Which Bus? Such bus.

 

It started innocently when I noticed a local transit shelter had been moved to the other side of the highway but that wasn't showing up in Open Street Maps. When I looked deeper, I found OSM had 1 shelter and 3 bus stop like nodes where the bus formerly stopped.

Because I was inexperienced at using OSM for public transport routing as opposed to vehicle directions, I knew I should be careful making edits less valid data or relationships be lost or confusing to others.

It later dawned on me that this wasn't 1 stop being removed, or moved, it was 2 stops replaced by one nearby. So I chose to delete the 3 bogons, and move the leftover down the road. I think I did it right and am waiting for various map sites to get these updates and see how they look.

But like pulling a loose thread that turns into an unravel-fest, I found more "errors and omissions" on other stops beyond where I started. Primary bugs:

• Same bus stop ID number on 2 or more nodes. Should not happen.
• Some stops had a route identifier; some did not.
• Some stops had links/routes showing line numbers/names; some did not.
• Nodes were classified as "bus" "bus stop" "bus station" willy-nilly
• Multiple routes at one stop were mis-keyed as unseparated values
• A new route is not on the map; does it exist?

Whispering Woods transit stop, in the area now known as Hopkins Point.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/6231632789

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/6248418514

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/6248418630

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/6231632792

Bus stops seem duped.

Insert oops here

@neatnit@fosstodon.org Thank you for the guidance. Seems redundant stops were added by different people over time, and I was uncertain best approach. This stop was moved to the other side of the highway, so passengers go east one stop to a loop, then go west.

[out:json][timeout:25];

// gather results

/*

community.openstreetmap.org/t/overpass-queries-finding-duplicate-values/121436/6

*/

node["highway"="bus_stop"]["ref"]({{bbox}});

for(t["ref"]) {

  if(count(nodes) > 1) {

    out tags center;

  }

}

// print results

out geom;

fix check:

https://overpass-api.de/api/sketch-line?network=BaltimoreLink&ref=59&operator=

The above is one view of the metro bus routes, showing the phantom (new) route #40.

It's ARCGIS, with Maryland State as the client/portal.

Another view:

Also ESRI-based, but with a more useful diagram of the route *and* stops. And termini.

https://www.mta.maryland.gov/schedule/stops/40

The MTA has a not-quite-current list of all bus stops, from a non-GUI menu path:

https://geodata.md.gov/imap/rest/services/Transportation/MD_Transit/FeatureServer/9/query

Simple-enough query-by-example fill-in-the boxes:

SELECT

stop_id, stop_name, Routes_Served, shelter

WHERE 

stop_id is NOT NULL

which returns columnar date in separate rows, plus coordinates.

e.g.

stop_name: OLD EASTERN AVE & SELIG AVE fs eb
Routes_Served: OR, 59, 62
Shelter: No
stop_id: 4522
Point:
X: -8511670.83
Y: 4766621.937700003

stop_name: OLD EASTERN AVE & ESSEX AVE eb
Routes_Served: OR, 59, 62, 160
Shelter: No
stop_id: 4524
Point:
X: -8511141.9511
Y: 4766737.762000002

(raw:)

/stop_name: / EASTERN BLVD & VIRGINIA AVE eb

/Routes_Served: / OR, 59, 62, 160

/Shelter: / No

/stop_id: / 7597

/Point:/

/X: / -8514337.1545

/Y: / 4765238.0484

The coordinate reference system I found worked with QGIS is "ESRI meters", also known as:

PROJCRS["WGS_1984_Web_Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere",
    ID["ESRI",102100]]

I used the findings of the duplicate stop search to check location and routes, as well as naming standards (which someone took care of 99.4% not too many years ago).

The zip-ties are an indicator of datum freshness. Broken signboard likewise.

Next steps:

• Add the missing 40 bus to OpenStreetMaps as a blank spot on the canvas.
• Find duplicate stops by checking how close together they are, that aren't headed in opposite directions.
• Figure out what to do about the majority of missing routes (as relations) for nodes.
• Other errors and omissions as they appear, i.e. quality assurance.
• Share timetable/schedule/interval info. See: chaos.social/@jspath55/114659131418285869
• Compare recorded comfort features (benches/shelters) with ground conditions.