[Tagging] [OSM-talk] Should we map things that do not exist?

Kevin Kenny kevin.b.kenny at gmail.com
Thu Dec 31 19:25:28 UTC 2020


On Thu, Dec 31, 2020 at 1:34 PM stevea <steveaOSM at softworkers.com> wrote:

> Thank you, although I think you are agreeing with Volker, the OP, rather
> than me, who replied.  (Volker and I agree).  To be clear, there are no
> "replacements" (existing or proposed) for railway=abandoned (or similar
> values), there are simply the tags we have already defined, documented and
> data so tagged which are already in the map.  They belong, they should
> stay, they can and should continue to be entered where they exist (as a
> right-of-way, especially when proposed to be included in a "rail-trail").
>

I've certainly hiked on demolished logging railways (and other abandoned
rights-of-way) where the roads were closed, the rails lifted, and so on
prior to the First World War.  A lot of people would say that 'no traces
remain', but to an experienced bushwhacker, the traces of rail ballast in
the soil, the signs of deteriorated embankments, cuttings and ditches, and
so on all are clear signposts. Sometimes the ground displays a distinct
corduroy texture where the sleepers have long since crumbled to rot and
dust, but the mounded ballast between them supports the soil. There may be
spilt coal or clinker, or other bits of rubbish about. (One of them
has rather a lot of broken whiskey bottles!) I'd not dignify the things
with 'abandoned' - they've deteriorated further than that, and an effort
was made to demolish them. I'd not call them 'footway', either, since it's
not prudent to hike them without sound orienteering skills. The ways are
lost in spots owing to mudslides, washouts, overgrowth and the like. The
published maps of the area usually bear warnings like "unmarked trails and
abandoned roads in this area may be obscure and difficult to follow, even
for experienced hikers."

They still provide graded routes that a hiker can follow part of the way to
some off-trail destinations. But they're nothing more nor less than
demolished railways. Nothing new has been put in their place, but the
railways are long gone. Their traces are there for eyes to see that can.

-- 
73 de ke9tv/2, Kevin
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