[OSM-newbies] Confused about joining nodes

[Steve Bennett]

On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 10:58 AM, Gavin Scott <gavincscott at gmail.com> wrote:
> Okay, thanks for that.
>
> Understand that
> This would create a routable intersection? What is the difference with 3 or
> 4?

In this use case, there were two nodes, and now there is only one. In
the other cases, there was already a node, and another way just gets
split, and attached to the node. The end results of all this stuff is
very similar, they're just slightly different starting points.

> This creates a routable intersection - understand that.
> Is Split an alternative to unglue?  What is the difference with 3?

Splitting a way means creating two ways that join end to end. For
example, if a road switches from paved to unpaved, you could split it
at that point, and change the surface=* tag. Unglueing, I believe,
means detaching a way from a node. So for example, if there was an
intersection between two ways, you could unglue one of the ways from
it, so they would overlap but not touch.

Don't get hung up on the terms - they're just specific to JOSM anyway.
Just play around with nodes, intersections, ways etc, and work out
what buttons to press to get the result you want. Ultimately all you
need to be aware of is the importance of creating intersections at the
right places (and not at the wrong places), and the distinction
between two ways that meet, and a single way. For example, a park has
to be a single way, labelled "leisure=park" - it can't be two ways,
even if those two ways collectively outline the area.

> PS what is the best way to respond to these threads and preerve formatting
> and quotations?

Can't help you. Plain text usually keeps everyone happy.

Steve