Previously, OpenStreetMap has shown the White Sands Missile Range and related military installations here in New Mexico to include their “call-up” areas, or areas reserved for occasional use.

I am currently in the process of redefining this area in OSM to include only the main part of the range. I think the reasons for this are worth discussing. When users see a military installation marked on a map, particularly one shown in red diagonal stripes as the standard renderer shows it, they probably mainly expect restricted access. However, the call-up areas surrounding White Sands are entirely open to the public except for rare scheduled closures, during which signs are put up. Lately, many of the northern and western call-up areas have not had closures in quite some time.

Map users will likely be confused to see a large area marked on the map as a military reservation, but then to find no fence or any other kind of indications at the marked border. This is because the security fence is possibly many miles farther in, around the actual main area. The new outline will reflect the location of the security fence (the point at which public access is no longer allowed), which I think is the best representation of “what is on the ground.”

That said, it may be useful to mark the call-up areas, and so I plan to add outlines that enclose them, but I am not sure about how to tag these.

A good source of fairly up-to-date and authoritative information on this is the White Sands Missile Range Proposed Land Use and Airspace Strategy Plan (LUASP), which you can find online. It provides names and definitions for the call-up areas and main range, as well as maps which usually show enough detail to allow you to locate the fenceline in satellite images.

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