[OSM-dev] Filtering OSM data on the server

[Andreas Volz]

Hello,

Some minutes ago I uploaded an GPX to OSM. I've forgotten to filter the
data with gpsbabel before upload. Because of this I had an idea.

Downloading raw points from OSM needs a lot of time in some regions. So
why not filtering the raw points on the server? I could think of two
scenarios:

Scenario 1) A periodic process on the server filters all uploaded raw
data. Settings for filtering could be e.g. 5m distance. Other settings
could be discussed about. The filtered points are really removed from
the database. (They're still available in the uploaded gpx files.)

Scenario 2) The raw points are filtered on the server before the
downloading (e.g. in JOSM). No points are deleted. This costs some
server load, but perhaps the save of bandwidth worth it.

I think there's no information lost if the data is filtered with some
smart settings. There're some highways where're so many points that
it looks like a big line and not like individual points. :-)

What do you think about this?

regards
Andreas