[OSM-talk-be] place=city, place=town

[Alain Empain]

On Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:58:14 +0200, Mathias Versichele wrote
> Am I the only one that thinks it's a little 'artificial' to base the difference between a 'place=city' and 'place=town' on the population (>100.000 and <100.000 resp.) ? Right now a lot of cities (one example: Dendermonde) are tagged as towns, which doesn't combine well with the administrative reality...

> Oh, and I repeat the same question I posted earlier: has anyone thought of contacting natuurpunt ?
> 
> Mathias
> -- 
> Mathias Versichele
> Bio-ir milieutechnologie / Msc. geografie
> Oudburgstraat 16
> 9240 Zele
> 0485/16.07.08

Hello Mathias,

indeed, the population size is not the best indication of the place hierarchy.

In my native region (coal axe, near La Louvière) any village is bigger in population than many 'villes'  in France.

It depends to what information we want to emphasize, but in my opinion, the role of the city is more important that its population size

Cities of any size  have their own 'hinterland', their typical facilities (administrations, tribunal etc.).

Have a nice day,

Alain

---
Dr Alain EMPAIN, Bioinformatics, Bryology 
 National Botanic Garden of Belgium            alain.empain at br.fgov.be 
 University of Liège, GIGA +1, Alma-in-silico  alain.empain at ulg.ac.be 
 Rue des Martyrs, 11 B-4550 Nandrin 
Mobile: +32 497 701764  HOME:+32 85 512341   ULG: +32 4 3664157

 
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