Silk Route

WikiProject Silk Road The Silk Route (or Silk Road) was a vast, interconnected network of ancient land and maritime trade routes that linked Asia, Africa and Europe from around the 2nd century BCE until the 14th–15th centuries. Merchants, pilgrims, armies and ideas travelled along it, leaving behind caravanserais, forts, stupas, mosques, rock carvings, bridges and trading towns. Parts of the network are recognised by UNESCO. The Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) and the Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) are inscribed World Heritage properties, and the Iranian section in Khorasan Province is on the UNESCO Tentative List (2008). This project coordinates the mapping of the physical heritage of the Silk Road in OpenStreetMap: the sites, structures and present-day roads that survive along its corridors. Goals Map and improve heritage sites along Silk Road corridors with accurate outlines, names and tags Add wikidata, wikipedia and heritage tags so the data links to other open knowledge Map access: roads, path, mountain passes, bridges, trails and visitor facilities near the sites Support heritage documentation, tourism and disaster risk work with open data What to map – and what not to OpenStreetMap maps what exists on the ground today (Verifiability). Please follow these rules: Do map surviving remains: ruins, forts, caravanserais, stupas, rock carvings, bridges, milestones and archaeological sites, as well as present-day roads and passes that follow historic routes. Do not draw lines for ancient routes that no longer exist on the ground, and do not create a route relation for "the Silk Road" as a whole. Historic route lines, ancient borders and past states belong in OpenHistoricalMap, a sister project using the same tools and tags with dates. Only use sources compatible with the OSM licence. Do not copy from Google Maps, copyrighted atlases or heritage dossiers without permission (Legal FAQ). Tagging guide Feature Suggested tags Notes Archaeological site historic=archaeological_site + site_type=* e.g. site_type=settlement, fortification, petroglyph Ruins historic=ruins add ruins=* to the main feature tag where useful Fort, citadel historic=castle + castle_type=fortress or historic=fort Caravanserai historic=caravanserai + building=* check current usage on taginfo Stupa historic=archaeological_site + site_type=stupa, or man_made=tower + tower:type=stupa active stupas: amenity=place_of_worship + religion=buddhist Rock carvings / petroglyphs historic=archaeological_site + site_type=petroglyph Historic bridge bridge=yes + historic=bridge Milestone historic=milestone Mountain pass mountain_pass=yes on the road node + ele=* Museum tourism=museum World Heritage property heritage=1 + heritage:operator=whc + ref:whc=* only for inscribed sites, not Tentative List sites Links to other data wikidata=*, wikipedia=*, name=*, name:en=*, start_date=* add local-language names (e.g. name:ur, name:fa, name:zh) For local heritage registers use the national heritage=* level and heritage:operator=* as documented for each country. Pakistan section Silk Road branches crossed what is now Pakistan through the Karakoram mountains, Gandhara and the Indus valley. Coordinated by OSM Pakistan. Priority areas: Karakoram corridor – Karakoram Highway (N-35), Khunjerab Pass, Hunza valley (Baltit Fort, Altit Fort) Rock art of the upper Indus – petroglyph sites around Chilas and Shatial in Gilgit-Baltistan Gandhara – Taxila, Takht-i-Bahi, Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra rock edicts, Ranigat, Bazira-Barikot (Swat) Peshawar – Gor Khatri, Sethi House, the old city and its caravan routes See Pakistan on the UNESCO World Heritage site for inscribed and Tentative List sites. Other countries Mappers from other Silk Road countries are welcome to add a section here or a subpage (e.g. WikiProject Silk Road/Iran). Countries along the main overland corridors include China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Türkiye and others; the maritime routes reached the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and South-East Asia. How to contribute Pick a site or area from the lists above, or one you know personally. Check what is already mapped (use the Overpass query below). Trace outlines from licensed imagery in iD or JOSM; add names, tags and wikidata. Add photos and street-level imagery to Mapillary or Panoramax if you visit. Use the changeset hashtag #SilkRoad and #SilkRoute so work can be tracked. Check existing data Run in Overpass Turbo (zoom to an area first): [out:json][timeout:60]; ( nwr["historic"~"archaeological_site|ruins|castle|fort|caravanserai|milestone"]({{bbox}}); nwr["heritage:operator"="whc"]({{bbox}}); nwr["mountain_pass"="yes"]({{bbox}}); ); out center; See also Key:historic, Key:heritage, Tag:historic=archaeological_site WikiProject Historic.Place OpenHistoricalMap – for historic routes and dated features UNESCO World Heritage – Silk Roads Silk Road on Wikipedia Pakistan · WikiProject Pakistan