[OSM-talk] Should we be mapping transformers and powerlines?

[stevea]

On Jan 18, 2023, at 7:13 PM, john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Perhaps you could expand on the benefits of mapping them?

I don't wish to sound antagonistic, but that's like asking "what good is our map" and expecting the infinite "creative and unexpected purposes" that have, do and will evolve from our data to be a complete answer.  It can't ever be complete.

Power lines "exist."  They are "in the real world."  Sometimes they are "in the way."  (Perhaps I am flying my drone or hang-gliding).  Their poles and towers sometimes have wide swaths upon the landscape and make a human, technological path wherever they are, they deserved to be mapped.  So do their often-fenced substation structures and related infrastructure.  If an owner / power company needs to beef up its security, that is little to no concern of mine as an OSM mapper.

It's a valuable conversation to have, I'll agree.  I don't like hearing about rifle-accurate attacks that take out quite expensive infrastructure with a box of well-placed bullets, but that is the world we live in (in some places).  The world we map in?  I'll keep on mapping (including power infrastructure, if for no other reason than "others make pretty spider-webby renderings" of power infrastructure, and I like to look at those).  I'm not a nutter with a gun, I'm a mapper.