This article addresses common questions about township naming and geographic boundary accuracy in AASHTOWare Safety Township boundary data and explains the data's source.
Why do “Urban” townships appear in AASHTOWare Safety?
The “Urban” areas shown within township datasets are intentional and originate from ODOT reference data.
These areas are not actual townships named “Urban.” Instead, they generally represent portions of counties that are:
Not part of an official township
Located within urbanized or municipal areas
Maintained as separate geographic areas within the township reference layer
This same behavior can also be observed in TIMS, indicating the data is functioning as intended rather than being an AASHTOWare Safety issue.
Why do township boundaries differ from Google Maps or local GIS data?
Township boundaries within AASHTOWare Safety are based on ODOT-maintained reference data. The boundaries are:
Updated annually by the Road Inventory team
Published to TIMS during the BTRS process
Intended for statewide consistency across transportation systems
However, township boundaries can change over time due to:
Municipal annexations
Local jurisdictional adjustments
Boundary refinements made by counties or municipalities
At this time, ODOT does not have a formal process to continuously update township reference boundaries to reflect every annexation change statewide. Because of this, users may notice differences between:
AASHTOWare Safety
TIMS
Google Maps
County GIS systems
Other local mapping sources
Example Scenario
A user reviewing Berlin Township in Delaware County noticed that the township's shape differed from what was shown on Google Maps. This is an example of where:
Local municipal annexations may have altered the effective township area
Public mapping platforms may display more current municipal boundaries
ODOT reference layers may still reflect older township extents
Expected Accuracy of Township Shapes
Township boundaries in AASHTOWare Safety should generally be considered:
Appropriate for statewide safety analysis and reporting
Consistent with ODOT transportation reference systems
Potentially less precise for parcel-level or municipal annexation analysis
For highly localized jurisdictional reviews, users may want to compare against:
County GIS datasets
Local government boundary files
Official municipal annexation records
Future Considerations
ODOT is aware that township boundaries can become outdated due to annexations and jurisdictional changes. Discussions are underway regarding future improvements to statewide maintenance processes for township reference data.
Until then, minor discrepancies between AASHTOWare Safety and other mapping platforms should be expected in some areas.