Mapping

Learn about road segments and road types.

Road segment identification

Many of our API calls are based on pulling information from within a zone. To do this, we must identify which road segments are associated with a zone, while ensuring that our API calls run quickly and efficiently, so there are two main methods for pulling which road segments are associated with a zone. These are broken down into what are generally the largest zones - states, counties and cities - and all other types of zones, such as Census Tracts, ZIP codes, postal codes, etc.

Road types

In the Altitude user interface, we group OpenStreetMap road types into 5 categories. The mapping of these categories is as follows:

Road Type Categories (in Altitude)Road Types (same as OpenStreetMap Highway values)Descriptions
Arterials

  • trunk

  • primary

  • secondary

  • tertiary

  • Trunk roads

  • Primary roads

  • Secondary roads

  • Tertiary roads

Collectors

  • motorway_link

  • primary_link

  • secondary_link

  • tertiary_link

  • trunk_link

  • Motorway links

  • Primary links

  • Secondary links

  • Tertiary links

  • Trunk links

Highways
  • motorway
  • Motorways
Local Roads

  • living_street

  • residential

  • service

  • Living streets

  • Residential roads

  • Service roads

Other

  • unclassified

  • road

  • Unclassified roads

  • All other roads

For definitions of OSM Road Types, visit the OpenStreetMap Wiki.