<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Steve,<br></div>I agree with Charlotte, In Oklahoma I am seeing a lot of different names on one rail road line like Charlotte is talking about.<br><br></div>Mike<br><br><div><div><div><div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 2:36 PM, Charlotte Wolter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:techlady@techlady.com" target="_blank">techlady@techlady.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
Steve,<br><br>
<u></u> <u></u>Yes, any
explanation of the difference between "main" and
"branch" lines and "owner" is appreciated. I find
myself rather confused at the moment.<br>
<u></u> <u></u>For
instance, why does the BNSF line across Arizona and into New Mexico
change to "Gallup Subdivision" at one point to the west of the
city of Gallup? It seems to be still the BNSF main line. Further, other
"subdivisions," such as the Springerville (Ariz.) Subdivision,
clearly seem to be branches. So, when is a line a subdivision?<br>
<u></u> <u></u>If I get a
handle on this and other distinctions, I can make corrections (or
explanations) ... I think.<br><br>
Best wishes,<br><br>
Charlotte<br><br>
<br>
At 11:17 AM 12/29/2014, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Hello Nathan, Tod, Alexander,
Minh and Charlotte:<br><br>
Thank you for responding to my talk-us posts about rail. I'm having
multiple conversations about this, to a large extent with Alexander
Jones, as he is emerging as a local "expert" (well, "more
experienced") w.r.t. rail in OSM. Especially with how it
renders with ORM. There are many good resources (public, and
compatible with OSM's ODBL) to use, both in California (and perhaps YOUR
state!) and federally. For the latter, Alexander recommends
<a href="http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/crossing/xingqryloc.aspx" target="_blank">
http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/crossing/xingqryloc.aspx</a>
. He also has (and has sent to me, please ask him) an excellent
spreadsheet which flatten/simplify what might be called a good first cut
at a branching structure.<br><br>
I have also found truly complete, excellent (down to signals, etc.) rail
maps on "rail fan" sites. These essentially give us all
we need (one was in .kmz format, which JOSM simply read and could almost
be "imported" directly into OSM). However, they are
specifically copyrighted and not compatible with OSM's ODBL, alas I
almost feel I cannot even continue to view such documentation, lest it
"pollute" OSM with copyrighted data (similar to looking at
Google Maps, which I strenuously avoid!) What this means is that
"the data are out there" and that dedicated persons can compile
them with research and patience. So, OSM volunteers can do this,
but it WILL be a LOT of work.<br><br>
I agree with Nathan that usage=main and usage=branch can be quite tricky
to "know" how to tag, and that there appears to be an
essentially subjective interpretation about which tag (if any of these)
is appropriate for any given line. I am in the process of writing a
"ten day review" post to talk-us about this, which I will post
after I send all of you this email.<br><br>
USA rail in OSM is a large subject to tackle, which will take a great
deal of effort by many. The essential step of better understanding,
agreeing amongst ourselves and harmonizing all of the tagging necessarily
comes first. I propose a new WikiProject, but I do not have the
bandwidth to do this all by myself, as I remain busy with our USBRS
WikiProject.<br><br>
To address MInh's question about Cincinnati, CNO&TP and NS, I'd say
that "owner=City of Cincinnati" is correct, and
"operator=NS" and "name=CNO&TP" capture it
accurately. But this is just one of many examples of how difficult
these often complex leasing/ownership/operator arrangements can be with
rail.<br><br>
In short, I am interested in continuing this, but with limits to my
abilities to do so. I invite all of you to please stay in touch
with me and each other about this if you like, and even to
"recruit" other OSM volunteers to better coordinate what might
become a more formal effort, whether in California, another state or
region, or over the whole of the USA. And if anybody starts a
WikiProject for USA rail, I'd be thrilled!<br><br>
Best regards,<br><br>
Steve All<br>
Santa Cruz, California</blockquote><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<u></u><p><u></u>
Charlotte Wolter<br>
927 18th Street Suite A<br>
Santa Monica, California<br>
90403<br>
+1-310-597-4040<br>
<a href="mailto:techlady@techlady.com" target="_blank">techlady@techlady.com</a><br>
Skype: thetechlady<br><br>
</p></font></span></div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Talk-us mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Talk-us@openstreetmap.org">Talk-us@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
<a href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us" target="_blank">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>