[OSM-newbies] Map Level of Detail for retail sales, brand and pricing

[John Deters]

It's right in the name: OSM is a "street map", not a price map, and not necessarily even a business map. 

An external mashup linking into OSM data seems appropriate. Having the data internal to OSM would be wrong. 

Even linking to external parties from within OSM is not a good architectural choice, although I understand some infrastructure links would be appropriate. Linking railroads, ferries, hoist bridges, tollways, or other transportation structures to their owning organization's web sites makes some sense when such links facilitate route planning. 

Even parking lots *might* qualify for that kind of data, as they may be considered a part of a route.  But merchandise availability, pricing, advertising, billboards, etc. are all items that should be completely out of scope for a street map.

--
John
Awkwardly thumbed in on a phone.

On May 16, 2013, at 10:29 AM, Tac Tacelosky <tacman at gmail.com> wrote:

> I know there is enormous flexibility with tags, but also guidelines as to when they are appropriate.  My original plan was to edit / add nodes to OSM that are convenience stores, then use our database to flag the outdoor advertising, which is information that one client is interested in.
> 
> What tags are appropriate to include with OSM?  I'm interested in what products stores sell (e.g. cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, beer, other booze, lottery tickets).  Within those categories, we sometimes want to know brand and pricing information.
> 
> My thought is that this kind of stuff doesn't belong in OSM, but wanted to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Tac
> 
> PS Is newbies the right list for this kind of question?  I've re-applied to the -dev list, but  I don't think I'm on yet.