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

[Fernando Trebien]

If there is any detectable sign that there was a rail there one day,
surely it could be mapped - and especially so if the locals still
remember and/or refer to it.

If it has been completely removed, with other things built on top of
it, or the area completely remodeled so that there is no trace of the
former railway and no expectation of reconstruction, then it depends
on whether the former railway has significance in some other less
obvious way (e.g. being part of an administrative boundary). If not,
it should probably be removed, moved elsewhere [1], or changed into
something else (what's actually there now).

[1] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Good_practice#Don.27t_map_historic_events_and_historic_features

On Mon, May 25, 2020 at 2:06 AM Joseph Eisenberg
<joseph.eisenberg at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> This was originally sent to the Talk mailing list, but it is better if it is discussed on the Tagging mailing list: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
>
> I agree that razed, completely demolished railways, where all traces of the former track-bed have been removed, should be removed from OpenStreetMap.
>
> It is still considered acceptable to map abandoned railways, where the old railway grade remains, even though the metal rails have been removed.
>
> However, note that there are some people who are very committed to mapping historical and abandoned railways, so there may be resistance to removing these features.
>
> See the long discussions about rendering railway=abandoned at https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/542 and https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/issues/586 for example.
>
> Also see the previous discussion at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:Railways#Abandoned_railways_where_all_evidence_has_been_removed
>
> – Joseph Eisenberg
>
> On Sun, May 24, 2020 at 9:40 PM Jack Armstrong <jacknstacy at sprynet.com> wrote:
>>
>> Greetings.
>>
>>
>> Recently, a user mapped “razed” railways inside a construction zone (link below). These rails had been removed by our local mappers since they don’t exist anymore. Using the latest imagery (Maxar), you can see the rails have been completely removed from “Project 70”, a $1.2 billion Denver-area transportation corridor construction project.
>>
>>
>> I think this mapper has good intentions, but what is the point of mapping something that does not exist? Doesn’t this clearly contradict the OSM Good Practice wiki in regards the sections, “Verifiability”, “Map what's on the ground” and “Don't map historic events and historic features”? The last section states, "Do not map objects if they do not exist currently."
>>
>>
>> Should we tag (invisible) razed sidewalks? Should we leave (invisible) destroyed buildings in place, tag them as razed and then create new buildings on top of them?
>>
>>
>> https://www.openstreetmap.org/edit#map=19/39.78016/-104.94562
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
Fernando Trebien