Don't use fedlanp020.shp (Federal Lands shapefile)!
Posted by SamatJain on 20 August 2010 in English.A public service announcement: if you want to import federal lands boundaries in the USA, don't use fedlandp020.shp!
This file is distributed via nationalatlas.gov, and subselections are distributed via various state agencies and elsewhere. As noted on the OpenStreetMap mailing lists, the resolution of this file is very low—which I can confirm, I've seen land boundaries off as much as a mile! Along with survey, I've also confirmed this against USGS DRGs/topographic maps, which unlike the shapefile, appear to have accurate boundaries.
A few features that have been imported onto OSM with this data. Nearby to me is White Sands National Monument. Here, boundaries are important—one wrong step and you're off national monument property onto an active military bombing range. Of course, I'm being hyperbolic, but the point is that this data (now unfortunately on OSM) is very wrong.
I've made a note on the Potential Datasources wiki page.
For more accurate boundaries, find the GIS data for the appropriate agency rather than using this inaccurate, all-in-one dataset. For example, I've found DoD boundaries from the US Census' TIGER, US Forest Service boundaries from the USDA, etc.
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