[OSM-talk] Unmapped areas and map confidence

[David Earl]

Two linear tags have been proposed which essentially do the same thing: tbc
(from me in Oct 2006) and FIXME (from RW in Dec 2006).

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Proposed_features/Edge_of_known_loca
l_universe
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Proposed_features/FIXME

Both propose putting a shaded or hatched line along an edge of a location
where there is known unmapped or very limited mapping area beyond with the
intention to move the boundary outward in time - a line, not an area because
it is much easier to manage locally like that and most people work in a
particular locality. These aren't accurate features on the ground, of
course, just indicators to the reader of work in progress.

These address one of my major concerns when I first joined OSM, that you had
no idea of whether what you were looking at bore any relation to reality,
especially if there was some information there. Of course, the map may lie,
but usually it is simply just not finished, and very often it is known it is
not finished and is being worked on.

Obviously nothing is ever "complete", in the sense that detail can always be
added, but I think if the surfaced, public streets are there with names,
then it is "complete" for the purposes of this discussion.

I and presumably RW, both want to say to people looking at the maps we are
working on "don't trust this area, we know there is more to do here".

Rather than just suggest voting on these, I thought it might be an idea to
invite batting a bit more discussion back and forth first. For example,
might an intermediate level of "partly done" be appropriate where some
streets are entered (often the more major ones) but lesser residential
streets known to be omitted, for example.

David