[OSM-talk] Concern over untagged ways and map roulette

[john whelan]

https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/166510759

Cheerio John

On Thu, 22 May 2025 at 11:31, Mateusz Konieczny via talk <
talk at openstreetmap.org> wrote:

> if untagged ways corresponds to something clearly visible on aerial then
> deleting them is clearly harmful
>
> can you link examples of bad edits and MR task inducing them?
>
>
> May 22, 2025, 16:29 by jwhelan0112 at gmail.com:
>
> I've stumbled across a couple of mappers who have been deleting untagged
> ways identified by map roulette.
>
> Is there any guidance I can point them to?
>
> They aren't easy to spot as the evidence disappears quite quickly but I've
> seen a section of waterway quite visible on Bing or Mapbox mapped but
> untagged that has been deleted, I've seen paths into villages visible on
> Bing or Mapbox again deleted.
>
> The other issue is the imagery they are working from might be out of date
> and I don't like deleting things just because they aren't shown in Bing.
>
> Sometimes deletion of an untagged way is correct, I've done it myself when
> the untagged way maps a waterway that is already mapped, or a highway that
> is already mapped but this is deleting when there is nothing underneath.
>
> Sometimes I come across a settlement where there might be fifty buildings
> mapped but not tagged.  My thoughts are it really is better to tag them
> than delete them.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Thanks John
>
>
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