[OSM-dev] question about node identifiers

[Frank O'Dwyer]

Frederik Ramm wrote:
> Frank O'Dwyer wrote:
>> Are the IDs on poi nodes reliable as unique identifiers for the same 
>> POI? I.e. will future updates to that POI have the same node ID or 
>> could they have a different one?
>
> They will have a different id if someone deletes and re-adds them. If 
> they're just moved around or their properties changed, they will 
> retain the id.
Thanks - do you know is deletion and re-adding common? I assume that 
would normally happen only in error or is there a use case for that?

I guess then I will have to use some heuristics to figure out if  two 
different node ids near each other  represent the same  POI, when one 
has been added and the other deleted from OSM.

Thanks,
Frank