[OSM-dev] arbitrariness of relations [was: HEADS UP osmosis pgsql schema users]

[Matt Amos]

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 3:58 PM, Roland Olbricht <roland.olbricht at gmx.de> wrote:
> Thus, the following things happen
> - people convert data from one representation to another, while other people
>   just convert it the other way back - looks a little bit like an edit war
> - a lot of code in any piece of software processing this data is needed to
>   cope with the different representations and solve arising conflicts

did you mean:
  - people edit the data in a similar manner to a wiki.
  - code has to be written in a flexible and robust fashion to work
with global data.

i understand that both points have problems as well as advantages, but
an "ecosystem" of tags is better than a "monoculture" (a.k.a fixed
ontology) at dealing with unexpected features. eventually, one system
of tagging a particular feature will become dominant because it has
been successfully used in many places and by many editors. this is
evolution.

> On the other hand, if you find a consensus on the representation of the data,
> you can put effort in
> - encoding the data in this particular representation
> - implementing this particular representation properly in all pieces of
>   software

ah, you mean intelligent design?

in my experience, this leads to systems that look good on paper.
however, at some point they are unable to properly represent a
feature, or become overly complex.

cheers,

matt