[OSM-dev] visible attribute for OSM XML elements

[Igor Brejc]

Hi,

I'm revisiting some of my old OSM reader/writer code and I'm wondering 
about the "visible" attribute for OSM XML tags. Looking at the 
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Data_Primitives I now understand it 
specifies whether the element is actually present in the database, but 
I'm wondering if it is really necessary for this attribute to be 
compulsory (if the DTD is correct: 
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Protocol_Version_0.6/DTD)?

Most of the OSM XML usage is for current and not historic data, so 
visible="true" could be implied. Now it only bloats the resulting XML. 
Just a thought.

Regards,
Igor

-- 
http://igorbrejc.net