On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 11:07 PM, Steve Bennett <[email protected]> wrote: > > I care most about simply having a centralised resource that everything else > trickles from. At the moment it seems that the four sources of tag > information (wiki, renderers, editors, actual usage) can all feed off each > other in any arbitrary direction. It's quite bizarre really. Almost any > combination is possible: > > Potlatch implements a tag because JOSM does.
Sounds reasonable. (potlatch taggers becomes more consistent with JOSM taggers) > One mapper uses a tag because he saw it on a wiki. Sounds reasonable. (tagger follows same guidelines as other taggers) > Someone documents a tag on > the wiki because he saw it in Tagwatch. Sounds reasonable. (so newbie taggers follow established taggers) > A mapper uses a value because he saw > someone else do it. Sounds reasonable. (tagger follows other tagger) All of these practices help to push OSM taggers towards consistency. *In the absence of a centralised authority*, these practices are necessary and, I think, effective. They complement each other. It's a dynamic process, as it must be. > It's fine that Mapnik and Osmarender (and others) render the same data > differently. Having them *interpret* the same tags differently doesn't seem > to have any benefits though. What do you mean? I think the only problem is when there is *more than one meaning per tag*. This is a problem and I'd be interested if you have any ideas on how to avoid it. > Having lots of people randomly use various tags > not recognised by any renderer (or router) seems like a complete waste of > time. If you remove the word "randomly" from that sentence, I strongly disagree. Tag the world - verifiably and explicitly - and the users (renderers/routers/etc.) will follow. Inventing tags as necessary to mark a feature with no documented tag is fun, and very useful. Just be verifiable, and explicit. Use note=* to explain if necessary. The main thing is to avoid the need for others to re-survey. _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
