I have recently been working on the city of Känton, http://opengeofiction.net/#map=12/52.1208/111.0096 and a few issues have sprung up which are related to more general mapping practices. Känton is a small city founded in the late medieval period which is an important academic, scientific, religious and tourist centre as well as being an increasingly important business hub. The city is turning out more British than I’d originally planned it, being based on Oxford, Durham, Bristol and Bath but with a bit of Hanover too. It is far from complete yet of course.
Firstly, what exactly is defined as a suburb as opposed to a locality or neighbourhood? I have been given every village-sized area between main roads a suburb names, because it’s likely they would have been villages before the city expanded.
Secondly, can I show the suburban railway line out to the airport as under construction? The airport has only been expanding recently and the line is not completed yet. Are the stations too close together? The line running north to the west of the city will probably go into a tunnel for a good part of its route.
Is the river bifurcation accurate? I have the Majos and the Camin both split shortly before they meet - would this really happen? Is the way the channels have been straightened realistic?
Are the streets an accurate block size for a fourteenth- to eighteenth-century city centre? Am I putting the split carriageways of roads far enough apart?
Should I give the city a tramway network? It already has buses and an S-Raud (suburban railway) and is quite hilly with heritage streets that residents would object to having overhead wires on. On the other hand, Karolians like trams, congestion is a problem, the railways do not really serve the city centre and the city council is affluent enough to afford more public transport.
Comment from Yuanls on 24 March 2016 at 19:51
I tag most residental areas as residential, with each ‘sector’ a similar area or population size. Decton is a good example of this. As a result, I don’t really use other residential tags.
Normally I don’t think you would need a railway link for the airport, as neither Cambridge, Oxford or any similar sized English city I know of have a sizable airport. The stations are probably fine as they stand.
I’m not very good with water features, but I think your river might split too much. Some places, like Gloucester or Tewkesbury share similar qualities to yours, but I think yours might be a bit too extensive.
The scaling is fine. The widths of carriageways is ok and the size of your blocks is fine too.
Personally, I don’t think the city needs a tram network. You’re city is the same size as Oxford or Cambridge, and neither of those have tram systems. Of course, if congestion is a problem, have trams, by all means.
Comment from Myrcia on 24 March 2016 at 20:43
I really enjoyed looking at this city. I think the influence of English towns is clear and well-played. I particularly like the castle, university and cathedral (very Durham!).
In terms of transport I think it depends a lot on your nation. The temptation with OGF is to go over-the-top with public transit without thinking about realistic conditions. If Kanton was in England then there would definitely be no trams and even the suburban railways wouldn’t be as extensive. The regional airport would be more realistically served by a bus link from a nearby station or the city centre. However, this is an alternate universe so there’s no need to be rigidly British. Most British cities used to have extensive tram systems and I’ve retained that in Myrcian cities like Dunwic because there’s traditionally been a very left-wing socialist government which provided greater emphasis on public transport.
Great work, I’m looking forward to seeing how Kanton develops.
Comment from histor on 24 March 2016 at 22:08
Looks good your dome and the castle. The blocks may be a little bit too small - but o.k. Your rivers with the islands are realistic. Let them so. It shows, that the area is relative flat.
Your railway has a lot of stations. so that it works like an S-Bahn. 1 km therefore is a good gap between the stations in the urban area - so as you draw it. I think, the town is too small for a metro-net, but some streetcar-lines may be helpful.
At a line under construction I set the tags [railway=construction] and [construction=subway or streetcar] - then you get an other rendering. Can be made also for streets with [highway=construction] and [construction=category of highway]
You made all the area of the town grey with “residential”? I only set this tag inside the blocks. Then you have a free white room for streetcars beneath the street. If you draw the streetcar with two rails (looks better), then yuo can draw it direct along the street - not in the street. At zoom 18 I let a gap of 1/2 mm on the screen. See [http://opengeofiction.net/#map=18/-13.51231/39.65930]
For me a neighborhood is a part of a suburb and only a geographis or historic name. Only the suburbs of a city have boundaries in admin-level = 8 and are administrative units. But sure you can handle it, as you want.
Comment from histor on 24 March 2016 at 22:21
@ YuanIs - and where in Tewkesbury now are marked the “bloody meadow”, where Edward IV won his battle? At the camping place? As I visit the place around 1970, I remenber there a memorial.
Comment from histor on 24 March 2016 at 22:31
to the streets - the “Rantaa”-street is broad only 10 m. I think, that is too small. Two lanes each direction = 12 m, two parking lanes, each 2 m = 4 m are 16 m. The middle gap 4 m, if you will have trees - then you came to 20 m.
If there shall run a streetcar in the middle, you need a gap of 3,00 m plus 2,50 for the car at left and right and 2* 0,5 , for the pillars for the overhead-wire - makes 6,50 m minimum.
Comment from Sarepava on 24 March 2016 at 23:28
I should add that despite the British influence, Karolia is very definitely not Britain, and Känton is definitely not Oxford (although I’d love to see the cosy conservatives of the Thames valley meet the harsh winters, agglutinating verbs and 60% top tax rate of central Uletha).
I think I won’t put tramways in this city, considering all the advice above.
Comment from clik on 25 March 2016 at 17:25
I think any city above 100 000 inhabitants can definitely have a tramway. It depends on the country and the density on population. In central european cities, there are many many tramways.
The steet grid size is not an issue. Blocks can be as small as 20m wide (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/36.92819/14.72412), it’s part of the atmosphere given to every region and country.
