[OSM-talk] Move leisure=slipway to waterway=slipway?

Ulf Lamping ulf.lamping at web.de
Sat Jul 7 12:30:41 BST 2007


David Earl schrieb:
> On 07/07/2007 01:08, Ulf Lamping wrote:
>   
>> Is there a reason not to change leisure=slipway into waterway=slipway?!?
>>     
>
> Because it involves changing everything that already understands the 
> existing tag, for no gain.
>
> The actual words used in the tag names and values are not very 
> significant. They're only for our convenience. 
Sorry, I don't understand you here, see below.
> Changing things like this 
> has implications for minimal gain.
>
> Much more important is that the tagging scheme can support a concept at 
> all (route, for example, doesn't really work), and that we all use the 
> same tags (for non-specialist uses). Changing tags for cosmetic purposes 
> is counter-productive.
>   
I simply disagree that this is minimal gain. Of course, this is a 
minimal thing per se, but these little things sum up.

For me as a "none native englishman", it takes me hours (literally!) to 
read the whole map features page. To understand it, I have to read a lot 
of "proposed features" pages, translate some things into german using 
leo.org and alike. This is *very* annoying, keeps doubt and *any* help 
in reading this page is greatly appreciated.

... and having some tags that don't really fit makes this search much 
worse than it could be IMHO.

I've tried to put some explanation and clarification to that page 
recently, but there is still a lot of explanation missing :-(


Think of it that way: I'm personally trying to tag a slipway. I don't 
even know the right word in german for this, so I have no real chance to 
find an english word for it. I'm looking at the map features page and 
the first place I look into would be waterway - as this seems to make 
the most sense to me. NOW I'M STUCK and spend much more time than 
necessary to tag this.

Of course, I can tag it now as "wo Boote in das Wasser kommen", but 
that's exactly what the map features page tries to avoid, right?

Having said all this, your attitude "cosmetic purposes is 
counter-productive" makes me feel a bit sad. You don't seem to care 
about newbies having a hard time joining/learning the project, as you 
are already there for a while ;-)

And yes, these little "cosmetic" things can take you hours and annoys 
you pretty much as a newbie.

Regards, ULFL






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