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At n31641025 two ways branch out southwards:

  1. w376216775 is a coastline-hugging state boundary (level 4) that's not marked natural=coastline.
  2. w22744974 is a coastline that is not marked as a boundary.

I'm guessing the two should be merged, but I just want to confirm it first.

image of coastline vs state boundary

asked 10 Jul '18, 01:01

Jem's gravatar image

Jem
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accept rate: 0%

edited 10 Jul '18, 12:12

I don't think you should merge them. Coastlines erode and build up. I guess fishery limits and international waters are agreed in law. A situation occurs with rivers that move over time, the outside of curves erode and the insides collect sediment. Town or countries borders are often set on the middle of the river, these lines may have been documented and fixed there. Best not to align them unless you know the legal position. Please excuse pun.

(10 Jul '18, 10:28) andy mackey

It is always good to include a screenshot in situations like this, because by the time the next person looks at the map, it might have already changed.

In your particular situation you have to find out whether the boundary of Mexico is defined independently of the coastline (e.g. there is an "official" data set that says "the boundary has this geometry") or defined by the coastline. The latter is likely but not a given.

A similar situation often occurs with boundaries of higher admin levels - they may be almost identical to a road or river, and then one needs to find out whether the boundary is defined independently of the feature, or by the feature. Both are common.

permanent link

answered 10 Jul '18, 06:57

Frederik%20Ramm's gravatar image

Frederik Ramm ♦
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accept rate: 23%

Thank you. My concern is that there isn't enough information here to tell whether a given administrative way is on a coastline or not. When I parse the OSM data, I can't filter it out. Is there a tag that would be appropriate on the admin way to mark it as a coastline border?

(10 Jul '18, 12:15) Jem
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question asked: 10 Jul '18, 01:01

question was seen: 1,674 times

last updated: 10 Jul '18, 12:16

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum