[OSM-dev] A new "object" element?

[Ben Supnik]

Hi Josef,

WRT both your comment about a real 'object' construct and a 'dependency' 
construct:

If polygons/multipolygons/areas were implemented as their own 'first 
class' construct in the OSM data model (and not as a relation of ways), 
would this change your view on these things?

IMHO (worth less than the cost of email) the real outlier in the OSM 
data model is the use of relations as areas.  I find it to be a bit 
strange because:

1. It's a very specific, highly constructed spatial relationship that 
exists as a semantic overlay on another bit of syntax.  (I would suggest 
that the rules for multi-polygon are more strict and fundamental than 
other spatial relationships like groups of ways that make up a highway 
system.)

2. It's sort of an odd-ball relation, that is, a multipolygon isn't 
really a relation at all, it's an area.

There are some wiki pages:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/The_Future_of_Areas

that discuss this.  My reaction to your posts was: _if_ we had real area 
primitives then...

1. There'd be no need for a separate dependency, because relations would 
be that dependency, and a relation would never be an "object" and

2. It would be clear what is an object...a way, node, or area is an object.

Or something like that.

I've been meaning to post a rant^H^H^H^Hconstructive critique of the 
area/multipolygon situation since I just fixed a bunch of bugs in my own 
polygon reconstruction code over the last 48 hours (and was reminded of 
how exciting reconstructing multipolygons correctly can be :-).

cheers
Ben

On 4/14/11 2:31 AM, the.promenader at gmail.com wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I've been learning/experimenting with OSM since more than two months now, and I've a few suggestions I'd like you to pick apart. Since I'm new here, I'm not quite sure where to post them (where we could have a localised discussion), so for now I'm just making diary entries. I think I have an idea that would simplify both search efficiency and comprehensive data creation - you can find it here: http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/ThePromenader/diary/13572 .
>
> Best,
>
> Josef.
> _______________________________________________
> dev mailing list
> dev at openstreetmap.org
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/dev
>

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