On 7/4/2026 2:49 PM, Greg Troxel wrote:
Jim Snyder-Grant <[email protected]> writes:
Visually it's two line segments, but the way has 5 nodes instead of the 3
that should be needed to define a line with a single bend.
(1) Am I right that this situation is unhelpful and potentially trouble?
(2) Would it be helpful if I removed the two extra nodes from the way? (
https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2269011869 and
https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/11271956771 ?)
[…snip…]

My guess is that these extra nodes have been created while people are
editing, and join other ways to the town lines. While understandable, I
see this as an error.

Yes, it's likely to be the case there that nodes were joined to the town lines while editing, but if the item doesn't define a border (like the midline of a river or something) then it shouldn't be a part of the border.

But, separately from that case, there is a school of thought that it can be helpful to add some additional nodes on very long straight segments. The API (or some of the APIs?) for downloading a bounding box I think will only include a way in it if that way has at least one node within the requested bounding box. So some people like there being a node every so many miles/kilometers even if the way would still be in the same place without them. I'm not going to take a position on whether or not such is "correct", just saying that you might see it in some places where it's intentional too.

I haven't been doing much OSM work recently, and I wanted to check before
proceeding. Is this a good list to ask this sort of elementary question?
I think so. Apparently some people think forums are better, but I
disagree.

This list is as good a place as any. You may find more people on the forums, or the OSM US Slack <https://slack.openstreetmap.us/>. But there are still some of us who are very comfortable with email, yes, and hopefully enough of us to make a discussion interesting and helpful.

--
Peter C.


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