[OSM-dev] Fw: DBF files (shapefile) and OSM tags

[Jochen Topf]

On Sat, Dec 30, 2006 at 01:19:48PM +0000, Nick Whitelegg wrote:
> >The columns in a shapefile's attributes have a fixed width, and that
> >width is reserved for each shape. So the space usage will be
> >approximately equal between using a single, concatenated column and
> >multiple columns.
> 
> >What did you intend to gain by concatenating the columns?
> 
> What I was wondering about in particular was how to make the shapefile DBF file fit in with OSM's data format (where there is technically a limitless number of valid tags). Having one attribute column per OSM tag would presumably mean that any shapefile generating application would only be able to use a particular subset of
>  tags. Has anyone else thought of this issue? I guess the best solution would just be to use the most commonly-used tags.

If you can't transfer all the information from OSM into the shapefile
format, you need some kind of configurable translation table. Basically
the same as in Osmarender or OSMGarminMap, where you can decide what you
want in your destination format and in what form. In Osmarender and
OSMGarminMap this is done through the <rule> statements in XML, but you
can do this any way you like. But I think this must be configurable,
because different people have different ideas on what they want. Of
course you'll have one standard translation which will include the most
common tags.

Jochen
-- 
Jochen Topf  jochen at remote.org  http://www.remote.org/jochen/  +49-721-388298