[OSM-dev] Interpreting segments of a way

[bvh]

> >On Mon, Oct 23, 2006 at 03:37:19PM +0100, Etienne wrote:
> >> Ways are *ordered* lists of segments.
> >
> >On what basis should the ordering take place?
> 
> 
> In a .osm file the <seg> elements within a <way> element are listed in the
> order defined in the database.
> 
> In JOSM segments are sequenced in ways in the order in which they were
> added.  So each time a segment is added it will be added to the end of the
> list.  Once exception, if a node is inserted then the new segment is
> inserted adjacent to the segment at the insertion point (which is what you
> would expect).
> 
> There is no direct way of viewing or altering the segment order in JOSM.  I
> think there is a way view and edit the segment order in the Applet.
> 

So basically, although a way is an ordered list of segments, there
is no (easy) way to change or view the order, the server doesn't care
about the order and there is no rule as to how the order should be
interpreted in terms of structures in reality.

For all intents and purposes it seems that a way is actually
an unordered list of segments from the point of view of a client
editor.

I think I agree more with the other poster, that a way is (should be)
conceptually just an (unordered) collection of segments.

> Each non-contiguous part of the street would be a separate way.  There is a
> subsiduary proposal to implement a hierarch of ways which would enable a
> group of ways to be annotated with a common set of tag values (such as the
> street's name).

That's just absurd! What would be the advantage to the current system?
To me that just seems as if ways become segments and something newly
invented becomes ways. It is better the way it is imho.

cu bart