[Imports] "readonly" tag for imported data (ask "simple" editors to not modify)?

[Toby Murray]

On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 6:14 AM, Jan Iven <iven.jan at neuf.fr> wrote:
> I find myself occasionally adding nodes to data that I assume will be
> updated regularly from "authoritative" sources - examples such as

I don't think there is currently any good plan to update imported data
in OSM. This is one of the big arguments against imports. They can't
be easily maintained with current tools. We've been facing similar
issues in the US with the TIGER road centerline data and no one has
really come up with a solution.

As for administrative boundaries, I have suggested in the past that
editors should perhaps come with a default filter to make
administrative boundaries uneditable. At least here in the US, most of
the time a mapper touches a boundary it is by accident and a mistake.
This is in large part because of the way they were imported. If the
person really wants to edit a boundary, the filter could simply be
disabled. But I haven't really gotten any positive feedback on that
idea.

I know some people are of the opinion that such imported data should
live in its own database and be combined with OSM data at render time.

Toby