OpenStreetMap
Why no default frequency for powerlines?
Vum Obelixx matgedeelt de(n) 1. Februar 2012 op German (Deutsch).Why is the frequency value for a new powerline not set by default 50 Hertz for lines in Europe and 60 Hertz for lines in North America? As nearly all lines have this value, it would make sense and the exceptions could be set manually.
Diskussioun
Bemierkung vum Etherg8 de(n) 1. Februar 2012 um 15:53 Auer
Things aren't that simple everywhere. Electricity transmission in Japan is divided for historical reasons into two regions each running at a different frequency. Eastern Japan runs at 50 Hz, while Western Japan runs at 60 Hz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_in_Japan#Transmission
Bemierkung vum Sanderd17 de(n) 1. Februar 2012 um 16:20 Auer
As app, you can implement it that way when it's not tagged.
I don't see the problem here.
Bemierkung vum Obelixx de(n) 1. Februar 2012 um 17:22 Auer
Japan is one of the few countries for which this tool is not applicable, but for most countries, it would work well.
Bemierkung vum Andy Allan de(n) 2. Februar 2012 um 09:05 Auer
OpenStreetMap generally has the concept of "default" values, to save everyone time and effort. One example would be that if there's no oneway tag on a road, it's assumed to be two-way.
You can take the same approach to frequencies on powerlines. Perhaps life is too short to worry about tagging every powerline in Europe with the frequency - simply tag the (presumably very few) examples where this is not the case. As Sanderd17 said, when people use the data they can set sensible interpretations for when the frequency tag is missing.