[OSM-newbies] Route Relations

[Mike N]

On 4/24/2013 11:44 AM, Mike Thompson wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Is it good practice to have a route relation that has two or more
> geographically separate parts as in this case:
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/2007201

    Hi,  Route relations are not actually used by route-finding 
software, so it comes down to a question of size - amount of geographic 
span, and number of relation members.   A good reason to split this and 
have a super relation is to minimize the chances of edit conflicts. 
Other than that - either way would be correct.

> Also, is it good practice to have a route relation that "forks" or has
> spurs, reference the same route relation, at this specific location:
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=40.48666&lon=-104.96196&zoom=17&layers=M
>
> Should this also handled with a super relation?

   Another use of relations is to allow change monitoring or downloading 
the entire network.   Either way would work for this case.  If you wish 
to have special rendering software that might highlight connecting 
trails or roads differently, it wouldn't hurt to have them as a separate 
relation.