> I see no reason why these cannot be retagged as 'runway'. NO NO NO
'airstrip' and 'runway' are terms of art in Aviation. The distinction is important. While to a mapper or geographer, an 'airstrip' seems like it could be a 'runway, surface=grass, permanent=no, livestock=maybe, lights=no, control=no, tower=no, services=no, services=ha-ha-surely-you-jest' , the very words 'airstrip' and 'runway' have meaning to the users of these services. They aren't interchangable or subsets. Runways are permanent and maintained, often even managed. Former runways aren't runways. Airstrips are more changable than seasonal watercourses. They're different things, just as "Track" and "motorway" are both ways, but they're not both "motorways" with different attributes. If you don't fly or know fliers, the differences may be swamped by the obvious similarity (thing a plane uses), but no. Pilots of light planes and ultra-lights that operate from 'airstrips' will avoid 'runways' because operators of 'runways' typically charge to touch-down, park, take-off, and just about anything else. 'Airstrips' are more likely private, use by members/arrangement only, but also may be friendly; e.g., will let your club members use ours if we can use yours, and not charge you for an emergency landing provided no sheep were injured. Pilots of heavier "light" (general av) planes and commercial planes that operate from 'runways' at airports expect the services that collocate with them, expect and require the maintained surface, and may face serious disciplinary action they land on a grass strip by mistake. The good news is that licensed plane pilots aren't supposed to use unofficial charts to select landing sites. The bad news is that in an emergency they could use OSM maps in a Garmin to pick a new alternate alternate landing site. We should not make a sheep-field sound like a minor airport they might reasonably not have heard of but on whose one runway they might be able to land. Ultralight pilots probably can use OSM-in-Garmin in-flight, its a less regulated service, and would really appreciate 'airstrip' being a separate category of feature from 'runway'. They are not welcome on most runways. My uncle's aerodrome club used to take turns mowing the airstrip until he inherited an antique one-lunger[*] mower; now I think he takes as much pride in getting that old thing running one more time as getting his plane to work. :-) [*] one-lunger: Single-cylinder, 4-cycle I.C.engine with fly-wheel. Think "Burt and I"'s /the BlueBird II/, but on a walk-behind, self-propelled tiller-mower, the grand-father of the snow-blower. _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
