As I have been working on the Oceania Australis Map Style with @kurisubrooks , in the process we’ve identified some inconsistencies in how public transport is tagged across Victoria that we’d like to address with the help of @Ethan_Grobin.
Background
While reviewing PT tagging for the map style, we noticed Victoria’s network tagging is significantly inconsistent compared to other states (particularly NSW). Additionally, with the recent rebranding of Public Transport Victoria (PTV) to Transport Victoria, now seems like an appropriate time to standardise these tags.
Proposed Changes
We’re planning to systematically update Victoria’s PT infrastructure to:
Update network branding: Change network=* tags from “Public Transport Victoria” / “PTV” to follow the format <department/brand> - <sector> (e.g., “Transport Victoria - Buses”, “Transport Victoria - Regional Trains”) to reflect the official rebrand
Add network:wikidata tags: Ensure all PT stops and stations have consistent network:wikidata=* tags pointing to the appropriate Wikidata entity
Standardise tag application: Make sure all stops/stations within each network have matching network tags (currently there’s quite a bit of variation)
The goal is to bring Victoria’s PT tagging up to the same standard we’ve achieved in NSW, which will improve data quality and consistency for renderers, routing engines, and other data consumers.
Wider Context
This is part of a broader effort - we anticipate similar work will be needed in QLD, SA, TAS, and WA as we incorporate their respective PT branding into the map style.
Seeking Input
Before we proceed with bulk edits:
Are there any objections or concerns about this approach?
Are there tagging conventions we should be aware of?
Any suggestions for improvement?
We’ll be following with proper changesets with clear descriptions, and we are happy to discuss the approach before making changes.
I’m not posting tags twice - the dashes are different, the wiki editors got fancy and used long dashes you cannot type and both got used. I will only use normal dashes - these ones
Most likely i’ll update the stops with existing outdated network tagging first, then typos, then move onto stops without network tags. I’ll probably do buses first.
I have added the network tags to all ferries except the one to tassie (not sure if it should have the vic tag or not) in Changeset: 177471642 | OpenStreetMap
yep, in Australia there are 49 standardised network tags for public transport, including the ones discussed here.
In general, if you’re planning to replace a widely used tag, taginfo has a “Projects” tab which shows you a list of data consumers that rely on this tag. In this case, only NSI.
For the time being, all transport infrastructure which is in the Transport Victoria network, will be tagged with network=Transport Victoria and network:wikidata=Q7257648. Wikipedia tags will be removed.