> ...but you would need some kind of gis database/functions to evaluate the > polygon data. > the easy way of reading just keys and values like with most of the other > features in the osm database would not be possible.
for more advanced use of OSM data you need function "in which polygons does this point/way belong" anyway (you need it to find out in which country/city/suburb/place you are) so I don't consider it such a big problem. But probably OSM could use a special handling for these polygons, as currently OSM API will return polygon only if one of its nodes is inside the requested area. It won't return polygons if entire request area is inside it. (It won't return even way that lies partially inside, but all of its nodes are outside - like line crossing the edge of request area) This is problem even with current data - if you request part of map inside city centre of large city, you won't get the city borders. Same applies for any large landuse/natural areas, like big lakes, forests, etc ... or administrative boundaries Martin _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk