<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 10:41 AM, Michael Leibowitz <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:michael.leibowitz@intel.com">michael.leibowitz@intel.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
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Actually, I think the problems with imports have more to do with the way in which data is imported than imports themselves. If the import is duplicating or removing other's contributions without rhyme or reason, there is something wrong with the import process in my opinion. Furthermore, as the nature of the data is dynamic, it shouldn't be the norm that imports are a one-time one-way system. They should be more properly thought of as merges or synchronizations. I know, for example, in my metropolitan area, the address database generated by the GIS department is updated weekly. If one were to make a one-time import, not only would they probably stomp on a lot of entries already existing, the data would become wrong eventually. However, a continual import has value. Although survey is good, the GIS department's opinion of address is the canonical source. Likewise for other data sources.<br>
</blockquote><div><br>The only import for parcel data which makes sense is the import into a database for a rendering system. It can be reloaded any time there is an update. As long as there is no other use than rendering it on a map there is absolute no need to clutter the main osm db with such data. osm data model is made for manual edits by human mappers not at all for syncing data from other sources. <br>
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Cheers<br>
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