[Potlatch-dev] "Source" key and map_features.xml

[Eugene Alvin Villar]

On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 9:41 AM, Steve Bennett <stevagewp at gmail.com> wrote:
> (Disclaimer: I'm relatively new to collaborative open-source
> development, so apologies if I'm breaking a rule of etiquette here.)
>
> I notice that someone recently changed the way the "source" key is
> represented in map_features.xml. Since I disagree with part of the
> change (changing it from presence="always" to presence="onTagMatch"
> with a priority of "lowest"), I thought I'd bring it up for debate.
>
> In my view, the source key is crucial to every object. The editor
> should be doing everything it can to encourage people to fill it in.
> That means placing it full view, on the Basic tab for every object. If
> it's blank, that's essentially an error that should be corrected.
> (Whereas there is such a thing as a street with no name, there is
> really no such thing as an object with no source.)
>
> Secondly, it's a usability thing. Since you need to populate the
> source key for every object you create, this change means the user has
> to switch to the "Misc" tab (scrolling across...)
>
> Lastly, a broader question: is there a reason to limit the number of
> tags with presence="always"? We're a long way from overcrowding out
> that page. There are lots of objects with no properties at all except
> name and source - it seems pretty dopey to show only the name on the
> Basic tab, and the source on the Misc tab.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Steve

While I agree that source is an important tag, source:* (such as
source:name) are equally as important and should also be considered if
there will be changes to the tag editor interface.