[Openstreetmap-dev] Success, and some questions...

[Robert Merkel]

OK,

I've now successfully edited some trial points (and deleted them again) with
the new applet.  My problems with the applet seemed to be related to broken
firefox chrome, when I reinstalled firefox the problem went away.  

My congratulations to the developers, but a few questions/comments:

* The scheme where points and lines have an "absolute width" (so that
they scale up and down in visible size with the map scale) would seem to 
be a bit problematic, to say the least...

* Similarly, the line naming only works on absurdly large-scale maps...

* Can the applet add key-value pairs to lines yet?

* Is the combination of the Sun JVM on Linux/Mozilla running applets the 
EMACS of the 21st century - sufficiently slow to make even the fastest computer
seem sluggish?

and perhaps the most important question of all:

* Given the fact the applet clearly could do with some additional development 
assistance, is there a set of instructions for setting up a development environment
so I can start hacking on the codebase to deal with some of these (and many other)
issues?

Finally, I notice the list of key-value pairs.  It seems to me that to make the
data usable (for instance, for in-car navigation, one item on my personal very long-term wishlist), 
some careful thought will have to be given to standards for assigning key-value pairs to
denote relevant road features; 
ultimately, I eexpect the applet and other editors will need to, um, "encourage" the use
of those standards to encourage consistent quality.  Is there a document summarizing the present
state of this issue?
 
-- 
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                                           Robert Merkel
                                     robert.merkel at benambra.org
                                        http://benambra.org

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
                -- Albert Einstein
They laughed at Einstein.  They laughed at the Wright Brothers.  But they
also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
                -- Carl Sagan
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