[Openstreetmap-dev] osm-editor... more details

[nick at hogweed.org]

Here are the extra details on the new version of osm-editor for the dev list, 
with particular relevance to hooking it up to a server e.g. the OSM server...

I have also now implemented the majority of the client side of a facility to 
connect osm-editor direct to a GPX server.  Thus osm-editor will be able to 
post and retrieve GPX data to a server.

In more detail, osm-editor can parse GPX embedded within an HTTP response sent 
from an arbitrary remote script, and display the track segments and points 
within the program alongside GPS-surveyed data. 
Thus the user will be able to "check out" data from an online database such as 
OpenStreetMap, and merge newly-surveyed GPS data with the online data. The 
data can then be posted back to the server; thus osm-editor will be able act 
as a 'one stop shop' to allow a user to read data from a GPS, edit it and 
merge it with an online database such as OSM. 

*However* the server side of the setup isn't implemented yet so it's not as 
yet usable. (Steve - hopefully this will be compatible with the 'REST' 
approach OSM is likely to be taking?)

Next thing I'll probably do is knock up a server-side prototype for 
demonstration purposes. Another thing I'll probably investigate is the 
viability of using GML rather than GPX as the exchange format. If GML is 
quite intuitive for representing this sort of map data, it might be worth 
switching. On the other hand, if it's overgeneralised and more bother than 
it's work, it may not. Will have to see....

Nick