User:Hansm/Boundary statistics

Here are some statistics about the usage of relation tag "type=boundary". All relate to the planet.osm dump from 2009-07-13.

Boundaries that osm2pgsql converts as pg POLYGON

Except "boundary=yahoo".

relation	way	admin_level	boundary	name
57537 57537		6	administrative	Cornwall
62269 62269		2	administrative	Isle of Man
	28489604 28489604		national_park	Dartmoor National Park
87944 87944		6	administrative	Swansea
134324 134324		6	administrative	Powys
10187 10187		6	administrative	Herefordshire
151283 151283		4	administrative	West Midlands
57511 57511		6	administrative	Shropshire
82631 82631		6	administrative	South Gloucestershire
57581 57581		6	administrative	Worcestershire
57515 57515		6	administrative	Staffordshire
153487 153487		6	administrative	Cheshire East
149122 149122		8	administrative	Pendle
151012 151012		4	administrative	Yorkshire and the Humber
150871 150871		8	administrative	Richmondshire
151164 151164		4	administrative	North East England
88066 88066		6	administrative	Northumberland
	31787677 31787677		national_park	New Forest National Park
151279 151279		4	administrative	East Midlands
108100 108100		8	administrative	Derbyshire Dales
88077 88077		6	administrative	Derbyshire
118323 118323		8	administrative	Bradford
88079 88079		6	administrative	West Yorkshire
154376 154376		6	administrative	Tyne and Wear
142282 142282		6	administrative	Newcastle upon Tyne
127238 127238		8	administrative	Winchester
76228 76228		6	administrative	Hampshire
76155 76155		6	administrative	Oxfordshire
63375 63375		6	administrative	Northamptonshire
58414 58414		10	administrative	Morton Pinkney
77270 77270		8	administrative	Bassetlaw
135523 135523		8	administrative	Selby
150966 150966		8	administrative	Hambleton
114677 114677		8	administrative	Chichester
113757 113757		6	administrative	West Sussex
88082 88082		6	administrative	Bedfordshire
158396 158396		6	administrative	Bedford
57398 57398		6	administrative	Rutland
145223 145223		8	administrative	Veulette-sur-Mer
92650 92650		6	administrative	East Sussex
62162 62162		6	administrative	Essex
76488 76488		8	administrative	Castle Point
53337 53337		8	administrative	St Edmundsbury
57397 57397		6	administrative	Norfolk
53332 53332		8	administrative	Mid Suffolk District
(45 rows)

All administrative boundaries are derived from relations with tag "type=boundary". The only boundary POLYGONs derived from ways are national_parks.

Furthermore, there are 1164 boundaries in talbe planet_osm_line and 1135 in table planet_osm_roads. Both seem to be more or less the same. Both tables contain roughly half of the rows derived from ways and the other half derived from relations. Boundary relations seem to be widely used in the UK and in France.

Relations with "type=boundary" in relation clusters

In the actual OSM DB (not what osm2pgsql has generated from it), there are 26928 relations with "type=boundary". 259 of them are part of a relation cluster, i.e. a relation that contains some of this relations. With high probability, this means that they don't enclose an area. 157 relation clusters contain sub-relations tagged as "type=boundary".

"type" tags used in this relation clusters:

type	count	remark
address	127	relation names look Russian
boundary	19	mainly used in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland
multipolygon	3	17775 17775, 56392 56392, 162784 162784
state	3
county	2
country	1
null	1
nation	1

Super relations containing relations with "type=boundary"

7374 7374, 7424 7424, 7435 7435, 7885 7885, 7886 7886, 7887 7887, 11980 11980, 16163 16163, 16438 16438, 17775 17775, 22956 22956, 23169 23169, 26880 26880, 28245 28245, 29956 29956, 51684 51684, 51701 51701, 51908 51908, 54422 54422, 56392 56392, 78655 78655, 78967 78967, 79842 79842, 79843 79843, 79844 79844, 79845 79845, 79846 79846, 79847 79847, 79848 79848, 79849 79849, 79852 79852, 79853 79853, 79854 79854, 79855 79855, 79856 79856, 79857 79857, 79858 79858, 79859 79859, 79860 79860, 79895 79895, 79897 79897, 79898 79898, 79900 79900, 79902 79902, 79904 79904, 79906 79906, 79907 79907, 79908 79908, 79909 79909, 79910 79910, 79912 79912, 79913 79913, 79914 79914, 79916 79916, 79917 79917, 79918 79918, 79919 79919, 79920 79920, 79921 79921, 79922 79922, 79924 79924, 79925 79925, 79926 79926, 79927 79927, 79929 79929, 79930 79930, 79931 79931, 79932 79932, 79933 79933, 79934 79934, 79935 79935, 79937 79937, 79940 79940, 79941 79941, 79942 79942, 79943 79943, 79944 79944, 79945 79945, 79946 79946, 79947 79947, 79948 79948, 79949 79949, 79952 79952, 79953 79953, 79954 79954, 79956 79956, 79958 79958, 79959 79959, 79960 79960, 79962 79962, 79963 79963, 79964 79964, 79965 79965, 79966 79966, 79967 79967, 79968 79968, 79969 79969, 79970 79970, 79971 79971, 79972 79972, 79973 79973, 79974 79974, 79976 79976, 79978 79978, 79983 79983, 79984 79984, 79985 79985, 79986 79986, 79987 79987, 79988 79988, 79989 79989, 79990 79990, 79991 79991, 79992 79992, 79993 79993, 79995 79995, 79996 79996, 79997 79997, 79998 79998, 79999 79999, 80000 80000, 80001 80001, 80002 80002, 80003 80003, 80004 80004, 80007 80007, 80008 80008, 80010 80010, 80011 80011, 80012 80012, 80013 80013, 80014 80014, 80015 80015, 80016 80016, 80017 80017, 80018 80018, 80019 80019, 80020 80020, 80022 80022, 80025 80025, 80026 80026, 80028 80028, 80029 80029, 80030 80030, 80031 80031, 80033 80033, 80035 80035, 80096 80096, 80488 80488, 82728 82728, 82743 82743, 82765 82765, 82767 82767, 102879 102879, 135579 135579, 161349 161349, 162784 162784

Sub-relations with "type=boundary"

7426 7426, 7723 7723, 7885 7885, 7886 7886, 16354 16354, 16483 16483, 17511 17511, 17529 17529, 17560 17560, 17567 17567, 17580 17580, 17601 17601, 17605 17605, 17623 17623, 17632 17632, 17633 17633, 17641 17641, 17644 17644, 17645 17645, 17655 17655, 22233 22233, 22733 22733, 22735 22735, 26221 26221, 26222 26222, 26907 26907, 26923 26923, 28245 28245, 28322 28322, 29713 29713, 29714 29714, 29715 29715, 29716 29716, 29724 29724, 29726 29726, 29731 29731, 29736 29736, 29750 29750, 29773 29773, 29784 29784, 29787 29787, 29788 29788, 29925 29925, 29939 29939, 29948 29948, 31257 31257, 47393 47393, 47442 47442, 47505 47505, 47626 47626, 47773 47773, 47803 47803, 47812 47812, 51239 51239, 51250 51250, 51322 51322, 51326 51326, 51333 51333, 51334 51334, 51339 51339, 51410 51410, 51419 51419, 51440 51440, 51441 51441, 51442 51442, 51443 51443, 51444 51444, 51781 51781, 51793 51793, 51800 51800, 51806 51806, 51814 51814, 51821 51821, 51827 51827, 51831 51831, 51841 51841, 51848 51848, 51902 51902, 51903 51903, 51905 51905, 51906 51906, 51907 51907, 51909 51909, 53957 53957, 59065 59065, 59092 59092, 59137 59137, 59148 59148, 59149 59149, 59161 59161, 59162 59162, 59167 59167, 59178 59178, 59188 59188, 59189 59189, 59190 59190, 59195 59195, 59199 59199, 59202 59202, 59208 59208, 59209 59209, 59246 59246, 59249 59249, 59250 59250, 59252 59252, 59257 59257, 59273 59273, 59275 59275, 59415 59415, 59417 59417, 59418 59418, 59419 59419, 59504 59504, 59506 59506, 59752 59752, 59755 59755, 62145 62145, 65595 65595, 65598 65598, 65606 65606, 66113 66113, 69554 69554, 70542 70542, 70549 70549, 70561 70561, 70563 70563, 70565 70565, 70568 70568, 70569 70569, 70575 70575, 70577 70577, 70580 70580, 70586 70586, 70589 70589, 70591 70591, 70595 70595, 70602 70602, 70604 70604, 70605 70605, 70610 70610, 70614 70614, 70616 70616, 70618 70618, 70620 70620, 70626 70626, 70637 70637, 70638 70638, 70639 70639, 70649 70649, 70656 70656, 70660 70660, 70662 70662, 70665 70665, 70668 70668, 70669 70669, 70671 70671, 70676 70676, 70677 70677, 70679 70679, 70680 70680, 70684 70684, 70690 70690, 70691 70691, 70701 70701, 70703 70703, 70707 70707, 70716 70716, 70719 70719, 70721 70721, 70725 70725, 70727 70727, 70728 70728, 70732 70732, 70737 70737, 70746 70746, 70747 70747, 70748 70748, 70749 70749, 70751 70751, 70752 70752, 70754 70754, 70768 70768, 70772 70772, 70790 70790, 70795 70795, 70798 70798, 70799 70799, 70801 70801, 70809 70809, 70810 70810, 70812 70812, 70814 70814, 71093 71093, 71094 71094, 71097 71097, 71100 71100, 71101 71101, 71105 71105, 71112 71112, 71114 71114, 71116 71116, 71117 71117, 71118 71118, 71119 71119, 71121 71121, 71124 71124, 71125 71125, 71128 71128, 71130 71130, 71132 71132, 71133 71133, 71134 71134, 71135 71135, 71138 71138, 71145 71145, 71147 71147, 71149 71149, 75767 75767, 82622 82622, 82629 82629, 82675 82675, 82682 82682, 82722 82722, 82729 82729, 82751 82751, 82766 82766, 82773 82773, 82775 82775, 82779 82779, 89489 89489, 90124 90124, 90162 90162, 90333 90333, 90340 90340, 90341 90341, 90348 90348, 90352 90352, 102647 102647, 102666 102666, 102877 102877, 102882 102882, 102885 102885, 102896 102896, 102898 102898, 103060 103060, 126410 126410, 130921 130921, 131862 131862, 161349 161349, 163244 163244

Relations with "admin-level" tag set

In the actual OSM DB (not what osm2pgsql has generated from it), there are 47825 relations with "admin-level" tag set.

"boundary" values used together with "admin-level":

boundary	count
administrative	47497
historic	20
national_park	1
maritime	1
typos	35
obvious nonsense	3

"type" values used together with "admin-level":

type	count
boundary	26679
multipolygon	21050
municipality	29
county	12
amt	10
typos	7
commune	6
border	4
state	1
collection	1
boundary_incomplete	1

Conclusion

Although osm2pgsql tries to generate PostGIS POLYGONS from boundaries, in fact the result is very poor. 45 polygons in relation to 26928 relations with "type=boundary" or 47825 relations with "admin-level" tag set, osm2pgsql's success rate is very close to 0.

Among administrative boundaries, the usage of "type=boundary" and "type=mulitpolygon" is about half-half.

There are only 259 relations with "type=boundary" that are part of a relation cluster. I don't understand the usage in relation clusters with "type=address", but this is the vaste majority. Only 29 are used in clusters with type values that look like administrative units. Mostly, this are high level units (with admin_level <= 4).

An alternate importer tries to fix several issues related to polygons in OSM data for GIS analysis, see osm2postgresql.