[OSM-newbies] How to use relations for The Chiltern Way and its extensions

[Mike N]

On 8/19/2011 6:22 AM, Bob Hawkins wrote:
>  Its relation id is
> 1716283.  I wonder, having created it, whether it should now be added as
> a single route element to the Chiltern Way relation?

   There are several ways to look at route relations in OSM.  One is the 
classic 'route model', where the relation defines a single continuous 
path from beginning to end.  Automatic relation analysis tools can be 
used to confirm / maintain the route connectivity.   In practice 
'routers' just route on the topological data and ignore route relations.

The other function of relations is to provide a convenient way to 
download a list of related objects using a single editor command, rather 
than downloading the entire bounding box that includes all relations 
objects.

   A good reason to have relations joined by super-relations is that it 
allows different people to simultaneously edit ways in different areas 
of the super-relation without creating an edit conflict.

   I took a look at the Society diagram 
http://www.chilternsociety.org.uk/about-ChltnWay.php to get an idea of 
how the extensions are arranged.   I would say that for this case, it 
would make sense to have a relation for each named part of the trail, 
and a super-relation to define the 'Chiltern Way' as a whole.