> Evin Fairchild <[email protected]> wrote
> The only way you can get people to stop putting reg tags on ways and only put 
> them on relations is if the renderer actually rendered reg tags from 
> relations. Currently it doesn't do this, so

All good and correct so far...

> it's impractical for people to do what you're suggesting.

By "you" Evin means Paul Johnson and by "do what you're suggesting" — 
eliminating ref=* tags on ways — (as they are 100% redundant if the way is part 
of the appropriate route relations) Paul's suggestion is excellent.  It is 
correct, not impractical.

Continuing to put ref=* tags on ways is called a "workaround."  Like a bandage 
on a wound, workarounds can be decent short-term solutions, but the real 
healing which OSM must complete is for renderers to respect route relation 
tags.  All else is folly.

> Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, don't tag for the renderer,

OSM's tenet of "don't tag for the renderer" is something I respect.  Yet 
(especially in this case) it has qualities of "magical thinking" whereby the 
wound is artificially babied along by pretending away that the real work 
renderers must (MUST!) do is to fully respect long-established data structures 
renderers purport to represent.  If that is hard work (evidently, it is), well, 
let's roll up our sleeves and code (FIX!) our renderers so they properly 
visually represent our data.

Babying along wounds, pretending away and magical thinking are elements of sad, 
broken, amateurish projects:  they'll "get you through the night," and for too 
long in OSM, they have.  But as OSM matures into a happy, working, 
professional-grade project (we have, we do) that simply doesn't cut it any 
longer.  Someone has to say this — again and again, apparently — until the real 
solution of "this is hard work, but we must do it" is completed.

> but I'd you don't have route numbers show up at all, them this really reduces 
> the usability of the map.

What a fantastic incentive to fix renderers:  evidence of "tag like we say we 
should tag" means "hm, renderers don't respect that!"  We can no longer say 
"don't code for the renderer," wink at those who do and continue to say and do 
this while "rendering incompletely."  It is disingenuous and shows that 
something is fundamentally broken in our project.  We MUST fix renderers or we 
DESERVE monikers of "sad, broken, amateurish."

> It's such an important thing that there's no way you can get people to stop 
> putting the reg tags on ways unless the renderer rendered the ref tags for 
> the whole relation.

It is circular logic (explained) and circular logic is broken.  We must fix our 
renderers so they fully respect our well-established data structures.  No 
longer can we be told "don't pay attention to that man behind the curtain" 
while winking and workarounds fight each other for dominance:  OSM loses (big 
time) in the long-run as we continue to fool ourselves with the folly of these 
contradictions.

The bottom line, "easy as cake, simple as pie:"  FIX WHAT IS BROKEN.  Is this 
difficult software development?  That's OK, let's do it.  No more excuses.  It 
isn't impossible to avoid contradictions, though it may be hard work.

With the greatest respect for our project,
SteveA
California
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