Hi ChromeLotus,

Thank you for your message and for taking the time to review my contributions.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused. I’ve been working to tidy up the data across Samoa using cadastral and land survey information available through the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, where I am currently employed.

There are numerous informal roads, driveways, and off-road tracks across the islands that do not correspond to official surveyed alignments. To address this discrepancy and reduce visual clutter in OSM layers used by key agencies — such as the Land Transport Authority, Samoa Water Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Electric Power Corporation — I’ve defaulted most non-surveyed, single-lane, and grass/muddy access routes to highway=path. This helps our planners distinguish surveyed public roads from informal or private-use access ways.

That said, these paths have not been removed entirely, as they still hold utility value — for example, for water meter locations and power meter access — and are used by GIS teams and field crews across multiple ministries. In Samoan, these are often referred to as "auala galulue" (working roads), and while they’re not legally surveyed or gazetted under the Taking of Lands Act 1964, they remain vital for service and operational access.

Going forward, I agree that a more accurate classification — perhaps highway=track with appropriate access=* or service=* tags — would provide better clarity for both routing and planning. I’ll begin reviewing and updating relevant areas, and I truly appreciate your input on how best to align local conventions with OSM tagging standards.

Please feel free to suggest any tag conventions or regional presets that may improve accuracy while still reflecting our local context. Thanks again for supporting quality mapping in Samoa!

Best regards,
Leicester (OSM-SAMOA)