A not-so-brief review of what has happened in the ten days since I
brought this up.
I have had fruitful conversations both on- and off-list with several
responders to my "shout out" about improving rail in California (in
OSM). Largely speaking, this resulted in better harmonization about
what and how to tag existing (usually from TIGER) rail lines so they
better render with the rich/vivid renderer ORM. I might also
continue that conversation here in talk-us, glad as those who
answered here are followed by more (regionally around the USA) as
they might wish to further contribute to better USA rail.
A "larger gestalt" approach seems next, one mightily contributed to
with many broad voices. Regionally diverse, containing an
intersection of "rail fans" and "rail professionals" and "active in
their area mappers" as a good start. A new OSM WikiProject, anyone?
We are getting better at identifying what to put into the name=
owner= and operator= tags, as rail ownership and usage (sometimes via
leasing agreements, public ownership/private usage or vice versa and
complex trackage usage arrangements) can be opaque and difficult to
determine. This still seems like an endeavor of "do our best, even
as it results in needing continuing conversation." California's
Public Utilities Commission crossing data spreadsheet (>13,500 rail
crossings in our state) is a helpful beginning to this. However, it
contains old/obsolete data and refers to disused/abandoned tracks as
if they have "live" rail operations. Much can be done with the
tedious tracing of an entire line along its length via its road/ped
crossings, making this sort of work possible, but fraught with the
peril of errors and tedium.
It remains subjective interpretation as to what constitutes
usage=main and/or usage=branch on some rail segments. It may or may
not be the case that major (e.g. Amtrak) passenger rail always gets
usage=main, or even usage=branch. Usually it is one or the other,
but "not always." Also, there are segments with "Main Line" in their
name which have light industrial (or even no) rail traffic where it
seems the semantics of "usage=main" does not readily apply. This may
result in a usage=branch (or even usage=industrial) tag on a line
with name="XYZ Railroad Mainline."
The ORM tagging wiki suggests that a hierarchy of relations be
applied: infrastructure, railway route and train route. In the USA,
our TIGER data entered rail infrastructure as tags on ways rather
than as ways collected together as members in an "infrastructure
relation." While this differs from the suggested ORM tagging, I
believe it is OK to continue with this methodology in the USA: rail
tags on ways, railway routes and train routes in route relations.
ORM renders with this slightly different tagging just fine, as do
most renderers with a similar structure (e.g. the way the USA tags
highways with way tags and routes with relations).
When I started this ten days ago, California rail in OSM via ORM
looked highly incomplete to me: perhaps what might roughly be called
"35% done." Now, San Diego, the Bay Area (especially) from about
Santa Rosa to Salinas and (to a lesser extent) greater Los Angeles
look much, much better. The Central Valley continues to improve, and
far northern California is still in need of attention, but I would
say California rail in OSM is now something like 60% done. That's a
fair improvement for ten days of "occasional hobbyist effort during a
holiday period" and encourages me that other volunteers who wish to
do a similar improvement of their area's rail might get a lot done in
a relatively short period of time.
I may continue to tap away at "improving California rail," but it is
a large mountain to climb. Obviously, for the whole of the fifty
states, it is a very, very large mountain. One step at a time: be
encouraged, not discouraged!
Truly, if anybody is looking for a "meaty" project (which might very
naturally become a new WikiProject), please consider putting some
effort into improving rail in the USA along these lines. Yes, ORM
rendering only daily and the vast number of track miles makes this
slow going, but IMHO, results are well worth the effort.
SteveA
California
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