Reshaping Tribal Road Network Using Public Information

Abstract

The area with the fastest growing Native American population in North Dakota is the Fort Berthold Reservation. State and federal road information available to the public is not identical in terms of the number of physical road segments or in the attribute information provided for the road network. In this study we develop: 1) a navigable road network achieved by improving connectivity among road segments, updating road information, and making a comprehensive network; and 2) a standard process for integrating the state and federal local road information. The standard process broadly consists of three Parts: 1) combining road segments from each source; 2) providing legitimacy to snapping distance; and 3) performing a snapping based on the result of Part 2 to connect those road segments, which remained unconnected from Part 1. The findings show that data on local roads on the Fort Berthold Reservation from the two different sources are joined through the standard process, and the process saves considerable time and resources required for fixing the road network. The standard process that has been developed here can be applied to a variety of other Indian road information integration projects to join not only physical road segments, but also plural attribute information. The process will also be useful for a variety of other projects integrating road information, which is available to the public, in order to overcome financial and time limitations.