Getting off the map

Despite the deceivingly warm temperatures recently, longtime Wyoming residents know that winter’s grip doesn’t let go just because the calendar says that spring is approaching. That goes double for the winter that has been experienced this year in Carbon County. Adding to the amount of snowfall, Carbon County Road & Bridge and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department have had to deal with motorists and truck drivers stranded on snowbound county roads.

As was previously reported (see “Snow place to go” on page 2 of the February 26 Saratoga Sun), Carbon County Road & Bridge Interim Coordinator Kandis Fritz and the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) commiserated during their February 18 meeting about possible solutions to the ongoing issue. 

At the March 3 meeting of the BOCCC, Fritz appeared before the commissioners to inform them that she had been approached by Carbon County GIS Specialist Sarah Hutchins with some possible solutions. 

“I’ve been reaching out to some third-party mapping companies. A lot of these—FedEx UPS—you don’t really know where they’re getting their data from. Well, it’s because it’s usually from third-party companies that they’re purchasing this mapping data from and I’ve been reaching out and trying to navigate the world of these third-party companies,” said Hutchins.

According to Hutchins, one such mapping company is Here Technologies.

“I’ve found contacts with a number of entities there and I’m looking to send the snow removal policy to them and just include all the no-winter maintenance routes with the mile markers as well. We were thinking of doing that from October 15 through May 31, having a seasonal closure on those roads,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins cautioned, however, that she couldn’t guarantee that sending Carbon County’s snow removal policy to Here Technologies would take care of all the issues regarding motorists stranded by their GPS.

“It’s an attempt to try to get those mapping companies to recognize those routes are not appropriate this time of year,” said Hutchins.

She added that there were far more companies than just Here Technologies that supplied the GPS data used by over-the-road truckers, delivery companies and motorists.

“For example, Google Maps, they use Waze which is a company that’s separate and it’s always hard to find that initial point of contact to initially get them to pay attention and understand the situation,” Hutchins said.

Waze was officially bought by Google in 2013 and, along with providing GPS coordinates, it is described as being a community-driven navigation application. In 2014, Waze launched its Connected Citizen Program, a free two-way data sharing program. According to a 2015 article from Fast Company, the program had already initiated a partnership with the New York Police Department, the City of Boston and the State of Florida.

Hutchins added that another issue with GPS was that seasonal road closures was something new to the technology.

“They really haven’t caught up to that yet,” Hutchins said.

As discussion continued, Commissioner Sue Jones pointed out that her Google Maps app would inform her of road closures but that it was often outdated information. Hutchins told the commissioners that the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WyDOT) had discovered that Google Maps was able to pull data from the WyDOT map applications but were unsure as to how.

Chairman John Johnson praised both Fritz and Hutchins for being proactive and attempting to find a solution to the GPS issue.

“I think the State of Wyoming should be involved in this as well because this isn’t just a Carbon County, isolated problem. Other counties are having the same issue. So, I don’t know if there’s anybody in the adjoining counties who can jump in,” said Johnson. “Maybe you could have more sway with them, than with just one county. It’s a serious problem and I applaud you ladies for doing this.”

Jones added that it was also possible for the BOCCC to speak with the Wyoming County Commissioners Association. In the meantime, it would appear that the best solution is that proposed by Hutchins. An immediate solution presented by Fritz were signs to be placed at the closed county roads, in both English and Spanish, informing drivers that their GPS was wrong.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on March 17 at the Carbon County Courthouse in Rawlins.