I've been asked the question if there is a way non-Australian based "armchair mappers" can help with heading towards CT cleaner version of the database prior to the redaction process in Australia.
I have a few suggestions, based on some of the remapping activities I am doing. Obviously there will be a need for some areas to be comprehensively resurveyed, but in the meantime I think there are some useful activities to be done on the current database. *1. Coastline* Although most of the coastline ways are now owned by agreers, many of the nodes comprising them are not. In some areas this make the coastline quite inaccurate if these nodes are removed, and it needs realigning. AGRI and bing imagery are usually quite adequate for this. Sydney to Melbourne coast is just about done last time I looked, but Queensland and WA was still a bit of a disaster. Keep a look out for small islands, which could disappear without trace. *> Is there any point in doing this if we are going to reimport the ABS data again?* I personally doubt we will ever use the ABS data extensively for coastline data again. Most parts of the coastline are better than ABS quality now, and I can't see us aligning them to worse quality data. Never-say-never though. *2. Inlets & Beaches *Many inlets, beaches, lagoons and coastal streams are still not CT clean. Again, these are usually easily mapped from AGRI and/or Bing. *3. ABS2006 overloaded ways* If ways are v1 owner ABS2006 and have no tags other than boundary tags then they can be deleted, as ABS2006 boundaries are now beyond any form of recovery. If they have tags that have been added, such as waterways, highways, etc, and this information has been added by an agreer, then we are about to lose data, so we should make an attempt to preserve it. A crafted JOSM search locates these ways fairly easily. Most of these ways can be recreated by using the bing and/or AGRI. Even creating a short way can save some of the info. Most ABS2006 ways have been deleted, but there are still over 8000 modified in some way. If you recreate the way, delete the ABS2006 way. * > Is it useful to recreate rivers, streams, etc that are based on ABS2006 if we are going to reimport ABS2011?* The ABS data doesn't contain features, only boundaries. It just so happens that many Australian boundaries align with other features. Much of this was done when the imagery across Australia wasn't as extensive as Bing or AGRI, and in 90% of cases it is possible to map these features better without using the ABS data. ** *4. Roundabouts* There are literally thousands of roundabouts created by non-agreers. Most are clearly able to be created from Bing. Sydney and Brisbane are probably the biggest problem areas here. *> is it useful to recreate roundabouts if the streets leading to them may still be redacted?* I think so, yes. The roundabout has to be recreated sometime, and recreating them en-mass seems like a worthwhile activity to me. It certainly speeds remapping a way if the roundabouts are already there. After any redaction, and unconnected roundabout will quickly send us looking for the street. *5. Split Streets* With the wtfe background in josm it is easy to spot split streets where a section is owned by a non-agreer. Often this happens in speed zones, school zones, and around roundabouts and intersections. If the agreer section of the way is older, then you can reverse the effect of the split, and redraw the way from imagery. *6. Long highways *There are still long distance freeways and highways split with sections of non-agreement and agreement. Often these can be filled satisfactorily from aerial imagery. Wikipedia information can often be useful for quick fact checking on major highways. *7. Railways* There are many railways, platforms, stations that are nonCT, especially outside of the city centres. Wikipedia can be used for fact checking, making it usually straightforward to map railway features from Bing/AGRI. *8. Mixed tags* Many objects have mixed licensing on tags. I find a quick way to check for this just clicking on red wtfe marked features in JOSM, and seeing which have a CT agreer as the last edit. Check the history of these objects to see if the tags were added by an agreer. Delete the original feature and replace with another containing the "rescued" information. Sure we lose some info right now, but we save more in the long run. *Disclaimer: I offer no opinion on the copyright and licence status of the database after following these processes. I can see the full gamut of possibilities under AU law, from the database being always CC-BY-SA unless starting over, to copyright not even subsisting in a database of semi-anonymous group contributed facts. My attempt here is to respect, within reason and as far as the tools allow, some people's desire to remove their data from a project heading in a different direction to their wishes.*
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