On Mon, Jun 2, 2025 at 6:48 PM Rob Savoye via Tagging < tagging@openstreetmap.org> wrote:
> On 6/2/25 4:58 PM, Paul Johnson wrote: > > It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to start formally deprecating ref=* on > ways. Ref to describe routes on ways violates the "one object, one OSM > entity guideline," and is one of the reasons relations were created as a > primitive in OSM in the first place. If the ref=* on ways dinosaur was > allowed to die the death it should have 15 years ago. > > I'm not sure if this would be an improvement for those of us focused on > mapping in remote areas. In the US, many of these were imported into OSM > from TIGER ages ago, others traced using imagery. In OSM there is a large > percentage where the highway geometry is completely wrong, going the wrong > way at a fork. After fixing the geometries, and updating the name and USFS > refs here's my question. USFS refs change frequently, often at every > intersection, but then name stays the same. The name would I assume be the > relation name, but making each member way (with no tags) in the relation > could loose the USFS reference, which is actually important. In that case > the route relation could have the name, but each way would need the ref. > And some have multiple refs, USFS, and country or state, but the name is > the same. Out here in the western US, the USFS and BLM refs are super > important for those of us responding to emergencies in these remote areas > for wildland fires or backcountry rescues. > I'm pretty sure 4 digit Forest Service roads that are a single way and have no reason to be divided (since they tend to be forestry tracks of only a few hundred meters) really can't violate the one object, one OSM entity guideline by tagging ref on way, so that'd be a no-change situation either way. I'm focusing on all routes that have 2 or more member ways, for this reason.
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