[Tagging] Feature Proposal - RFC - area:highway

[Stefan Bethke]

Am 12.05.2011 um 10:50 schrieb Tobias Knerr:

> Sorry for my previous unfinished mail, I didn't want to send it.
> 
> To summarize what I intended to say:
> 
> * I assume that most road shapes are adequately described with just a
> single outline area for the entire road, and no one has provided a
> counter example yet.

Ever been to any city?  Should I post photos just looking out the window here?  What examples to you need?  What is this assumption of yours based on?

> * If everyone mapped road parts as separate areas, it would actually
> make it *easier* for me to support them in my application. But it seems
> like an excessive amount of effort for mappers.

Ultimately, that's up to the mappers to decide.  I think it'll be a while before I would get around mapping to this level of detail, but I won't stop anyone putting in the work.

> * For some applications, it will be necessary to reconstruct the entire
> road from the various separate ways, and I assume that an area around
> the entire road could reduce the amount of guessing involved. Of course,
> that's not the purpose the area:highway key was originally invented for.

There already is a concrete requirement to have the different spaces (for vehicles, bikes, pedestrians) represented appropriately, plus visually impaired users who would love to get information on physical features of these.  By mapping both a conventional highway=* way as well as an area, applications can decide what level of detail they're interested in.  The areas are complementary to the ways; they don't replace them, just as with waterways.


Stefan

-- 
Stefan Bethke <stb at lassitu.de>   Fon +49 151 14070811