[Openstreetmap-dev] OSM - Schema - Phase 1 - Request for Comment

[Immanuel Scholz]

Hi,

> I care very much because right now, as a user, I have no way of adding any
> real map features other than nodes, line segments and a generic "name". If
> I keep naming segments "path" so that I can remember its not a road I'm
> soon going to have a hell of a task reediting all those line segments
> which are currently all the same.

You (as an user) want to simple add data features as "points of interest"
and "streets" or even "power line", correct?

But under the hood, it is already thought and discussed about how to store
these different datas in the database.

The wiki page you mentioned in your original posting is not for the users.
It is not the list of types you are limited to enter in a client. It is
the list of data types that are used under the hood.

The clients (as example the applet) may provide you (the user) with much
more features than the database has.


> I would rather get some views first then clean up and consolidate a wiki
> page.

Ok, here we go. My view:

I think that for the programmers, the datatypes mentioned in the wiki are
enough: keys, nodes, segments, streets and areas. Given the powerfull (and
simple) property-system, the clients can provide things like "point of
interest", "bus line", "marketplace" or
"look-where-I-walked-through-the-park route" without adding more
complexity to the server.

In the first place, the access to this additional stuff will be by
entering specific key/value pairs, as example setting "class=poi;" to a
node or so.

This has to be defined soon!
http://www.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap_Ontology could be a place
to start this (which is a broken link from
http://www.openstreetmap.org/wiki/index.php/Key_Value_System).


Later on, when OSM has more experience with the key/value system and when
some common key/value pairs has been established, I predict that clients
will add shortcuts to "create a point of interest" without entering some
arbitrary "foo=bar;" stuff.

But the need for special data types like POI should not make the core code
more complex if it is not really necessary.


Ciao, Imi.