[Talk-us] US highway classification

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

Paul Johnson wrote:
> So how would that bring us closer to having global consistency, since
> the scope of OSM is worldwide?

It is a common misconception that OSM should have globally consistent 
tagging standards since OSM is a world-wide project.

If someone were to really demand that, the project would come to a 
screeching halt and we'd have to set up our own version of United 
Nations bureaucracy and have them debate for 20 years before we can 
continue.

It is very well possible that the highway situation in Chile demands a 
different tagging approach than that in California, and there's no 
problem with that; we just tag it differently and that's it. In the long 
run maybe Chileans need their own rendering rules to make things look 
right for them, but that's no big deal.

You can of course do what you like in the US but I would not be 
surprised if some states had different kinks in their road network 
system that would demand a slightly different approach to tagging. And 
that wouldn't be a big deal. Diversity is one of OSM's strengths, not a 
weakness.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"