Okay, this has to stop. It just has to stop. Whoever is saying "Yes, go ahead and delete abandoned railroads wherever you don't see a railroad" has to stop it. They just HAVE to stop it, because people are using that advice to vandalize the map.
Now, you might think "Goddamnit, does Russell have to start again?" Yes, I have to start again. I was in north-western Pennsylvania last weekend looking for the Corry Junction Rail Trail. Problem: it hasn't been entered into OSM yet. But that's not a problem, right? Because OF COURSE the railway is there, marked as abandoned, right? It isn't. And I couldn't find the damned trail because the Traillink description is inadequate. I finally just drove around where the trail HAD to be, and found it. This is unacceptable because: 1) on the bing aerials you can see where the railroad went perfectly fine. It's a line that goes through people's yards, there is a node from the TIGER data where it used to cross the roads, there is a tree line the whole way, buildings are aligned to the railbed, people's driveways bend out of the way of the railbed, etc. 2) THERE ARE STILL FREAKING RAILS ON THE SOUTH END. What the hell?? This is crazy stuff, it's just crazy. Yes, they're not very long, but they're still connected to the national railroad network. How can somebody legitimately delete that's obviously there? Answer: they can't. and worst: 3) The majority of it is a rail-trail. And not y'know, two weedy ruts from an ATV trespassing. No, this rail-trail has a stone dust base, permissive gates (with a hole not big enough for an ATV), and tactile crossings. This is a *serious* rail-trail. And the railroad way that would be the trail got deleted. If you have ever said "delete things you don't see", then you need to shut the hell up, because you are making the map worse. Just stop! When is it okay to delete things you can't see? Only if it's untouched TIGER data and you've been there and didn't see it. That's the only time. Otherwise somebody put that thing into OSM, and they probably know something you don't. -- --my blog is at http://blog.russnelson.com Crynwr supports open source software 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-600-8815 Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | Sheepdog _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
