HOWTO map a golf course 2013

Overview

This page is dedicated to collecting information about the tags associated with golf courses. The information comes from Taginfo. This will allow one page to be used to give a summary of the tags used by others so that you can make an informed decision as how to map your course. This page will also introduce definitions for tags at a micro mapping level. These tags are unlikely to be used but we must acknowledge them to avoid confusion. This page is also named 2013 so that in the future as the data develops someone else can further refine what how the data is tagged. There are mulitple tags that are specific to golf, there are others which are already defined elsewhere, there are tags that followed earlier attempts to map golf courses which are now no longer used. There are also other tags that are associated with sports such as disc golf which have similarities.

If a golf course is tagged correctly and consistently then we should be able to extract the data so as to create a rough map and dedicated scorecard for the course. There may be criticism that data to create a score card is added. There are already many attempts to do this, therefore it may as well be done consistently, if it is done correctly it should not take much effort or specialist tags.

I will show if a tag has been proposed and (approved) if it comes from (Taginfo). There are some tags such as golf=tee which have no clear definition in the golfing world and therefore I set it here for the openstreemap.org world.

If there is enough information here then we will make a features page for golf courses

Mapping Level

There are lots of different levels of details that can be put on golf courses. As a teaching and programming aid we will set out the three different levels of golf course mapping

• level 1 :golf course name, tee_areas, fairways, greens with numbers and water,scrub
• level 2 :above with tee_numbers and scorecard
• leve 3 : above with all the golf tags used

How short is the grass

Most courses will be defined by how short the grass is. This is the best guide to how rough the terrain is. Some golf courses have no grass at all but the definition of green, fairway and rough can still apply. The grass goes from shortest to longest in the following way followed by the density of the plant life. Other land coverage such as natural=heath or natural= stone is also used

1. golf=green or golf=tee_area
2. golf=fringe
3. golf=apron
4. golf=fairway
5. golf=mown
6. golf=rough
7. natural=scrub
8. natural=wood
9. landuse=forest

Most of these tags would not be used but are left in for the dedicated golfer. golf = tee_area,fairway,green are plenty for standard mapping

Golf course top level tags

leisure=golf_course (approved)

leisure=minature_golf(approved)

leisure=disc_golf_course(taginfo)

leisure=driving_range(tag info) a dedicated business which is not part of a golf course

golf=indoor(taginfo) This is used by companies dedicated to indoor electronic practice and analysis of your swing

golf:course:holes=(total number of holes

golf:course:par= (par for entire course)

golf:course:tee_names = black,blue,white This is important because there may be other tags that use the order of this tag to find information about other tags e.g.

See Key:golf:course

Practice area

golf=practice

golf:practice=driving range

golf:practice=green

golf:practice=bunker

golf:practice=nets name=Nets/cage

Golf Tee

golf=tee

golf=tee_marker

golf=tee_box

golf=tee_area

golf=ball_washer

golf=tee_information

golf=shoe_cleaner

Golf Fairway

golf=hole

golf=fairway

golf=rough

golf=mown

golf=indicator_post

golf=finely_mown is now green

golf=bunker landuse=sand,natural=beach

golf=distance_marker

distance=”200yds.100m” ******

name=”100m” *******8

golf=hazard

golf=water_hazard(tag info)

golf=lateral_water_hazard(tag info)

golf=out_of_bounds

Golf green

golf=cup: golf=flag are not used use golf=pin instead

golf=pin(tag_info)

golf=green(tag info)

golf=fringe(not used) this is a mown area around the green where the grass is cut at a height between that of the green and the fairway

golf=apron(not used) and area cut similarly to the fairway immediately in front of the the green

Golf Accessories

amenity=drinking_water(approved)

amenity=shelter(approved)

golf=clubhouse

building=hut(approved)

shop=pro_shop This distinguishes it from a golf equipment retailer. The pro_shop is for the golf course professional to sell personalised inventory and teaching services

Tracks

See Key:golf_cart

Golf Scorecard

There have been a few attempts to put in information which is shown on the score card of the course. This has been tried in three different ways.

The first way is to use

golf:length:01 where we use the tag golf to represent the course, length in either yards or meters and the hole number. There would also be a tag for par, index, and each colour of tee. This could easily mean that there are over 100 individual tags for each course. It is easier to do it other ways

The second way is to add tags to a way that is represented as golf=hole. This is more efficient than the first but does not have the flexibility if there is more than one tee. It also means that all the information is scattered on different golf=holes which makes it difficult to collect all the information for each golf course.

The Third and preferred method is to add all the scorecard information under the leisure = golf_course tag. This means it is easy to edit int the future and is easily used to make a scorecard. Individual holes are reference using the golf=hole, ref=*** tag

example : this data is taken from an actual score card. This shows how there are two standard tees which are named white and yellow with equal pars and index's and a different set of numbers for the "ladies" tee. All the data is in order from hole 1 to 18. This would also work for golf courses that have larger numbers of holes

• leisure =golf_course
• name = lothianburn
• golf_course = 18hole
• golf:sss = 69
• golfcourse::tee_names = white;yellow;ladies
• golf:length:white = 270,162,437,414,312,143,476,354,335,109,278,300,243,580,351,320,302,276
• golf:length:yellow = 236,144,427,407,295,135,460,355,324,106,267,293,228,558,303,306,307,281
• golf:length:ladies = 263,122,424,359,231,135,447,302,235,99,256,290,209,558,243,293,180,222
• golf:stroke_index = 11,9,3,7,13,17,1,15,5,18,10,6,14,2,16,4,8,12
• golf:stoke_index:ladies = 9,17,3,5,13,11,1,15,7,18,8,4,12,2,14,16,6,10
• golf:par:ladies = 4,3,5,4,4,3,5,4,5,3,4,4,4,5,3,4,3,3
• golf:par = 4,3,4,4,4,3,5,4,4,3,4,4,4,5,4,4,4,4
• golf:length_unit = yards

notes: The score card data always starts with golf: This makes it easier to bring up worldwide data concerning golf courses. It is often the case that a golf course is split into multiple areas. The scorecard data must be in the area next to the golf club/reception area