[Imports] A few questions about importing U.S. NHD data for Subbasin 01080105 import (White River in VT)

[Andy Allan]

On 23 February 2012 09:15, Alan Mintz <Alan_Mintz+OSM at earthlink.net> wrote:

> You don't need to understand what every tag means, particularly
> these data carried from import sources.

This approach makes OSM uneditable. Imagine you don't know what the
tag abcd=1234 means. What is a user supposed to do with that tag when
they split the way? When they shorten it? When the convert a line into
a polygon? When they merge it with another? And by the time they've
searched the wiki for guidance, they find another tag efgh=4567...

> Sometimes, it's not immediately
> obvious what to do with some of the information during import, so it can be
> useful to carry it into the OSM database.

No - if a use is found for it later, the information can be added
later. Adding stuff "just in case" leads to more circumstances like
the "Tiger Node Tags" debacle[1].

> Certainly a unique foreign key
> back to the original database (e.g. tiger:tlid) makes future updates more
> practical

It makes it *seem* like updates are more practical, when in fact they
aren't. tlid is a classic example of how un-useful these foreign keys
are - it's such a pity that they are so prevalent and lure so many
other people into making the same mistake without thinking things
through.

Cheers,
Andy

[1] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/TIGER_fixup/node_tags