[Talk-us] Boundaries and verifiability (was Re: Retagging hamlets in the US)

[Clifford Snow]

On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 10:29 AM, Bryce Nesbitt <bryce2 at obviously.com>
wrote:

> The nice thing about mapping a "neighborhood name" as a point feature is:
>
> a) It helps people locate the neighborhood
> b) it completely sidesteps the question of the exact, possibly fuzzy,
> boundaries.
>
> For 10% of the hassle you map 90% of the benefit.


Except when it reports you are in a different neighborhood than you
actually are. When neighborhoods are not clearly defined then yes, a point
is the "best" choice. But when neighborhoods have defined boundaries then
they should be added. Just going up the admin level to city level, points
work until it says you are in a different city. We can not "see" city
boundaries but OSM has thousands of city boundaries. The simple solution is
if the neighborhood boundaries are clearly defined they belong in OSM as
polygons. If neighborhood boundaries are not clearly defined then they
should be represented by points.

For the supporters of no admin boundaries in OSM, build the case on the
mailing lists instead of just saying "there is a growing support" for no
boundaries. In some parts of the US there is a growing support that climate
change is a hoax. That doesn't make it true. Build a case for removing
admin boundaries (and please include landuse.)

Ideally in the future we can have a fuzzy boundary. But until then I think
what I proposed is an acceptable solution.

Clifford


-- 
@osm_seattle
osm_seattle.snowandsnow.us
OpenStreetMap: Maps with a human touch
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