User:HiperGuiri/Drafts/Pyrenees Mountain Huts

Project Background

Refugi Airoto-Gracia in Catalunya on a snowy morning

One of the most wonderful and special things about the Pyrenees mountain range are the hundreds of wilderness and alpine huts built for people to sleep in case of emergency or to enjoy a night in the wilderness.

Many of these huts exist as elements in OSM but after a few months hiking around in the Pyrenees it became clear that much of the metadata that exists for these huts is missing or incomplete.

After some research on the current state of the tags and users involved in the editing (see Appendix A&B), this project was created to codify a set of standard "Excellent" tags which our community should strive to have set for each hut, in pursuit of better data quality for all.

What is the point of this project?

The point of this project is to improve the quality of Pyrenees hiking data and to unite the various communities (OSM-ES, OSM-FR, OSM-CA) along the mountain range to collaborate together in pursuit of better data quality for all.

This is not a tagging proposal. It is a guide on how to *excellently* tag huts in the Pyrenees, which is to be discussed, proposed, and agreed upon by members of the relevant communities.

This is a guide based upon community input. This draft guide was created in order for people to have opinions about it and to spark a community discussion, not because it's anyone's idea of how it should be done. Together we can create a hut metadata schema that will describe Pyrenees mountain huts the best they can be.

This is nothing new. The vast majority of tags suggested as required or optional were ones already being used by the community (see Appendix B), and this guide is mostly just a summary of the consensus that already existed in the wild. The only new tags are under the wilderness_hut section "New Proposed Tags".

Why not use refuges.info or pyrenees-refuges.com?

For those who don't know, both of these websites are databases which have much of the same information about Pyrenees huts as exists in OSM. However, having information in either of these sites is not as ideal as OpenStreetMap for some reasons:

1. Both of these websites are only available in French and are not easily accessible. By setting the metadata as OSM tags we enable internationalization of hut metadata on websites and mobile apps.
2. Hut data in OSM is already consumed by a large number of offline maps apps (Organic Maps, OsmAnd, ...) without having to download or import an external KML file.
3. OSM has a much larger userbase than either of these websites in order to help maintain and update the hut data, and also to set check_date whenever the hut is visited in person.
4. If the project is successful and the community is motivated, we can certainly set ref=*'s for the huts to link to either of these websites so the database items can be related to one another. Many wilderness_hut's already have website=* set to their page on one of these sites.
5. If you're reading this, you're probably already a huge fan of OSM. We want this data in OSM because we love OSM.

This project isn't meant as a replacement for either of these websites though the projects have much the same goal.

Project Stages

The proposed stages of this project are as follows:

1. Initial Consultation: Send out initial project ideas to a few select members of the community for their feedback; revise based upon their advice
2. Public Comment: Once the project idea is revised and solidified, inform the general public of each community to receive feedback. Revise based upon community discussions.
3. Vote: If and when an idea of excellent Pyrenees hut tagging is solidified, a vote is held in order to gauge whether the proposal is truly ready to be codified.
4. Codification: If the vote is successful, the guide will be translated into Español, Francais, and Catalan and added to OSM Wiki WikiProjects

How to provide feedback

1. Make an edit on the talk page for this wiki article
2. Join the OSM Long Distance Hiking Club Telegram group

Excellent tourism=wilderness_hut tagging

Refugi Cinquantenari in Catalunya, operated by Unió Excursionista de Catalunya (UEC)

Interior of a typical wilderness_hut operated by Andorran Government (Refugi Prat Primer)

Required Tags
	key	value	description
R	access	permissive	Implied with wilderness_hut but good to set anyways
R	capacity	#	Number of people intended to fit
R	drinking_water	yes / no	Is there a water source nearby the hut?
R	fee	no	Implied with wilderness_hut but good to set anyways
R	fireplace	yes / no	Hut has fireplace?
R	mattress	yes / no	Hut has mattresses?
R	name	*	Name of hut as it is referred to locally
R	opening_hours	24/7 / *	Is hut open for public year round? Or only seasonally
R	reservation	no	Implied with wilderness_hut but good to set anyways
R	shower	yes / no	Hut has shower?
R	toilets	yes / no	Hut has toilets nearby?
Optional Tags
	key	value	description
O	building:material	*	Building material of hut
O	check_date	YYYY-MM-DD	When information was last verified by survey
O	description	*	Additional information not covered by other keys
O	ele	#	Elevation in meters
O	name:*	*	Only set if name:*= differs from name=
O	operator	no / *	Organization who maintains the hut
O	operator:wikidata	*	Organization who maintains the hut
O	roof:material	*	Material of hut roof
O	start_date	YYYY	Year hut was built
O	wikidata	*	Wikidata of hut
O	wikipedia	*	Wikipedia of hut
New Proposed Tags
	key	value	description
O	capacity:maximum	#	Maximum capacity of people to sleep in the hut
R	cookware	yes / no	Does hut contain pots / pans for cooking?
R	emergency_beacon	yes / no	Hut has emergency SOS beacon?
R	first_aid_kit	yes / no	Hut has first aid kit?
R	seats	yes / no	Hut has chairs / bench?
R	table	yes / no	Hut has table?
R	woodstove	yes / no	Hut has woodstove?

Excellent tourism=alpine_hut tagging

Refugio d'Estós in Spain with hot water & showers, operated by Federación Aragonesa de Montañismo

Refugi de Malniu in Spain

Required Tags
	key	value	description
R	beds	#	Number of beds available to clients
R	ele	#	Elevation
R	fee	yes	Implied with alpine_hut but good to set anyways
R	internet_access	wlan / no	Is there wifi?
R	name	*	Name of alpine_hut
R	opening_hours	*	Season of operation (eg May - Sep)
R	operator	*	Name of operator
R	operator:wikidata	*	Wikidata of operator
R	payment:cards	yes / no	Are credit cards accepted as payment?
R	payment:cash	yes / no	Is cash accepted as payment?
R	phone	*	Phone Number
R	reservation	no	Reservations not accepted
		recommended	Reservations recommended
		required	Reservation required
R	shower	yes / no	Does hut have showers?
R	website	*	Website
Optional Tags
	key	value	description
O	check_date	*	When information was last verified by survey
O	email	*	Contact email address
O	internet_access:fee	yes / no	If there is a fee for internet access
O	name:*	*	Name of alpine_hut if it differs from name=*
O	start_date	YYYY	Year hut was built
O	wikidata	*	Wikidata ID
O	wikipedia	*	Wikipedia article

Pyrenees Alpine Hut Networks

Most of the alpine_hut's in the Pyrenees are operated by a few large organizations. Each of the alpine_hut's that are managed by these organizations should have the organization name tagged under operator=* as well as the corresponding operator:wikidata=*

Often times these operators have a reference number for each hut (as in the FEEC poster above). In this case, set the reference number as the value of the ref:* key which corresponds to the organization in the table below.

Pyrenees Alpine Hut Operators
country	organization	wikidata	ref
Spain	Federació d'Entitats Excursionistes de Catalunya	Q11921686	ref:FEEC
Spain	Federación Aragonesa de Montañismo	none	ref:FAM
France	Fédération Française des Clubs Alpins et de Montagne	Q795271	ref:FFCAM
Andorra	Ministeri de Medi Ambient, Agricultura i Sostenibilitat d'Andorra	Q65211284	ref

Unresolved Issues

Below is a list of tagging conundrums that remain unsolved and would be grateful for any community input on how best to handle.

Here I put forth my opinions and look forward to some discussion.

Usage of tourism=wilderness_hut vs amenity=shelter

Refugi Mont-Roig in Catalunya is an insulated hut with mattresses, pillows, blankets, table, chairs, first aid kit, SOS beacon, ...but no fireplace. The wiki says no, but anyone you ask in the Pyrenees and they will tell you... this is a wilderness_hut.

Human built structures providing shelter exist in many different forms around the Pyrenees. From a simple wooden roof to an ancient shepherd's hut, to free mountain huts built for tourists, to staffed refuges with showers and wifi, here you can find it all.

In the data, we make the distinction between three levels of shelters:

• Less Amenities: amenity=shelter
• Amenities: tourism=wilderness_hut
• Most Amenities: tourism=alpine_hut

These tags and their values are detailed extensively in the wiki and explain quite well the differences, except for one thing. In the wiki article (in en/es/fr), it mentions ambiguously that a wilderness_hut is "with generally a fireplace" while also saying "fireplace or stove for cooking and heating" is required.

In the context of the Pyrenees, there are many wilderness_hut's which are very well equipped and insulated from the weather outside, but do not have fireplaces. We should explicitly qualify such structures as wilderness_hut.

Dealing with alpine_hut which have a wilderness_hut room open in winter

Refugi de Vallferrera in Catalunya is a guarded alpine_hut which is closed during the winter but part of the building (highlighted) stays open as a wilderness_hut during those months.

Many alpine_hut's which are guarded refuges in warmer months keep a small section of the hut open in winter in case of emergency. Usually the wilderness_hut section is only open while the alpine_hut section is closed.

Looking at the existing data for Pyrenees alpine_huts (see Appendix 2), around 16% of alpine_hut's have a winter_room tag which I assume to be the way to tag an alpine_hut as having one of these rooms.

This approach, however, is not ideal. In particular, the characteristics of the hut section open in summer are different than the part open in winter, and so they ought to be two separate elements in the database.

The better solution is to specify two elements, one alpine_hut and one wilderness_hut, and set the opening_hours=* to be the inverse of one another. opening_hours tag is widely used on mobile apps and will render a difference when a hut is closed or not.

What is the meaning of capacity?

How many hikers can you fit into this hut? Depends how many show up. At this wilderness_hut (Cabana de l'Estany Forcat in Andorra), there are 6 beds but 8 mattresses and you could surely fit 12 people if need be.

Depending on the circumstances, wilderness_hut's can often fit far more people than may have been originally intended. Being that hikers often bring a mattress and sleeping bag, any flat floor or table space can readily be converted to a place to sleep if need be.

So, for wilderness_hut's, capacity is not fixed; it is a range. How do we specify this range in OSM? We must have two tags, one which can specify the *intended* capacity, and one which specifies the *maximum* capacity

Two ideas:

• (1) capacity=* and capacity:maximum=*
• (2) beds=* and capacity=*

beds=* is already in use on 2% of wilderness_hut's while capacity=* is set on 59%. My preference is (1) as capacity=* is in use far more than beds=* and is supported by a number of data consumers.

Other Issues

What does stove=* mean?

59% of wilderness_hut's have a stove=* tag, but what does this mean? Does it mean the hut has a woodstove for heating? Or that it has a fireplace with a grill to cook over?

How to tag wilderness_hut's which are known to have no operator?

Many wilderness_hut's in the Pyrenees are not formally serviced or operated on. How to we specify this in the data? operator=no?

How to specify water source type for a shelter?

Sometimes it is a nearby body of water, running stream, or comes out of a pipe near the hut. drinking_water=yes & drinking_water:source=*?

Appendices

All statistics in appendices are dated 2021-09-08

Appendix A: Top OSM Editors of tourism~wilderness_hut|alpine_hut in Pyrenees

"#" is the number of individual edits made to hut elements, not number of changesets

user	#	user	#	user	#	user	#	user	#
Hervé TUC	438	sanchi	32	Jacopo Street Strada	15	mont1	12	Ones32	9
EliziR	138	Jose_3es	29	Toni Serra	14	janes	12	Hartz Beltza	8
mDav	81	caminaspe	28	Balaïtous	14	Alaia	12	airv	8
jabali	78	Chouloute	25	MickyCarbonell	14	Uranzu	11	toliao	8
Seraq	73	CalvinL	25	DGerveno	14	prezz	11	Vinber-Pro	7
petrovsk	59	Zweispitz	19	RedFox	14	gregoiredelattre	11	ramonz	7
fermi_t	50	jmaspons	18	b-jazz-bot	13	alejandroscf	10	pyrenours	7
GumerGP	47	Emilio Gomez	17	ManelG	13	pitort	10	2-wheels	7
dalop	42	Gil d'Asprer	16	orhygine	13	JFKimports	10	Juan Carlos G F	7
ansuta	36	jean-ray2	16	Emeric	13	Pankyo	9	Arestabrucs	7

Appendix B: Top 50 Tags

wilderness_hut				alpine_hut
key	#	%		key	#	%
tourism	470	100		tourism	209	100
name	432	92		name	200	96
building	350	74		building	131	63
fireplace	312	66		ele	130	62
ele	300	64		phone	122	58
website	293	62		website	120	57
capacity	278	59		capacity	84	40
stove	278	59		email	72	34
description	234	50		operator	69	33
source	184	39		wikidata	68	33
note	169	36		wikipedia	60	29
operator	53	11		source	44	21
description:fr	43	9		description	34	16
amenity	39	8		winter_room	34	16
fee	33	7		note	26	12
name:fr	32	7		beds	25	12
wikidata	32	7		fee	24	11
wikipedia	31	7		internet_access	23	11
alt_name	27	6		reservation	22	11
shelter_type	27	6		name:fr	20	10
ref	25	5		drinking_water	19	9
reservation	23	5		shower	19	9
operator:wikidata	22	5		addr:city	18	9
access	21	4		addr:postcode	18	9
drinking_water	19	4		name:ca	18	9
mattress	15	3		amenity	17	8
shower	15	3		description:fr	16	8
toilets	14	3		toilets	16	8
beds	11	2		name:es	15	7
name:ca	11	2		addr:street	13	6
name:es	10	2		access	8	4
building:levels	6	1		alt_name	7	3
phone	5	1		building:levels	6	3
addr:postcode	4	1		internet_access:fee	6	3
bench	4	1		mobile	6	3
bin	4	1		addr:housenumber	5	2
internet_access	4	1		opening_hours	5	2
name:eu	4	1		ref	5	2
wpt_symbol	4	1		shelter_type	5	2
addr:city	3	1		start_date	5	2
addr:street	3	1		operator:wikidata	4	2
email	3	1		payment:cash	4	2
roof:shape	3	1		shelter	4	2
type	3	1		name:en	3	1
alt_name:fr	2	0		restaurant	3	1
building:material	2	0		addr:housename	2	1
check_date	2	0		contact:website	2	1
description:es	2	0		electricity	2	1
opening_hours	2	0		elevation	2	1
roof:orientation	2	0		image	2	1