[OSM-talk] Relations not always brilliant

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

> > If you simply use the "ref" tag to specify the road number, how would
> > you then use the API to access all ways making up B4027?
> 
> By using OSMXAPI: http://www.informationfreeway.org/api/0.5/way 
> [ref=B4027]

Which will omit anything tagged "ref=B4027;B4028" or some such. Ok you
said there shouldn't be any of those in the UK anyway so I guess
you're fine...

> That the mainstream API doesn't do it is (if it's deemed useful) a  
> deficiency in the API, not a reason to add duplicate data.

I think it is a good idea to group objects that belong together in a
relation. Ultimately I'd expect the relation to carry the "ref=B4027"
tag and to drop that tag from the ways contained therein. Makes a lot
of sense from a data modelling viewpoint I think.

Agreed that we're not there yet but it is a good thing to aim at. I
fully expect most ways to be part of one or more relations some time in
the future so why not get used to it.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"