Proposal:Ref:GB:usrn
| Unique Street Reference Number | |
|---|---|
| Proposal status: | Approved (active) |
| Proposed by: | RobJN |
| Tagging: | ref:GB:usrn=* |
| Applies to: | Way |
| Definition: | The Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) is an 8 digit, public sector mandated[1], unique identifier for every street across the United Kingdom[2]. |
| Statistics: |
|
| Rendered as: | N/A |
| Draft started: | 2020-07-22 |
| RFC start: | 2020-07-22 |
| Vote start: | 2020-08-30 |
| Vote end: | 2020-09-15 |
Proposal
The proposal is to use ref:GB:usrn=* to add the Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) to features in the United Kingdom.
The tag is already starting to be used:
Rationale
The Ordnance Survey released an open dataset of USRNs in July 2020. Up until this point, some people had entered a few of these identifiers to OpenStreetMap using the tag NPLG:USRN:1=* (TagInfoGB reports 22 entries). There is also 66,814 instances of ref:usrn=*, however these are tags on trees rather than the streets themselves and relate to the Birmingham Tree Import. No formal proposal and acceptance process occurred for these former tags.
On discussing the USRN data, several members proposed that we use ref:GB:usrn=* noting the following advantages:
- It is more in keeping with other reference tags.
- The inclusion of the GB two-letter ISO 3166 code will help data consumers to understand the origin of the reference an avoid conflicting with any other "USRN" identifiers that may be used in other countries.
The idea was discussed during a State of the Map 2020 online workshop (link), in which it was agreed that this proposal page would be created.
The aim is to agree a tag, and take it through the proposal process in order to demonstrate support. The proposal does not cover what to do about any other tags that attempt to map USRNs. This is intentional as we want to agree a tag first, before then looking at whether other tags should be updated.
Tagging
Map USRNs in the same way that you map other details associted with streets. In practice this means adding the tag to a feature with a highway=* tag.
The important part is that the ref:GB:usrn=* tag is clearly associated with the feature it relates to in the original database of USRN entries.
External discussions
Known discussions:
- On talk-gb at several points during 2020.
- At a State of the Map 2020 online workshop.
Further reading
Custodians working for relevant authorities are responsible for assigning an 8-digit USRN to every street, road, track, path, cycle track or cycle way in their area.
The relevance of USRNs is that they can be linked to other identifiers such the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) and the OS Master Map TOpographic IDentifier (TOID). In this way, various spatially linked data sources are used in Great Britain by Ordnance Survey to provide their address products. The Government Digital Service has also mandated the USRN as the public sector standard for referencing and sharing street information (although this may be for England & Wales or GB only).
Blocks of sequential USRN values are allocated to gazetteer custodians in England and Wales by GeoPlace. In Scotland, the allocation of blocks of USRNs is carried out by the Improvement Service. In Northern Ireland, USRNs are the responsibility of the Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland). Use of the USRN may[3] also extend to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, in the same way that the UPRN extends to these territories. This proposal is intentionally silent on those island territories, in part because no data source is known, but also because local mappers may wish to use their local ISO codes (IM, GG and JE) in place of the GB ISO code for United Kingdom.
As of July 2020 the USRN data for England and Wales is now available as Open Data under the Open Government Licence.
Tools
There is a WMS tile layer that can be added to OpenStreetMap editors. Instructions for adding this layer to JOSM are available.
See also
The USRN is discussed in more detail at:
- Ordnance Survey OpenData#OS Open USRN
- Ordnance Survey
- GeoPlace
- w:Unique Street Reference Number (on Wikipedia)
Comments
Please comment on the discussion page.
Voting
- Log in to the wiki if you are not already logged in.
- Scroll down to voting and click 'Edit source'. Copy and paste the appropriate code from this table on its own line at the bottom of the text area:
| To get this output | you type | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
{{vote|yes}} --~~~~
|
Feel free to also explain why you support proposal. |
|
{{vote|no}} reason --~~~~
|
Replace reason with your reason(s) for voting no. |
|
{{vote|abstain}} comments --~~~~
|
If you don't want to vote but have comments. Replace comments with your comments. |
~~~~ automatically inserts your name and the current date.For full template documentation see Template:Vote. See also how vote outcome is processed.
I approve this proposal. Discussed and proposed on talk-gb and now in use. Makes sense to formally agree this. --RobJN (talk) 20:09, 30 August 2020 (UTC)- I approve this proposal. I see no problems with this proposal, this is a case where adding reference to other database is beneficial (unlike many similar tags added during imports) --Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 20:23, 30 August 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Gregoryw (talk) 20:33, 30 August 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Sdoerr (talk) 15:00, 31 August 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Rjw62 (talk) 19:08, 31 August 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Dr Centerline (talk) 19:22, 31 August 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --TonyS (talk) 19:28, 31 August 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --CjMalone (talk) 21:46, 31 August 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Huwdiprose (talk) 00:12, 01 September 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Michael Montani (talk) 12:09, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Ndm (talk) 17:35, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Rskedgell (talk) 10:30, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Jnicho02 (talk) 13:24, 4 September 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --Fanfouer (talk) 22:08, 7 September 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --CycleStreets (talk) 22:32, 13 September 2020 (UTC)
- I approve this proposal. --James Derrick (talk) 15:08, 15 September 2020 (UTC)
Voting on this proposal has been closed.
It was approved with 16 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.