[OSM-newbies] use of colon in tags

[SomeoneElse]

On 18/08/2012 10:30, Dudley Ibbett wrote:
> Hi
>
> I am currently exploring the possibility of add a tag for the 
> "condition" of dry stone walls and also stiles.
>
> I note in the documentation there has been discussion about tags such 
> as highway_condition and these have not been accepted.  The one use I 
> have found is in "building:condition=".
>

In the case of dry stone walls and stiles, is there a need for a colon 
at all?  In the case of a building I can kind of see the logic (the 
building might be falling down but the business operating from there is 
doing just fine).

In the case of dry stone walls and stiles, though, is there any need for 
a colon to distinguish the condition of the stile from something else?

Condition <http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/condition#values> is 
used a fair bit, but that looks to be the result of an import 
<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/MassGIS>.

> I have contacted the Dry Stone Wall Association to see if there have a 
> classification system for condition and I would then intend to use 
> "dry_stone:condition=".  The system would be unique to dry_stone walls 
> as the have a tendency to deteriorate in a specific way so it would be 
> appropriate to use "wall:condition".
>

It certainly makes sense to use an externally-defined classification 
scheme. Smoothness <http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:smoothness> 
gets ridiculed; SAC Scale <http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Sac_scale> 
not so much.

> I am also looking at tagging the condition of stiles.  i.e. 
> "stile:condition="  Our local councils has asked me to survey the 
> local footpath and stiles as they have funding each year for repairs 
> which currently they don't spend.
>

Sounds like an excellent idea.  In this case there'd presumably need to 
be a wiki page describing what values to use for "condition" here?

> Is this an acceptable use of the colon or is there another way this 
> should be done?  Using ":condition" would seem to fit in with existing 
> practice for buildings.
>

This might actually be best asked on the tagging list 
<http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging> (and perhaps talk-gb 
<http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb> might be the best 
place to contact GB mappers who might also want to tag the condition of 
walls and stiles).  I wouldn't let a lack of response there stop you 
doing it, though - most things get mapped because they're considered 
useful to the person doing the mapping.  For example, I'm unlikely ever 
to map a roof shape 
<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Simple_3D_Buildings>, but if you're 
generating 3d maps, I'd imagine that that's really useful.

Cheers,
Andy

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/newbies/attachments/20120819/04091cf6/attachment.html>