[Indoor] Indoor Routing Observations

[Antoine Riche]

Hi Volker.

Thanks for raising these interesting questions. We actually faced these 
issues when mapping Paris railway stations. Here are my two pennies.

 > Implicit corridor walls

Actually https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:indoor%3Dcorridor 
defines indoor=corridor as a "passageway space without walls". This 
seems a little bit contradictory with "Enclosed walkway area" as 
described in https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Simple_Indoor_Tagging, 
however I'm not so sure that "enclosed" should be understood as closed 
by walls on all sides here.

Considering that indoor=corridor have implicit walls would imply to use 
indoor=area for areas that really feel like corridors though they do not 
have a door at ends. Mapping corridor walls explicitly offers more 
flexibility, and they are not required anywhere the corridor is adjacent 
to an idoor=room.

 > (Implicit) Outer building walls

Again not considering walls are implicit offer more flexibility. I can 
think of a railway station building 
(https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/30174513) adjacent to a corridor 
(https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/643954662) that runs below the rails 
and platforms. There is no door between the building and the corridor, 
considering implicit walls on the building outline would not work here.

 > Service counters

The tag amenity=reception_desk is in use. 
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag%3Aamenity%3Dreception_desk 
explains that the proposal was rejected several times, mostly due to the 
name of the tag. Counter sounds like a better name. Also the definition 
as "the location of a receptionist 
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/receptionist> who is employed by an 
organization to receive or greet any visitors, patients, or clients" is 
perhaps a bit restrictive, this could be widened to any location where a 
person can make a request to a professionnal.

Cheers,
Antoine.

Le 26/02/2024 à 18:01, Volker Krause via indoor a écrit :
> Hello,
>
> I've been working on indoor routing recently and hit a few challenges. We
> discussed those at the Hack Weekend in Karlsruhe as well, but there isn't
> really an elegant solution for any of the following yet:
>
>
> # Implicit corridor walls
>
> indoor=corridor and indoor=room are defined to have implicit walls, unlike e.g.
> indoor=area (seehttps://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/
> Simple_Indoor_Tagging#Modelling_the_different_indoor_elements).
>
> However the predominant use of indoor=corridor isn't really in line with that.
>
> Example 1:https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/3845325
>
> This is entirely open to the north end leading into the main hall, closed on
> the south (with multiple doors) and on the sides it's either walls, adjacent
> shops (also see service counters below) or ways up to the platforms.
>
> By the strict SIT interpretation neither the main hall nor the platforms nor
> the shop service counters would be accessible.
>
> Example 2:https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/453091694
>
> Open on short-edge ends, intuitively a "corridor", but by strict SIT
> interpretation all connections to staircases or adjacent halls would be
> closed.
>
> Example 3:https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/870541411
>
> This strictly follows SIT. All edges of the corridor either have doors or are
> actually walled (adjacent to rooms or the outer building wall).
>
>
> For rendering this is mostly subtle, however for routing this is very
> problematic. With strict SIT interpretation many train stations are
> practically inaccessible. And when not using implicit walls you end up with
> routes through the building walls in example 3 (due to the next point).
>
>
> # (Implicit) Outer building walls
>
> indoor=area has no implicit walls but can occur with one or more edges aligned
> to an outer building wall.
>
> Example 1:https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/6038767
>
> There are walls where this area aligns with the building outline on the north
> and south sides, ie. routing through those edges should not be possible (apart
> from the doors).
>
> Example 2:https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/11878686
>
> Same situation here. However the building outline (https://
> www.openstreetmap.org/way/23290301) does not match the actual outer building
> walls on the ground floor here, with the parking spaces on https://
> www.openstreetmap.org/way/27743604X  being on the outside and the building only
> extending to the full outline on higher levels.
>
> Example 3:https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/10142437
>
> Here the area is open towards the outside. Assuming there's an implicit wall
> on the building outline would make this inaccessible for routing.
>
>
> For rendering this again is relatively subtle, but for routing that's a
> crucial difference.
>
>
> # Service counters
>
> Less severe, but also occurring in many train stations is the fact that
> amenities are often tagged as indoor=room (and thus implicitly walled) but
> without any tagged doors, making it impossible to route into them. In many
> cases the fix here is adding the missing doors. However there are also
> amenities (bakeries, fast food stands, etc) that serve over a counter on an
> edge of the room polygon and don't actually allow you to enter. That counter
> is where routing should lead you to ideally, but how can that be tagged?
>
> Example:https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/402790810
>
> Free-standing room, service counter at the north-facing edge.
>
>
> Any thoughts on how to deal with those issues?
>
> Thanks,
> Volker
>
> PS: Please remember the quarterly OSM Indoor online meetup on March 6th 18:00
> CET athttps://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/tob-2uf-drl-eal!
>
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