On Sat, Oct 19, 2013 at 6:48 AM, Russ Nelson <nel...@crynwr.com> wrote:
> > As a mapper, you have mapped from third party sources and not been in > > the place physically to confirm. But you expect other mappers to have > > a different threshold for deleting these edit, why? > > Because they are not an expert. Sorry, they're not. You have to use > multiple sources to find a railroad right-of-way. You can't just look > at a leafed-over aerial photo (as above), or an aerial photo where you > can't identify the railroad remains. As a person who has traced far more than the average number of dead railroads, on foot or by mountain bike or canoe: I agree. It takes an expert. But this also means a non-expert could well* actually visit the area* and miss the subtle signs of the former railroad. The curved wall of the factory probably has a parking lot below it now, with a truck loading dock, yet you expect an average mapper to realize the railroad shown is valid? --- It seems the real issue is the use of OSM for barely observable former features. A shiny new loading dock, rail trail, or light rail system is mappable by anyone. Historic features are more problematic. At what point does a railroad stop getting mapped? When the rails are taken away? The ballast? The piers and footings? When the occasional building is built on the old roadbed? What if the railroad was moved a few feet, do both routes get mapped? --- With better tagging the editors could help, distinguishing between features observable now and features that are no longer (or barely) observable. But this is basically a history discussion, not so much one about uncaring deletions.
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