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

The Xinjiang re-education camps (also called Concentration Camps) camps have been in the news for the last few years, with recent news regarding their scale, processing over one million people a year.

The centres must be big enough to show up in the satellite imagery we use. They are generally secret locations, but it seems that mapping them could be useful for people doing research on the bases. From the imagery we'd be limited to roads, buildings, and (probably) walls. I'm wondering if there are other things visible in the imagery that would be useful to identify these centres, that we could keep our eyes open for. Are there tags that would be useful to add to suspected re-education camps?

asked 19 Sep '20, 04:48

keithonearth's gravatar image

keithonearth
2.9k5676108
accept rate: 13%


I would strongly suggest to stick to verifiable information - if not on the ground (hopefully not!) then verifiable by aerial imagery. Map walls and fences and gates when you see them, but don't use OSM to record your suspicions.

What you could do is write a piece of software that processes OSM data and then, based on known facts about these camps, makes guesses: "OK there's a cluster of large buildings here and a lot of fencing so maybe if you're a researcher you want to look at this area". OSM could then limit itself to recording facts, and the external software could interpret these facts without adding its guesses back to OSM...

permanent link

answered 19 Sep '20, 12:08

Frederik%20Ramm's gravatar image

Frederik Ramm ♦
82.5k927201273
accept rate: 23%

I'd say sticking with verifiable information is more than a wise suggestion, it's a requirement. But we can choose what to map based on what interests us and/or what we think is useful, and I was thinking that mapping these camps might be useful. So I am looking for advice on how to make reasonable guesses at identifying areas to map. And what features to map in them.

(23 Sep '20, 22:27) keithonearth

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

  • *italic* or _italic_
  • **bold** or __bold__
  • link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
  • image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
  • numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
  • to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
  • basic HTML tags are also supported

Question tags:

×85
×15
×1

question asked: 19 Sep '20, 04:48

question was seen: 1,499 times

last updated: 23 Sep '20, 22:27

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