[talk-au] Historical rail lines

[mick]

On Sun, 25 Nov 2012 17:15:59 +1100
Matt White <mattwhite at iinet.net.au> wrote:

> A question for the list regarding historical/disused rail lines.
> 
> The old inner circle rail line in Melbourne is mapped in OSM, and I'm 
> unconvinced of it being a good thing. Here's a little bit of it that I 
> can talk about with some local knowledge of: 
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-37.780512&lon=144.982887&zoom=18&layers=M
> 
> Given that there is pretty much no trace of the rail line left, why are 
> we mapping it? It was "on the ground" 30 years ago, but it certainly 
> isn't now.
> 
> (That said, there are some small pieces of the track remaining - where 
> it crosses Rae St and Brunswick St Nth, two or three 15 metre sections + 
> a set of points just north of the end of Birkenhead St (including what 
> appears to be an old rail weighbridge), and a short three metre section 
> in Edinburgh Gardens, and the old North Carlton station building is 
> still there)
> 
> If there are no complaints, I'm going to remove it. It's historical, and 
> appears on old maps, but does not exist today.
> 
> Matt

I'm in two minds about removing 'historical' data.

Yes, objects no longer visible on the ground shouldn't be rendered on the map.

BUT, by default, OSM has become a source for mappers doing more than mere street maps and the loss of historical data would be a serious setback.

mick