[Talk-us] bike rail trail as built vs as proposed and imported

[Greg Troxel]

Paul Johnson <baloo at ursamundi.org> writes:

`> On Mon, 2009-07-20 at 08:19 -0400, Bill Ricker wrote:
>> The Upper Charles Trail was included in the MASSgis import. It has a
>> note="under construction". As imported and proposed, it slavishly
>> followed a passenger and freight line straight to the center of town,
>> but Milford sensibly added scenic curves and grades, connecting a
>> picnic area and municipal ball fields, and using an interchange
>> underpass instead of digging anew where I-495 had obliterated the
>> rail. As fair as I can tell from web, it may not be completed much
>> beyond where I explored on foot in Milford.
>> 
>> What are the tags for abandoned RR right of way that is NOT a
>> biketrail, but still visible?
>
> railway=abandoned 
> highway=construction
> construction=cycleway
> note=Proposed cycleway
>
> Successfully used this on a way that has since been converted to an
> actual cycleway (removing the railway and construction tags, and
> changing highway=construction to highway=cycleway).  I may have left the
> railway tag off mine since by the time I was aware of the project and
> OSM, the tracks were long gone.

That sounds fine, modulo "abandoned" vs "old_railroad_grade".  I usually
look to USGS for guidance and prior art - their 1:25000 topo maps are an
inspiration.  They distinguish among 'railroad', 'abandoned railroad',
and 'old railroad grade'.  According to their classification, abandoned
railroads have visible tracks.  In the US 'abandoned' is a
legal/technical term, an no tracks more or less 100% implies abandoned.

A case I found that's semi relevant, in that it's about abandonment and
rail trail conversion:

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/federal/judicial/dc/opinions/94opinions/94-1403a.html

The current tag definition is awkward:

  http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:railway

because tags mean something unintuitive:

 abandoned => "old railroad grade"

 disused => abandoned  (this is missing a key differentiating point)

 disused => "out of service" (this is fine, just the usual uk/us translation)

 rail => "in server" (this is fine)
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