Ask if places have a backup generator

[arrival-spring]

General

Affected tag(s) to be modified/added: backup_generator (disclaimer: I created this page to document an already in use tag) Question asked: Does this place have a backup generator?

Checklist

Checklist for quest suggestions (see guidelines):

• [x] 🚧 To be added tag is established and has a useful purpose It is very useful to know if a place will still operate during load shedding [1] and some brands even advertise which locations have a generator on their website: example.
• [x] 🤔 Any answer the user can give must have an equivalent tagging (Quest should not reappear to other users when solved by one)
• [ ] 🐿️ Easily answerable by any pedestrian from the outside but a survey is necessary Disabled by default as it requires entering a place at a particular time, similar to air conditioning quest.
• [x] 💤 Not an overwhelming percentage of quests have the same answer (No spam)
• [x] 🕓 Applies to a reasonable number of map data (Worth the effort)

Ideas for implementation

Element selection: All shop-like elements.

Metadata needed: Countries where backup generators are common, at least South Africa and by the looks of where the tag is used already, Philippines and Indonesia.

Proposed UI: Yes/No question, much like the air conditioning quest.

[1] South Africa has recently and continuously been having load shedding where power is off for hours at a time on a schedule in different areas, recent article: "South Africa’s load shedding is practically permanent now"

[michalgwo]

Such a great idea, that I decided to implement it right away :satisfied: #4793

[mnalis]

(related: South Africa power infrastructure has been on last osmweekly: https://techcentral.co.za/the-volunteers-mapping-south-africas-power-grid-and-more/219769/ and the article coincidentally happens to mention StreetComplete for filling missing details in the OSM)

I'm not sure about "No spam" for most countries though (and that "Easily answerable" looks like it might probably be noticeably harder to answer than airconditioning quest in majority of the countries). (There is always SCEE if it ends up being too problematic for upstream SC...)

[letypequividelespoubelles]

For countries, India should be included too. But how can you know if there is a backup generator? Most of the time I don't see it ! And if there is no generator but solar panel + battery (which may become more common, as of is now cheaper and greener) ? It should be yes, right?

[arrival-spring]

With regards to "no spam", that's why it would be restricted to certain countries.

Easily answerable - it does require being at a place during load shedding and seeing if the lights are on or whatever, so is also a bit situation specific, like air conditioning quest or even lit quest.

Solar panel - in OSM speak, these are power=generator so I think that would still count. Maybe the question needs rephrasing or a clarification adding for things like that. Maybe "Does this place have a generator or backup power source?"

[matkoniecz]

Easily answerable - it does require being at a place during load shedding and seeing if the lights are on or whatever, so is also a bit situation specific, like air conditioning quest or even lit quest.

Or asking someone working there. I guess that in both cases it would require making it disabled by default?

[davidpnewton]

Definitely a disabled by default quest. Useful to know but it requires quite a bit more work than walking round a place for the most part.

[michalgwo]

There is no detailed information in the osm wiki on whether we should include solar panels as a backup_generator, but I think the point is to have information if there will be electricity when the power grid is off. I think most people won't know if the thing that generates power is a diesel generator or a solar panel, in the end, solar panels and also power generators.

[westnordost]

Definitely add Myanmar to that list.

Note that these countries have usually a very low number of contributors, especially on-site contributors. So, to be honest, I do not think it is worth it to implement. Now, you have already taken the initiative, so its only a question of whether it is worth to maintain. More comments in the PR.

[westnordost]

See discussion in https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/pull/4793