Utility corridor mapping

[Bryce Nesbitt]

To see how it feels, I've started to tag my local area with:

utilities=underground


In areas where I know that all overhead wires have been undergrounded. A
complete tag list might be:

utilities=underground ( no overhead utilities are present )
utilities=overhead (overhead wires are visible)
utilities=none (it is known that utilities don't run in this corridor,
even underground)


But I will assume a default of utilities=overhead in this region.

-------------------------------
This makes a base assumption that our road centerlines represent a
"corridor", which
has various attributes (lanes, sidewalks, utilities). Later refinements
can add detail of course
and split out elements.

It maps the visible part of our world (the wires), without intending to map
the power network.

And it uses common terms (e.g. undergrounding) even though they are not
precise.

[Martin Koppenhoefer]

Post by Bryce Nesbitt
utilities=underground ( no overhead utilities are present )
utilities=overhead (overhead wires are visible)
utilities=none (it is known that utilities don't run in this corridor,
even underground)

-1, IMHO you should only tag utilities=underground if you know that the
wires are underground in this street (IF you want to tag this at all and in
this way). If you only can see that there are no overhead wires present
that's not sufficient.

cheers,
Martin

[Jo]

Utilities seems a bit vague to me. Over here water, gas, telephony and
sewage are always underground, mostly under the sidewalk and sewage under
the street. Electricity usually is, except in rural areas.
Cable distribution follows the 'façades' of the houses and then there is
the cable of the street lights which does the same in my street.

If we're going to be mapping all that, it may be interesting to indicate
whether sewage is already split in water that fell from the sky and actual
sewage...

Jo

Post by Martin Koppenhoefer

Post by Bryce Nesbitt
utilities=underground ( no overhead utilities are present )
utilities=overhead (overhead wires are visible)
utilities=none (it is known that utilities don't run in this corridor,
even underground)

-1, IMHO you should only tag utilities=underground if you know that the
wires are underground in this street (IF you want to tag this at all and in
this way). If you only can see that there are no overhead wires present
that's not sufficient.
cheers,
Martin
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Tagging mailing list
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging

[John F. Eldredge]

Post by Bryce Nesbitt
utilities=underground
In areas where I know that all overhead wires have been undergrounded.
A
utilities=underground ( no overhead utilities are present )
utilities=overhead (overhead wires are visible)
utilities=none (it is known that utilities don't run in this corridor,
even underground)
But I will assume a default of utilities=overhead in this region.
-------------------------------
This makes a base assumption that our road centerlines represent a
"corridor", which
has various attributes (lanes, sidewalks, utilities). Later
refinements
can add detail of course
and split out elements.
It maps the visible part of our world (the wires), without intending to map
the power network.
And it uses common terms (e.g. undergrounding) even though they are not
precise.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Tagging mailing list
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging

You might also want to have utilities=underground_and_overhead as a possible value, to handle cases where some utility cables, but not all, have been placed underground. Or, would this be handled by having two separate utility tags?

[Bryce Nesbitt]

Post by John F. Eldredge
You might also want to have utilities=underground_and_overhead as a
possible value, to handle cases where some utility cables, but not all,
have been placed underground. Or, would this be handled by having two
separate utility tags?

The only distinction I'm interested in capturing is "are there wires strung
overhead". Those are visible mapable objects,
and relevant for view impacts and in fire and earthquake escape.

I'm less interested in mapping invisible infrastructure. Can you think of
a clear tagging scheme that allows simple mapping
of the visible power/cable/phone/fibre lines, yet allows others to map in
greater depth?

[Ronnie Soak]

The proposed tagging scheme doesn't sound too bad to me.
It's easily expandable for those who want to map more detail

utilities:sewage=underground
utilities:electricity=overhead
utilities:communications=underground

But I would vote for just mapping what is somewhat verifiable on the ground.
(Overhead wires can be seen, water may have signs and plates, sewage may be
verified by canal entry points ...)

You only problem is that you can't distinguish the three possible states

- a street with no utilities present
- a street with no overhead but unknown underground utilities
- an unmapped street

If you just want to specify that there are no overhead lines, you could do
a

utilities:overhead = no

But this defies the logic given above and may lead to others mapping

utilities:overhead = electricity; communications

which would not be advisable imho.
It may still be an option if documented clearly.


Just my 2 cents,
Chaos

[Bryce Nesbitt]

Most direct and least expandable is:
overhead_cables=[yes/no]
overhead_utilities=[yes/no]

or

utilities = power; fibre; sewage or [none]
utilities:overhead = [yes/no]

[Martin Koppenhoefer]

Post by Ronnie Soak
utilities:communications=underground

instead of communications we could distinguish cable tv, fibre optic cables
and copper cables (phone, DSL, ...) and maybe more.
If there isn't any detail (read: knowledge by the mapper) it also seems
unnecessary to map this kind of stuff, especially in metropolitan context,
where you can expect in many countries all of these to be present.

cheers,
Martin

[Dave F.]

Post by Bryce Nesbitt
utilities=underground

Personally I don't think underground services should be mapped in the
OSM database. Id you can't view it, it shouldn't be a primary tag.

Such data can be useful, but it should be in a separate database &
overlaid onto OSM by a renderer.

Dave F.