[OSM-dev] Data source for robot

[Mike N.]

> For instance: I would love to see the correct symbol for roads on the
> map--an Interstate shield, a US Highway shield, or a State Road shield
> with the shape of the state.  In a road relation, a URL to this is
> stored in the symbol=* key.  The renderer would just find all the road
> relations a way is part of, grab their symbols, and place them on the
> map.
>
> Currently no renderer supports this.

   I agree that this is in some ways easier to inspect and maintain. 
Ironically, listening to a professional map maker describe their use of OSM 
data, they won't touch route relations for use in placing highway shields 
because they're *route relations*, not rendering hints.

>Example 1: Un-joined ways (due to chunks of a road being part of
>multiple imports, usually at county or state boundaries).
>Currently, there are hundreds of thousands of these out there, lurking
>unknown.

   Frankly, they are already all known.   The fix is simple - a manual 
operation: just walk all county borders and stitch them together; the county 
borders tell you where to go.   This has already been done in many areas.