Steve,
Yes, any explanation of the difference between "main" and
"branch" lines and "owner" is appreciated. I find myself rather
confused at the moment.
For instance, why does the BNSF line across Arizona and into
New Mexico change to "Gallup Subdivision" at one point to the west of
the city of Gallup? It seems to be still the BNSF main line. Further,
other "subdivisions," such as the Springerville (Ariz.) Subdivision,
clearly seem to be branches. So, when is a line a subdivision?
If I get a handle on this and other distinctions, I can make
corrections (or explanations) ... I think.
Best wishes,
Charlotte
At 11:17 AM 12/29/2014, you wrote:
Hello Nathan, Tod, Alexander, Minh and Charlotte:
Thank you for responding to my talk-us posts about rail. I'm having
multiple conversations about this, to a large extent with Alexander
Jones, as he is emerging as a local "expert" (well, "more
experienced") w.r.t. rail in OSM. Especially with how it renders
with ORM. There are many good resources (public, and compatible
with OSM's ODBL) to use, both in California (and perhaps YOUR
state!) and federally. For the latter, Alexander recommends
<http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/crossing/xingqryloc.aspx>http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/crossing/xingqryloc.aspx
. He also has (and has sent to me, please ask him) an excellent
spreadsheet which flatten/simplify what might be called a good first
cut at a branching structure.
I have also found truly complete, excellent (down to signals, etc.)
rail maps on "rail fan" sites. These essentially give us all we
need (one was in .kmz format, which JOSM simply read and could
almost be "imported" directly into OSM). However, they are
specifically copyrighted and not compatible with OSM's ODBL, alas I
almost feel I cannot even continue to view such documentation, lest
it "pollute" OSM with copyrighted data (similar to looking at Google
Maps, which I strenuously avoid!) What this means is that "the data
are out there" and that dedicated persons can compile them with
research and patience. So, OSM volunteers can do this, but it WILL
be a LOT of work.
I agree with Nathan that usage=main and usage=branch can be quite
tricky to "know" how to tag, and that there appears to be an
essentially subjective interpretation about which tag (if any of
these) is appropriate for any given line. I am in the process of
writing a "ten day review" post to talk-us about this, which I will
post after I send all of you this email.
USA rail in OSM is a large subject to tackle, which will take a
great deal of effort by many. The essential step of better
understanding, agreeing amongst ourselves and harmonizing all of the
tagging necessarily comes first. I propose a new WikiProject, but I
do not have the bandwidth to do this all by myself, as I remain busy
with our USBRS WikiProject.
To address MInh's question about Cincinnati, CNO&TP and NS, I'd say
that "owner=City of Cincinnati" is correct, and "operator=NS" and
"name=CNO&TP" capture it accurately. But this is just one of many
examples of how difficult these often complex
leasing/ownership/operator arrangements can be with rail.
In short, I am interested in continuing this, but with limits to my
abilities to do so. I invite all of you to please stay in touch
with me and each other about this if you like, and even to "recruit"
other OSM volunteers to better coordinate what might become a more
formal effort, whether in California, another state or region, or
over the whole of the USA. And if anybody starts a WikiProject for
USA rail, I'd be thrilled!
Best regards,
Steve All
Santa Cruz, California
Charlotte Wolter
927 18th Street Suite A
Santa Monica, California
90403
+1-310-597-4040
[email protected]
Skype: thetechlady
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