I have a solar array on my roof. If I find my house in OSM, there’s a lightning bolt icon indicating there’s a solar array present. Not only that, but the exact layout of the panels in my roof is shown. I never submitted this info to anyone, Google Maps Satellite view doesn’t show them. I’m really curious where OSM got such detailed data.
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Shouldn’t solar panels be mapped if and only if they consistent of a separate structure and not part of the roof?
@nudnyekscentryk @bruhbeans IIRC, there was a project in the UK which tried to map as many as possible, in order to predict fluctuations in electricity supply.
We know where clouds are with good precision. If we can match this with the locations of solar panels + some math, they could predict small fluctuations.
Is this actually helpful? The authorities and provider should already have this data. I don’t see why OSM should take up this responsibility.
I guess you could point to that as a good thing because when selling your house people could see that it has solar panels and when the solar panels were added to open street map and to your house. Like, oh, I see this house has had solar panels for at least 10 years.
Did you self-install the solar or could the company that did the install (or one of their installers) have added it? Also, I know it sounds crazy, but have you checked Bing maps? It’s been years since I did much with OSM, but I do recall one of the easier OSM editing tools using Bing maps due to licensing reasons, and sometimes their aerial/satellite view is more up to date in sone areas than Google.
I highly doubt the company added it. Most installers don’t even bother to configure the system correctly, let alone create a layout of the panels that were installed
