[Tagging] [Talk-us] Railway start and end dates?

[Russ Nelson]

Nathan Edgars II writes:
 > I'm considering using http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:start_date 
 > and end_date for some railways, but there seems to be too much 
 > ambiguity. First, if it's now a highway=*, I'd use start_date:railway 
 > for when the line opened. But on a railway=disused, wouldn't this be 
 > when it started to be disused? And on a railway=preserved, you'd 
 > definitely want to know both when the line first opened and when the 
 > current tourist operation began. With end_date, there's also ambiguity 
 > for an abandoned line - should it be when the line last saw service (if 
 > known)?

You're over-thinking this, Nathan. Think about it from a mapper's
perspective. start_date should be the date it first became a
railway. end_date should be the date it ceased to be a railway (that
is, the tracks were removed).

And you don't need start_date:railway, because you've already created
a relation for most every railway, so put start_date on the relation.

-- 
--my blog is at    http://blog.russnelson.com
Crynwr supports open source software
521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-600-8815
Potsdam, NY 13676-3213  |     Sheepdog