Hi all, I'd like to propose that for OSM in the UK we have a project to map solar electricity panels (photovoltaics or "PV").
Why? In brief: * We can do this! It involves a nice mix of aerial imagery, local on-the-ground observation, etc; and anyone can do it, in the town and in the countryside. * The tagging is already pretty well-defined. * We have auxiliary sources of information (from UK government departments) to help us know where to look, to help us estimate completeness, etc. * The data will be useful - e.g. to help the National Grid predict how much solar power they'll receive on any given day (allowing them to reduce the amount of coal power they burn), or to help select good locations for new installations. I've been in conversation with people who would use the data for these things. It's also good mapping in general - these things are often visible landmarks etc. * We can visualise our work delightfully using Russ' OpenInfraMap: https://twitter.com/openinframap/status/1113362591642992640 There are two parts to this: rooftop solar (there are about 900,000 installations in GB), and large solar farms (there are about 1,000 in GB). OSM currently has about 13,000 items in GB tagged as generator:method=photovoltaic. For rooftop solar see info we've compiled here: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United_Kingdom/Rooftop_Solar_PV For large solar farms, there's this list (from a while ago but quite useful): https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United_Kingdom#List_of_under_construction_and_operational_UK_Ground_Mounted_Solar_Farms We could focus on just one of these or on both. In each case there's plenty of mapping to do, as well as a bit of cleanup or augmentation of existing items. In both cases OSM UK people are already having a look into it and doing useful mapping, so I'm sure there will be some useful advice from experience. (See e.g. Jerry's blog, linked from the wiki page above.) This could be a quarterly project. Currently it's a request for comments. What do you think? Best Dan _______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
