the few that aren't paved are the same color/size as the ones that are on street atlas. When the program is made, the roads are typically denoted by maintenance (Federal, State, County City), and not whether or not they are paved. It would be virtually impossible to for them to know which roads are paved and which are not without sending people out to drive down each road. A lot of out county roads in Wisconsin that show up as a simple gray line (same as many dirt roads in the plains) are paved and maintained better than some state highways in many plains states, but yet have the same designation as dirt roads. I don't think this problem will ever be solved as it's too costly for DeLorme or anyone else. I'm not even sure state DOTs have records as to which roads are paved and which aren't. They are classified by maintenance (regular, minimum, etc.) and I know that some minimum maintenance roads are paved and some are not.

 

[Gene Moore]

Otherwise I use the high contrast setting (aka Mobile colors) in Delorme. Doesn't change the road color, but to me it it looks like the road thickness is different for all mud, or mixed mud/gravel and paved.

Yeah Jason, but that's a huge factor for chasing....especially when behind a storm where it's rained heavily. For example, the gray line for a Nebraska secondary road is very likely gravel or 1-1/2 inch stones. This is so they can move farm equipment over it. The best Nebraska gravel roads are in the eastern half of the state and you'll be able to chase on them in all but the worst conditions. That same rated road on the map in Oklahoma will likely be a nightmare. That is, Oklahoma uses white caleche (sp?) rock on some, but others are pure (gumbo) mud. This is clay dirt that when wet will fill the treads and coat the outside of the tire....resulting in a giant red slimy donut. Many a tornado has been lost due to these roads. Texas has a few of these roads but not many and so does Kansas. South Dakota like Nebraska also has very well maintained secondary roads, again the best are in the eastern half of the state.

Note from another post, Gazetter and Street Atlas maps are (I'm pretty sure) the same product. The best mass produced paper maps are still "The Roads of ....." series. For many years I carried The Roads of Texas etc to back up DeLorme. In the past Bill Tabor and I have told many "locked gate" stories from chasing obscure secondary roads in south Texas.

 

[Jason Foster]

good point, meant to say that.

Note from another post, Gazetter and Street Atlas maps are (I'm pretty sure) the same product. The best mass produced paper maps are still "The Roads of ....." series. For many years I carried The Roads of Texas etc to back up DeLorme. In the past Bill Tabor and I have told many "locked gate" stories from chasing obscure secondary roads in south Texas.

Yeah, I forgot to mention the "Roads of...." Those were way better than the other. I gave those to my friend who is a Cartographer and is way too into maps. I might have to borrow them back though since this thread points out something I hadn't considered in the past (having never gotten stuck on a muddy road).