Hi all,
I do mapping in San Francisco, CA and I'm frustrated about the
inconsistent levels of detail we typically use when mapping urban
environments.
For example, most highways are mapped in a network-oriented fashion with
one string of ways representing both directions of traffic, often
encapsulating other features like cycle lanes and sidewalks, and
intersections simply represented by crossing the streets at a single
common node.
On the other hand, rail lines are most commonly mapped by their physical
shape, so the rail ways come in pairs. The people who mapped the tram
lines in San Francisco also mapped the curves of the rails at
intersections, rather than having them meet at a single node as with the
highways. This creates the following ridiculous effect in rendering:
http://osm.org/go/TZHvFT5aF--
Notice how the rails only just fit inside the rendered street on
straight sections, and cut the street corner completely at the intersection.
However, here's how it actually looks on the ground (looking across the
intersection from east to west). Notice that the rails are completely
contained within this 4-lane intersection (all four being normal traffic
lanes with no physical separation except for the tram boarding platforms):
http://oi45.tinypic.com/w6qsgh.jpg
(On the plus side, we're doing better than Google Maps, whose rendering
makes it look like the rails on Church street are both off to the west
side of the street! http://tinyurl.com/cedot4n )
This problem shows up in various other contexts too: it's impossible to
accurately tag a bench or bus stop on a sidewalk because the sidewalk
doesn't exist as a separate construct. Fences or buildings directly abut
the street end up rendering either over the street or set back from it
because the true width of the street is not represented.
For most normal street mapping and vehicle routing purposes it seems
sufficient to just know simple landmark details that aid in orientation,
e.g. that whether particular street contains a railway or it passes
alongside a railway. Of course, more detail-oriented uses like 3D
renderings it'd be more important to have the full physical street
layout described, with separated lanes and proper physical relationships
with surrounding objects.
How have others resolved this fundamental conflict? More detailed
streets, or less-detailed everything else?
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