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I'm programming an interface which allow to draw path fo drones. But I need to know if there are buildings(and infos like height) on the drone's path. Even an estimation would be fine for me.

I'm wondering how this website estimate the building height without infos like building:levels https://osmbuildings.org/?lat=48.13475&lon=-1.63061&zoom=19&rotation=0&tilt=30

Thank you

asked 17 Aug '17, 18:50

naxos222's gravatar image

naxos222
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accept rate: 0%

edited 17 Aug '17, 19:47


Perhaps someone with more knowledge about OSM Buildings' implementation can add some information here, but 3D renderers often use the same default height for all buildings without height or building:levels tags (perhaps with some random variation thrown in). And from the looks of it, OSM Buildings is no different in that regard.

If you want to go down that road, one resource that you could use to guess heights is the value of the building key. While most buildings use yes as the building value, quite a few have more detailed tagging. When estimating heights, an apartments building is probably taller than a shed or garages building. There are other tags that might be found on buildings, such as shop, amenity or even man_made=tower – all of which allow some refining of your initial estimates.

Ultimately, though, I doubt that you can produce sufficiently reliable estimates on that basis. Keep in mind that, even though these tags are a lot more common than level counts or height measurements, they are still only available for a minority of buildings. And even where they exist, there are exceptions for all assumptions one might make about "normal" heights for a particular building category.

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answered 17 Aug '17, 19:30

Tordanik's gravatar image

Tordanik
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accept rate: 35%

Not to mention that we may not "even" have the building outlines at all (while OSM probably has the best building coverage of all map data providers on a global scale, it is still very patchy).

(17 Aug '17, 20:46) SimonPoole ♦

Naxos222, please remember to use the old boy-scouts trick, measure the building with a pencil at the length of your arm on its base and the height. And use that to determine the height of the building. There's one problem you’ll have to make a local survey. Or choose to count the levels and estimate the height of a level as well.

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answered 17 Aug '17, 22:37

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Hendrikklaas
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accept rate: 5%

4

Unless I'm mistaken, naxos222 is asking about extracting and/or extrapolating height information from the existing data, not measuring the height to add to the data.

(17 Aug '17, 23:58) alester

alester yes, its possible using programmes to build up the elevation, but its special and priceless. Needless to say, that I don’t expect any mapper to have that that kind of tools or even the right valuable views to use with the program, images up to 5 cm in detail. A mapper should use what’s legal possible and available during a survey, is n't it ? Although this is not a platform for reply’s I recon you should get one anyway.

(18 Aug '17, 00:30) Hendrikklaas
2

Hendrikklaas, the OP is asking as a data consumer, not as a mapper. He is not asking for tools nor methods to use during survey. Actually, he is asking to make up data that is not there. Data that current 3D engines seems to make up randomly, so completely useless for his purposes.

(18 Aug '17, 04:10) escada
2

Hendrikklass, Alester and Escada are right but thank you for reply anyway

(18 Aug '17, 10:48) naxos222
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question asked: 17 Aug '17, 18:50

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last updated: 18 Aug '17, 10:48

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