[Talk-us] Help with non-existent school in Big Sur, CA area

stevea steveaOSM at softworkers.com
Mon Jan 6 18:03:48 UTC 2014


This is part of a GNIS import does by Ian Dees in 2009.  I have 
discovered many objects that were uploaded to OSM as part of this 
import which are decades or even a century old (or older) which 
certainly do not exist today (churches, hospitals, schools 
especially).  I deleted them, and I think it is safe to say you can, 
too.  Though you might want to consider adding a historic=yes tag and 
suffixing the name tag with "(historic)."  Either method would be 
correct.

But yes, I have driven past/hiked/camped (even piloted a paraglider, 
and got verbally warned by a State Parks ranger that there are "no 
aircraft in the State Park System!") here, and I assure you there is 
no school here:  presently or even the remnants of one.  However, it 
is entirely possible that there once was one, many decades or even a 
century ago.

Your call, Sebastian.  My preference is to delete what isn't actually 
there, but there are arguments to be made for why we might want to 
keep historical sites in OSM, even without there being "something" 
there -- if it is tagged as such.

SteveA
California


>I'm doing a bit of mapping south of Monterey based on some notes 
>I've taken two months ago, and I've stumbled over this school on the 
>map:
>
>http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/36.31044/-121.88636
>
>A search on the Internet doesn't reveal anything called "Sur 
>School". A search for schools in the area reveals some schools 
>further south - but nothing close to where this school is on the map 
>and nothing similar sounding. Also, looking at the satellite 
>imagery, there is nothing close to this point on the map that looks 
>like either a building or some remnants of one. There are the 
>disused "Point Sur Naval Facility" buildings on the other side of 
>the road, but we know what those are and they are not a school.
>
>I think the best thing to do is to delete this object. However, 
>could someone who either lives in the area or has local knowledge 
>confirm that this school really doesn't exist. All the evidence so 
>far points to it being the case, but it would be nice if we could 
>have "on the ground" confirmation before I delete it.




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