On 23 February 2012 09:15, Alan Mintz <[email protected]> wrote:
> You don't need to understand what every tag means, particularly > these data carried from import sources. This approach makes OSM uneditable. Imagine you don't know what the tag abcd=1234 means. What is a user supposed to do with that tag when they split the way? When they shorten it? When the convert a line into a polygon? When they merge it with another? And by the time they've searched the wiki for guidance, they find another tag efgh=4567... > Sometimes, it's not immediately > obvious what to do with some of the information during import, so it can be > useful to carry it into the OSM database. No - if a use is found for it later, the information can be added later. Adding stuff "just in case" leads to more circumstances like the "Tiger Node Tags" debacle[1]. > Certainly a unique foreign key > back to the original database (e.g. tiger:tlid) makes future updates more > practical It makes it *seem* like updates are more practical, when in fact they aren't. tlid is a classic example of how un-useful these foreign keys are - it's such a pity that they are so prevalent and lure so many other people into making the same mistake without thinking things through. Cheers, Andy [1] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/TIGER_fixup/node_tags _______________________________________________ Imports mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/imports
