[OSM-dev] determining the boundaries of cities?

[Stephan Plepelits]

Hi!

> I don't think we have something like that, as - see above - the big  
> question here remains: what is an urban area and what is a rural one?
I think there is no such thing in OSM yet (and I doubt there ever will be).
But to help think about it, here's a definition of the national Austrian
statistical agency:

Statistics Austria provides maps with "urban areas" for Austria. Their
definition, either:
- a built-up area with cleary visible road classification
- a group of houses sharing a place name
- a group of houses where the distance between each house is less than 200m
(Statistics Austria 2010, p. 1023).

It gets more complicated: Only houses will be counted, where:
- at least one people has a principal or secondary residence
- and at least four neigbours in 200m distance
- no objects with agriculture use
- also all objects which are registered as workplaces
(Statistics Austria 2010, p. 1025)

Finally the name of the largest place in the urban area will be used (or
several names if places with equal importance are found), prefixed by "SE"
(Siedlungseinheit = Settlement Unit).
E.g.:
"SE Vienna" (SE Wien) is much larger than the actual administrative borders (see Statistics Austria 2010, p. 1026).
"SE Dornbirn, Feldkirch" is the urban area with the main places Dornbirn and Feldkirch
(Statistics Austria 2010, p. 1025f)

More Information (sorry, only German):
http://www.statistik.at/web_de/klassifikationen/regionale_gliederungen/siedlungseinheiten/index.html (rough Shapefiles are available there)
Map:
http://www.statistik.at/web_de/static/siedlungseinheiten_nach_groessenklassen_gebietsstand_1.1.2010_041267.pdf

Literature:
Statistics Austria 2010, Neuabgrenzung der Siedlungseinheiten 2010,
http://www.statistik.at/web_de/static/neuabgrenzung_der_siedlungseinheiten_2010_058184.pdf

greetings,
        Stephan
-- 
Seid unbequem, seid Sand, nicht Öl im Getriebe der Welt! - Günther Eich
,---------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Stephan Plepelits,                                                  |
| Technische Universität Wien   -    Studien Informatik & Raumplanung |
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