[Talk-GB] Solar Panels Quarterly Project: 39 days to go

[SK53]

Thought I'd write a really quick summary of progress on the quarterly
project:

   - As of last night we had a total of 67,475 installations
   <http://osm.gregorywilliams.me.uk/solar/index.html> (solar farms
   enclosing several groups of panels are treated as one installation. At the
   time of writing another 500 have been added this morning.
   - 8 local authorities have more than 50% of the estimated total number
   (based on FIT data), in descending order : Nottingham, Ashfield,
Liverpool, Knowsley,
   Tameside, Wrecsam, Bassetlaw, Peterborough, and Manfield.
   - During August anywhere from 1500 to nearly 2500 panels have been
   mapped each day. Even if only average 1000 a day for the remainder of the
   project it means we should comfortably exceed 100k mapped installations
   (between 10 & 12% of the total).
   - There's no shortage of places where it is easy to add a lot of panels
   in a short time (I added nearly 500 in Worksop yesterday). Gregory's site
   has a list of candidates at the bottom of the main page.
   - As expected urban areas are easier to do than rural areas.
   - General areas with a lot of mapping are: West Midlands, North-East
   (Tyneside, Wearside etc), North-West, East Mids and Kent. I think you can
   guess who the likely suspects are.
   - I don't have any immediate stats on solar farms, but Dan pointed out
   that we have over 50%. perhaps Dan or Jex can provide an update.

Apart from a general target of 100k installations some other things are
worth focussing on for the remainder of the project:

   - Getting a few LAs over 75%. Ashfield
   <http://osm.gregorywilliams.me.uk/solar/ashfield.html> is surprising
   because installations are widely distributed. Liverpool
   <http://osm.gregorywilliams.me.uk/solar/liverpool.html> is more typical:
   two-thirds are mapped but perhaps 80% of the LSOAs have not been touched,
   and over a 1000 are in 4 LSOAs around Speke. So finding the additional
   panels may be less rewarding.
   - Searching a small number of rural LAs intensively: small ones are
   probably best: Anglesey, Isle of Wight, Rutland etc. My suspicion is that
   panels are harder to find, but also that imagery is often quite a bit older.
   - Get more done in Scotland (and Northern Ireland). Gregory's site
   doesn't allow the micro-targeting by LSOA which has been so effective for
   England & Wales.

The first two are because there is the possibility of using located rooftop
solar panels as training sets for more automated identification using
machine learning. Dan may want to say more on this.

Lastly, a couple of remarks stemming from jumping around England & Wales
about OSM mapping in general:

   - Buildings have been diligently mapped in all sorts of unexpected
   places. Unfortunately address data is scarcer.
   - Former council estates often lack many of the footpaths which give a
   better sense of their layout. Particularly true for the post-war Radburn
   style estates.
   - Some places were obviously mapped when OS Streetview first became
   available and the road networks could do with tidying up (I'll draw up a
   separate list at some stage).
   - MS StreetSide is really valuable particularly around Manchester.
   Although the imagery is 7 years old it allows a much more detailed
   appreciation of building types, and checking of other detail..

Happy hunting,

Jerry

PS. I was only the 3rd OSMer to look to add the new solar plant
<https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/717428007> at Aldershot station
<https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/22/rail-line-in-hampshire-is-worlds-first-to-be-powered-by-solar-farm>
!
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