[Talk-us] Adding a new node by merging borders of two other existing nodes?

[stevea]

> From: Reem Ali Suwaileh <reem.suwaileh at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Talk-us] Adding a new node by merging borders of two other existing nodes?
> Date: March 18, 2022 at 5:32:24 AM PDT
> 
> The name "Carolinas" is commonly used to describe both North Carolina and South Carolina. These states exist separately on OSM. I wanted to add a new node for "Carolinas" as it's commonly used on social media this way but wants to hear from you first?
> 
> I want an easy way to create a node by merging existing North Carolina and South Carolina borders. Is this possible? I need that because I work on automating the extracting of locations names over social media posts and wants to link those locations against OSM.

(Is asking this a test of some sort?)

This is a poor idea for a number of reasons.  First, I refute the initial assertion (as have, do and will others).  The name “Carolinas” is nothing I’ve ever heard in many decades of my awareness of culture and geography in the region.  On rare occasion, I’ve heard “Carolina” (to describe the region) but only decades ago and not in the common vernacular.  Social media, whether it is “commonly used” in that (questionable as to the truth of anything uttered in it) realm, has nothing to do with either validating or supporting your (or any) argument.

The two states North Carolina and South Carolina exist as two separate non-node entities because that is the correct method to enter two separate entities into OSM that are sovereign states; a simple node is wholly insufficient to describe such a vast geographic AREA (not the dimensionless location which a node represents).  It is incorrect to represent an entire state as a single node, let alone two.  And, nodes do not have “borders,” so “merging nodes” doesn’t make sense to conflate multiple areas, as the extent of such a merge would remain unclear.  Reducing the area encompassed by two polygons (closed ways in OSM), each of which is an entire state, down to a single node is not only redundant, it completely discards all of the geographic area represented, so what would be the point?  (Both literal and figurative).

Whatever your need is (automatic extraction of location names over social media posts?), you’ll need to develop a solution using OSM’s existing data, not by creating nonsensical, incorrect data in OSM that falsely oversimplifies the real world to satisfy your need to solve a problem.  Your approach is faulty in a number of fundamental ways.  I suggest you strive to better understand how OSM’s basic data structures (nodes, ways, relations) are used to represent geographical entities (such as states or regions) in the real world.

Though, thank you for asking here.