[Talk-us] Railway start and end dates?

[Nathan Edgars II]

On 5/27/2012 1:51 PM, Russ Nelson wrote:
> Nathan Edgars II writes:
>   >  I'm considering using http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:start_date
>   >  and end_date for some railways, but there seems to be too much
>   >  ambiguity. First, if it's now a highway=*, I'd use start_date:railway
>   >  for when the line opened. But on a railway=disused, wouldn't this be
>   >  when it started to be disused? And on a railway=preserved, you'd
>   >  definitely want to know both when the line first opened and when the
>   >  current tourist operation began. With end_date, there's also ambiguity
>   >  for an abandoned line - should it be when the line last saw service (if
>   >  known)?
>
> You're over-thinking this, Nathan. Think about it from a mapper's
> perspective. start_date should be the date it first became a
> railway. end_date should be the date it ceased to be a railway (that
> is, the tracks were removed).

Why when the tracks were removed? What if a bridge was washed out and 
the tracks beyond were left to rust?
>
> And you don't need start_date:railway, because you've already created
> a relation for most every railway, so put start_date on the relation.
>
This only works if the entire line opened at once, which is only true 
about half the time.