[OSM-dev] [OSM-talk] Fetch whole relation when parts of it are in bbox

[bvh]

On Sat, Nov 03, 2007 at 01:37:56PM +0100, Jannis Achstetter wrote:
> Wouldn't it be good if the server would give me the whole relation and
> not only the parts that are inside the bbox? Would this introduce any
> problems for osmarender or other software?

The problem is that relations can become very big. Ie. I can see how
someone will put my complete neighbourhood in one relation called
'Spangen'. And then make a relation called 'Rotterdam' with all the
neighbourhoods. And then make a relation called 'The Netherlands' etc...

This places renderers for a catch-22. Either you download everything
with the risk that someday a hierarchy of relationships will force
you to consider the whole planet. Or you download only a part
with the risk of skipping elements that influence the rendering.

For now I don't have any good ideaso n how to solve it. But as you
can guess from my other mails on the list today, I just started thinking
about relations... And already I have a headache :)

cu bart