Possible merge of marine_rescue & lifeboat_station tags?

General talk Tagging general discussion
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Some I ago, I raised a proposal for Marine Rescue stations: Proposed features/Marine rescue - OpenStreetMap Wiki. After a few weeks, I returned it to draft status, pending the resolution of the Military Bases proposal which was also going through at that time, but despite that, it’s now in use ~250 times!

One of the concerns that were raised at the time was the existence of two other, similar tags: emergency=lifeboat_station Tag:emergency=lifeboat_station - OpenStreetMap Wiki & also amenity=lifeboat_station https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:amenity%3Dlifeboat_station, both of which were created by the same mapper on the same day, & neither of which were apparently ever discussed?

These two tags have been used a similar number of times (400 – 450), but when I’ve looked at a number of them at random, both tags have been used together on a lot of locations e.g Way: ‪Harwich Lifeboat Station‬ (‪260096274‬) | OpenStreetMap, Way: ‪Walton and Frinton Lifeboat Station‬ (‪894864797‬) | OpenStreetMap, & Way: ‪West Mersea Lifeboat Station‬ (‪444884651‬) | OpenStreetMap.

It would seem somewhat ridiculous to have three virtually identical tags describing the same thing, so I am suggesting that they all be consolidated into one tag, with the other two being deprecated.

Before proceeding with that discussion though, is there any reason to tag something as both an amenity= & also emergency=?

Also raised on Tagging list for discussion.

1 Like
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Carrying on from discussions on the Tagging list, another question.

Looking at some of the “inland” examples shown on OT, I wonder if they should actually be tagged as a “lifeboat-station” at all, or whether they would be better shown as a lifeguard base?

Examples, with some websites included:

Way: ‪Wasserwacht Wörthsee‬ (‪299123258‬) | OpenStreetMap + https://www.wasserwacht-woerthsee.de/

Node: ‪Wasserrettung Oberwallis‬ (‪9151311469‬) | OpenStreetMap + https://www.slrgo.ch/

Some fire stations, that possibly also carry out on-water rescues? Should they also be tagged as “water” rescue, or just as a fire station?

In regard of use of boats for rescue purposes, Inflatable rescue boat - Wikipedia & https://sls.com.au/role/jet-rescue-boat-crew/ both relate to rescue boats that are primarily used by lifeguards for rescuing swimmers in distress. The fact that they have a boat, does not make them a marine-rescue unit, as they are intended for work close to the beach only, not in blue water.

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Discussions continuing on Tagging, & it’s looking like emergency=lifeboat will be the way to go.

So another question!

In a number of places e.g. overpass turbo the Rescue unit has two buildings - an admin base / radio room / lookout tower, usually overlooking the river mouth, together with a boatshed a bit further upriver e.g. Way: ‪Marine Rescue Port Macquarie Radio Base (SARCC)‬ (‪244664674‬) | OpenStreetMap & Way: ‪Marine Rescue Port Macquarie‬ (‪939551533‬) | OpenStreetMap.

I would use the same emergency tag on both of them - would we all agree that that would be correct?

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As emergency=lifeboat_station seems like it may be the most popular option, I have now added details to the previously virtually blank page: Tag:emergency=lifeboat_station - OpenStreetMap Wiki

All opinions / comments welcome!

So, if we proceed with this option, the opposing tags, https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:amenity%3Dlifeboat_station, https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:emergency%3Dmarine_rescue (together with a couple of other undocumented options) should be marked as deprecated.

Do we need a full Proposal to deprecate them, or can it just be done?

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How far should use of this tag extend?

Should Way: ‪H.M. Coastguard‬ (‪63985402‬) | OpenStreetMap be a lifeboat_station? No, it certainly doesn’t have a lifeboat of it’s own, but it is responsible for coordinating & controlling Rescue activities for the English Channel & a lot of SE England.

Currently dual-tagged as amenity=coastguard + emergency_service=water (which doesn’t even have a page, despite ~250 uses, & on checking, a lot of these uses seem like they should be =lifeguard).

If not lifeboat, what would be a good tag for a Coastguard radio / control base?

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RFC - Proposal now raised: RFC - Proposed features/emergency=lifeboat station

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Are there any further comments that anybody would like to raise?

To sum-up, proposal is to:

Approve emergency=lifeboat_station

Deprecate emergency=marine_rescue & merge it’s usages into =lifeboat_station

Deprecate amenity= lifeboat_station & merge it’s usages into emergency=lifeboat_station

Remove incorrect tagging of amenity=lifeboat, currently being used to show the location that lifeboats are moored at.

If there’s nothing further, then I’ll move it to voting over the next few days.

Thanks

Graeme

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I’ve made a minor change to the format of the possible tags to include.

If there are no more comments, I’ll move to voting in the next day or two.

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No further comments or discussion so moved to voting: Proposed features/emergency=lifeboat station - OpenStreetMap Wiki

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Other issues raised after than, so voting cancelled & returned to discussion.

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With Christmas over, I thought it must be time to revisit Proposed features/emergency=lifeboat station - OpenStreetMap Wiki!

Just prior to Christmas, I had suggested, following various suggestions, that this proposal could be changed to become emergency=water_rescue, but leave emergency=lifeguard untouched. (Helicopter rescue would also be the subject of a further proposal)

Could I please ask for your feedback on the basic idea?

If acceptable, I will re-write the proposal & re-submit it for further RFC.

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Proposal redone: Proposed features/emergency=water rescue - OpenStreetMap Wiki

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If there are no further comments, I’ll also move this to voting in a few days

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Voting is now open

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Voting has been very positive so far!

It’s still open for another week if you’d like to please add your vote.

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Today’s the last day for voting!

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Proposal has been approved with 20 yes, 3 no, 0 abstentions, so thank you everybody.

Will sort the pages out over the next few days.