We have two labels for the kind of area a polygon describes, and I think we need more.
In the polygons table, geoType records what a geography is. It has two values: sewer network health region (hlthReg) and sewer catchment area (swrSet). Both assume a piped sewer system draining to a treatment plant.
The storage is already flexible. The geoWKT column holds well-known text, a standard format that describes points and lines as well as polygons. We can store an open drain as a line today. We have no label for it.
This matters outside a sewer network. WHO’s 2023 field guidance for polio environmental surveillance has a form for recording a waterway: the channel type, whether it flows all year or seasonally, and the width, depth, debris, and junctions along it. Open drains are the sampling point in many programs.
Topic 108 asked for something close to this in 2023, for points and lines alongside polygons.
Two questions. Should we add values to geoType, and which ones? Candidates: drainage line, open drain, natural waterway, administrative area.
And does anyone store a drain or a sewer line in the polygons table now? I would like to hear how you did it.