On 03/10/2009, at 12:53 PM, Jeremy Adams wrote: > If different regions want to use the map for different purposes, > display different tags, etc then they can apply their localization > when they create their map.
It's not so much that there are different uses, but a lot of the assumptions and hidden implications in tags aren't the same. A lot of the tags are a bit Europe-centric because that's where OSM started, and where a lot of the mappers are. I'm not blaming anyone in Europe for this, it's just how it's developed. As such, people in other regions often take liberties with what the descriptions on the wiki, and historical consensus, to fit them to the local area. If we want to have globally consistent tags across the world, we're probably going to have to go and modify a bunch of core tags that are extensively used everywhere. Like whether highway=* is a physical or importance thing, and what it actually implies. As I understand it, it's used consistently within some countries as the former, and used consistently within other countries as the latter. Either we have it not being globally consistent (see the International Equivalence table), or half the world will need to change. > Otherwise there's no way for applications (routing and otherwise) to > know how to work across the whole globe. They're always going to have to know local quirks. From the discussion a while ago about highway=residential, I got the impression that in Europe is has a semi-implied access=destination for the purposes of routing - that is, you shouldn't drive down a residential one unless you have to, because they're very thin. In Australia, we have a lot of residential roads that are wide enough for four cars (one parked and one lane, either way, so driving down random residential streets isn't uncommon. _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
