[OSM-talk] Disappearing footpaths

[Lester Caine]

David Stevenson wrote:
> Dave wrote:
>> On 03/04/07, Lester Caine <lester at lsces.co.uk> wrote:
>>>> The only way I can see to do that is to have a layer of abstraction
>>>> between the data users see and what the database calls the tags
>>>> internally. Once we have done that, the internal name may as well stay
>>>> with the English name. Anything else would be lots of work for no gain
>>>> whatsoever.
>>> This is one of the major reasons that XML is simply not a sensible
>>> storage
>>> medium ;)
>>> Scrap the use of full text for all these items and create a simple lookup
>>> table of values, with sets for each language. The tools then store the
>>> number
>>> and present the user with the currently approved list of values for their
>>> language.
>>> Solves a number of problems with one simple step?
>>
>>
>> But then we loose the freeform option.
>>
>> If it makes you feel better, it's always possible the mysql storage engine
>> is doing this anyway :-)

I would not use that as a good point ;)

> Free form is fine, and needed for names and similar keys.
> Enumerated types allow good error checking, translation and easy pull
> down menu options, for major keys like "highway"
> 
> Mixing the two types in one key is not good.

Exactly.
There is no need to loose freeform, but for those keys that there IS a fixed 
set of values then enumeration SHOULD be enforced, and translation is simple.

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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