[OSM-talk] Planned revert of added surface and tracktype tags without local knowledge in various countries

Andy Townsend ajt1047 at gmail.com
Sat Jul 18 20:40:30 UTC 2020


On 18/07/2020 20:51, Joseph Eisenberg wrote:
> It's perfectly reasonable to add surface=unpaved or similar based on 
> aerial imagery alone, if you have some experience in distinguishing 
> different surfaces of roads and tracks from aerial imagery.

I'd agree that most of the time telling "surface=unpaved" from a paved 
road or track is certainly possible.  However, beyond that might be tricky.

As an example, here's one that I updated in OSM this morning. Have a 
look at https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/169902637 and follow that to 
the southwest.  The surface changes a few times before it meets the next 
road.  Do you believe that you would be able to infer those surface tags 
from imagery? I haven't added a tracktype there yet (lots of stuff in 
that area needs a resurvey!) and I'm sure you could say "it's definitely 
not tracktype=4 or 5" but I'd be reluctant to "overclaim" based on 
less-than-ideal sources.

Best Regards,

Andy






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