[OSM-talk] Proposal for Tag Prefixes

Etienne 80n80n at gmail.com
Fri Oct 27 13:45:05 BST 2006


I'd like to make a proposal to formalise (as far as anything is ever formal
on OSM) a practice that I have been following for some time.

"Tags may be prefixed with a value that corresponds to a wiki user Id
followed by a colon.  The owner of that wiki user Id has the right to
control the use of all such tags."

When I want to tag something with information that is meaningful to me, but
probably not useful to anyone else, I prefix the tag name with my wiki user
Id.  My wiki user Id is 80n, so I might create tags like 80n:coverage=100%
or 80n:areaOfInterest=1.  Since these are prefixed by my user id they are
unlikely to collide with any other tags.

I'd like to propose that each user registered on the wiki can use their wiki
Id as a tag prefix and be assured that it will not conflict with any other
tag use.  This provides each user with a private tagging prefix that they
can use and control however they like.

This does not mean that *only* that user can use the tag prefix, but it does
mean that the user has the right to control the use of that tag.   Any user
can still use any tag they like, but if user x controls x:highway then they
can decided what standards should be applied to that tag.  They can decide
what the valid values should be and they have the right, for example, write
bots that delete any of "their" tags if they don't conform.

With this simple principle I see a number of different ways that it might be
used:
- Private tagging.  Used by an individual for that user's own private
purposes.
- Shared tagging schemes.  A complete tagging scheme like Map Features may
be published with a prefix of mf:  the owner of the mf wiki Id can then
dictate a policy relating to  what the valid tags and values are within this
scheme.
- Application specific tags.  Certain tags may have specific meanings to
various applications.  For example RallyCarzPro:curve=5 might be a tag that
has a specifc meaning to the RallyCarzPro race simulator.  By registering
the wiki user Id RallyCarzPro this ensures that this tag will not be used
inadvertently for another purpose.

I'm sure there are other uses that I haven't thought of.

What would be the downside to implementing the above rule as "policy"?

Comments?

Etienne
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