[OSM-newbies] Economizing OSM edits

[Andy Robinson (blackadder-lists)]

Joe Early wrote:
>Sent: 14 September 2009 10:31 AM
>To: newbies at openstreetmap.org
>Subject: [OSM-newbies] Economizing OSM edits
>
>Hello,
>
>I have wondered if there is any preference with OSM on economizing on
>data size.  Should we always try to reuse any bounding roads when
>entering 'landuse' areas for example?  Or using fewer points to map a
>curved road?

No need to economise. Map as it is first and worry about removing any
redundancy as a secondary exercise. Best to only reuse nodes for landuse if
there is no separate feature between the road and the landuse. If you know
the correct location of the landuse boundary position then its best to map
it in its correct location.
 
>
>I note that potlatch's tidy command adds points to (most) roundabouts
>but removes them from open ways.  I see 'landuse' areas both drawn
>independently of any other ways and other times not.  In North American
>cities the sidewalk adjoining a street is mapped as a separate way.  In
>Europe, we seem to assume urban streets all have footpaths.

If the sidewalk is separated from the road by a strip of grass or something
then its correct to draw a separate way for the sidewalk. If the two are
physically adjacent then we don't create a separate way.

>
>From a contributors perspective the only issue I have is the difficulty
>working with shared segments. With the current crop of tools this ranges
>from tedious to impossible.  I like to know if there is a reason for
>making the effort.  For that matter is there any issues with entering
>stuff and later tweaking as opposed to putting it all in, first time?

JOSM works pretty well with overlapping ways that use the same nodes. Simply
use the middle mouse button to bring up the list of ways and then hold ctrl
and the mouse button to select the one you want to edit. Think I got that
right, JOSM isn't open right now and I do it by second nature. 
>
>So; Is there any reasons to reduce and recycle versus a going for a fat
>OSM? :*)

Personally I just map and don't worry at all about how much data it creates.
One day maybe we may need so tools to be more clever about data reuse etc,
but for now it's just important to build a full dataset.

Cheers

Andy

>
>Joe e
>
>
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