Annoying problem on the network tag of bus routes and stops
by multimob — written on 2023-03-02
A golden rule in OSM is to try not to modify the same objects too many times. Too many changes make it harder to review the history of changes, not to mention database size bloat.
Something (not so) funny happened for TEC bus routes and TEC bus stops.
Why need a single network when you can have six of them?
TEC is the public bus operator in Wallonia. They split their network into 6 operating districts: Charleroi, Liège, Brabant-Wallon, Hainaut, Namur and Luxembourg.
In OSM, we have operator=TEC but there are 6 possible values for the network tag: TECB, TECC, TECH, TECL, TECN, TECX.
The problem
Some apps are unaware of those 6 values and will automatically assume that TECC is just a typing error when the user meant TEC. They will gracefully offer to "fix the bad tag".
The iD editor has this problem. If you click on a bus stop, you will be presented with a suggestion to "fix" the map. Mappers who are unaware of how PT networks are mapped will be quite happy to "help" the community. After all, "the system" so gently offered this possibility.
The consequence is that the network tag will be reset to TEC. This is not correct. But if we change it back, the object's version get incremented, it's one more version to populate the history. And the next day, a new mapper comes in and is asked to apply the "fix" again. This is a never-ending game.
How do we solve this?
This is a real mystery, it would require investigating the code for iD and how it works. And maybe other QA apps.
March 2024 update: the problem is reported to be solved by now. It was caused by a package called "name-suggestion-index", which contain a list of brands and wikidata tags. The iD editor feeds on this index to suggest fixes. It turned out that templates for TEC were either missing or incorrect, and that explains why it broke. So probably some hope by now.
Permalink: https://blog.multimob.be/zzeid5eth3.htm