[Talk-us] Rail USA: an initial transcontinental super-relation declaration

[stevea]

OSM is having a sort of "golden spike" moment:  in the USA, there is 
now a route=railway super-relation with tags name=Southern Transcon 
and operator=BNSF.  http://www.osm.org/relation/4673773 links Los 
Angeles and Chicago by rail.

This contains eleven component Subdivision relations as members of 
this major Subdivision.  If you know what that means, great.  If you 
don't, that's OK.  Consider Southern Transcon to be an initial 
example of one method by which OSM in the USA defines rail 
infrastructure where a named super-relation containing multiple 
route=railway Subdivision members is defined as "a major mainline 
rail."  Passenger rail routes (e.g. Amtrak routes) might be 
harmonized into route=train relations using components like these as 
basic elements of construction (where it makes sense to do so).  This 
method can be an important element towards proper and completely 
building USA rail in OSM.

This is wet, gloopy finger-paint right now -- there remain gaps and 
track alignment inconsistencies in component Subdivision relations, 
so a wider community is enticed to reply and continue to improve the 
relation members.  A concern is that we might not be combining 
relations with exactly the right tags, or that we conflate rail 
infrastructure via a tagging scheme that is too loose or "ignores 
other realities."  (Such as how rail corporations and/or states 
organize or regulate rail).  Especially if you have knowledge of USA 
rail organization, please examine this super-relation using your best 
OSM judgement, replying here with your comments as to whether or not 
this is a good method forward.  Thank you in advance.

See also 
http://wiki.osm.org/wiki/WikiProject_United_States_railways#OSM_Rail_Structure_in_the_USA

If consensus emerges, others might enter a Northern Transcon 
super-relation, continuing to correctly build well-tagged rail 
infrastructure in the USA.

SteveA
California