[OSM-dev] OSM export incompatibilities between JOSM and Merkaartor

[Chris Browet]

>
>
> So let me get this right - when you download data from OSM into Merkaartor,
> and then make a few edits, you will then have the choice of saving your
> session "stateful" in a special format, or "stateless" in an format that is
> almost like OSM XML, just with occasional non-numeric IDs. Correct?
>
> So anyone who wants to continue editing in Merkaartor will choose the
> "stateful" format because it provides much more edit metadata. Correct?
>
> The "stateless" format is only there so that the data in the editor can be
> exported to other applications that expect OSM XML as their input (e.g.
> scripts, renderers, JOSM, ...) without uploading it first. Correct?


Correct on everything.

>
>
> Then the fact that JOSM cannot work with these files currently is only a
> small piece of the problem - neither will, for example, Osmosis, Mapnik, or
> any of a number of Perl scripts in the repository that assume the object ID
> to be numeric. (I'm not 100% sure which software actually makes the
> "numeric" assumption and which doesn't. I believe Osmarender would possibly
> work with non-numeric IDs also.) - What, then, *is* the current use case for
> your stateless export format if it cannot be processed by most applications
> anyway?
>
> I don't know. At least one user wanted to import Merkaartor exported OSM to
JOSM, that's all I care.

Again don't forget that the problem only exists for non-uploaded data. Data
from the DB is uploaded with a proper OSM ID, so there is no reason not to
allow it to be exported. Furthermore, Merkaartor allow for different OSM
layers with data coming from different sources, so there is a valid use case
in sticking them together in a standard (albeit non JOSM standard) OSM file.

Re your "other apps" argument, I don't quite see what would be the point for
them to convert xml text attributes to numeric for an ID... If they do,
well, too bad.

But whatever, forget that I even asked for it.
I mostly wanted to see if there could be more cooperation on an equal base
between the 2 projects (and others).
I guess I have my answer.

Best Regards
- Chris -
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