[Osmf-talk] Tagging standards

[Zeke Farwell]

I wonder what those of you speaking out against tagging standardisation
think about web standards?  Perhaps they are an overreach by tech companies
that squash the varying cultural differences in document structure and
styling that exist around the world?  Do you think the web would be better
if each country developed their own variation of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
that better represented their culture?  Would you prefer cultural specific
web browsers built to handle these variations?  Obviously (I would hope)
these are rhetorical questions.  Web standards mean we can access a website
from any country with the same web browser and this is a good thing.

Much like the web, OpenStreetMap is for sharing information widely and
standards can help with this goal.  There seems to be a feeling among many
that open tagging and standardisation are fundamentally incompatible.  I do
not see it this way.  I can imagine a future where established tags
eventually move through a standards process and this gives mappers and data
consumers more confidence that this tag can be relied on and won't change
its meaning because some people start using it in a different way.  At the
same time open tagging would continue just the same as there is very little
chance that a standards body would have the time and energy to cover all
possible feature types in this vast, complex world.

--
Zeke
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