[OSM-talk] Data primitives (was: The segments vs ways vs superways question again...)

[Richard Fairhurst]

Jochen Topf <jochen at remote.org> wrote:

> [illuminating and sensible post snipped]
> Thinking further about what I have written above,
> we could probably come up with a way to represent all this in a coherent
> data model, but that would probably be unusable for everyone but experts,
> and thats not what we want.

That last point is worth emphasising.

To speed our aim of mapping the whole world, OSM should be as easy to  
edit as Wikipedia. At present the nodes/segments/ways distinction is  
quite complex for a new user to grasp, as several posts to the mailing  
list have demonstrated - and that's just the 2% of users who've got  
beyond the initial screen to discover the mailing list. In contrast,  
on Wikipedia, you can click 'edit' and immediately correct any errors  
you find, using a paradigm you understand.

As Jochen suggests, we could maybe come up with a beautiful idealised  
data model that represents all known geographic features in a tidy  
database schema. But only GIS professionals would have the knowledge  
to edit the map. Abstract concepts of superways and groups may create  
serious confusion when the user comes to OSM with the sole thought "I  
just want to add my street".

Let's aim for 100% usability and 90% database neatness, not the other  
way round.

cheers
Richard