[OSM-talk] empty relations

[Stefan Baebler]

Hi!

While analyzing current uses of relations (relations-latest.osm) it came 
to my attention that relations with no members can exist in the DB while 
they probably have no meaning in the real world. What's more, current 
editors never show such relations because they can't be related to the 
area that is being edited (it can't show up in any bbox API call, just 
in full DB dumps).

One example: http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.5/relation/2339
(this was obviously replaced by 
http://www.openstreetmap.org/api/0.5/relation/2340 )
There are probably more, but i guess it is easier to run an appropriate 
query on the MySql console to determine the magnitude of the problem.

Should relations with no members be allowed?
If so, how can one use such existing, but empty relations and how could 
one delete an obsolete relation?

Not sure if the same problem occurs with empty ways, with no nodes 
referenced. Or are they already disallowed/deleted by API?

Stefan