[OSM-talk] Featured images for christmas week

[Andy Robinson (blackadder)]

David James wrote:
>Sent: 21 December 2007 5:48 PM
>To: talk at openstreetmap.org
>Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Featured images for christmas week
>
>
>On Fri, December 21, 2007 2:30 pm, Andy Robinson \(blackadder\) wrote:
>> If house number rendering gets implemented in time I'll do an image of my
>>  local area that might be considered. I've just started gathering house
>> number and other close-in data.
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=52.55511
>> <http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=52.55511&lon=-
>1.81947&zoom=17&layers=0B
>> T>
>> &lon=-1.81947&zoom=17&layers=0BT
>
>I don't know whether to be impressed at the level of detail you've
>gathered, or depressed because of how small it makes my own efforts look
>... :-(

Well, its my local area and since I started to map it in 2005 it shouldn't
be a surprise that I use it as a bit of a testing area. Some of the earliest
ways (sub 50 ID numbers) lurk in there.

>
>One question - what's the source for the residential=building data (the
>rectangle-ish areas at the sides of the roads)?
>

It's a mixture of manual survey and artistic impression. The beginning and
end of each run of houses is easy to do by taking a photo of the boundary
position which when synchronised in JOSM to the GPX track gives you a pretty
accurate location. The setback from the road is guesswork and doesn't yet
sit right with the width of the road at every zoom level. The thickness
again is guesswork and where I'm trying to give an impression rather than
being precise. The same applies to the total run of the building, which in
most cases is actually semi detached or detached housing which should really
be drawn as individual blocks. Maybe in a couple of year's time I'll feel
like going to that extent! for now I'm just making a single continuous run
where there are only residential homes along the run. If something else
interjects I take a photo of it and tag appropriately.

One the house number rendering works you will see I hope little numbers at
the start and end of each run of building. These are set on nodes within
each building area. I'm also recording the house number opposite a side
junction.

I would say though that all of this is only really possible if you have
fully mapped out all the roads and other paths and tracks. I was surprised
how easy it is to gather the extra data. Doing it on foot, that's the only
reliable way of ascertaining the house number on each end of a block.

Cheers

Andy