OSM is having a sort of "golden spike" moment: in the USA, there is
now a route=railway super-relation with tags name=Southern Transcon
and operator=BNSF. http://www.osm.org/relation/4673773 links Los
Angeles and Chicago by rail.
This contains eleven component Subdivision relations as members of
this major Subdivision. If you know what that means, great. If you
don't, that's OK. Consider Southern Transcon to be an initial
example of one method by which OSM in the USA defines rail
infrastructure where a named super-relation containing multiple
route=railway Subdivision members is defined as "a major mainline
rail." Passenger rail routes (e.g. Amtrak routes) might be
harmonized into route=train relations using components like these as
basic elements of construction (where it makes sense to do so). This
method can be an important element towards proper and completely
building USA rail in OSM.
This is wet, gloopy finger-paint right now -- there remain gaps and
track alignment inconsistencies in component Subdivision relations,
so a wider community is enticed to reply and continue to improve the
relation members. A concern is that we might not be combining
relations with exactly the right tags, or that we conflate rail
infrastructure via a tagging scheme that is too loose or "ignores
other realities." (Such as how rail corporations and/or states
organize or regulate rail). Especially if you have knowledge of USA
rail organization, please examine this super-relation using your best
OSM judgement, replying here with your comments as to whether or not
this is a good method forward. Thank you in advance.
See also
http://wiki.osm.org/wiki/WikiProject_United_States_railways#OSM_Rail_Structure_in_the_USA
If consensus emerges, others might enter a Northern Transcon
super-relation, continuing to correctly build well-tagged rail
infrastructure in the USA.
SteveA
California
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