[OSM-talk] National borders in the British Islands

[elvin ibbotson]

>
> From: Sebastian Spaeth <Sebastian at SSpaeth.de>
> Date: 30 May 2008 14:16:59 BDT
> Cc: talk at openstreetmap.org
> Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] National borders in the British Islands
>
>
> elvin ibbotson wrote:
>
>> As I understand it the numbers are not the problem, it
>> arises from people not knowing which is the right number to use (eg.
>> England/Scotland border admin_level 2 or 4?). This is why I think
>> numbers are useful in the data but users should not have to know what
>> numbers to use. Rather they should be presented with choices using  
>> words
>> they understand which then put the right numbers in the database.
>
> The problem is not at all about whether you let user choose a  
> number or
> from a list of wordings. The issue at hand here is whether Wales  
> country
> border is of the same type as Austria's is.

It's true this was the original issue, and (as I have already said) I  
would rank the Welsh and Scottish borders at the same level as US  
states, but my contributions have been about the way the admin_level  
is presented to the user.

>
> This is what wars are fought over and you cannot solve the issue by
> either numbers or by having people select from a list "municipal" or
> "country" border.
>
>
>>> Yes, I'm sure they would rather pick from such a menu. Mapping to  
>>> the
>>> relevant boundary and admin_level tags should be trivial as the wiki
>>> page manages it. I'm sure implementations are welcome.
>
> The issue is not at all whether there's a nice drop down list or not.
> People work already using descriptions on the wiki.

I for one do not want to have to be flicking backwards and forwards  
between wiki pages looking up the correct tagging convention when I  
am trying to edit the map. I much prefer simply choosing from the  
options Potlatch or JOSM present to me. Unfortunately, all to often,  
you need to consult the wiki and I believe this is likely to put a  
lot of new users off. I was told only a very small proportion of  
people who register as users are actually active in building the map.  
This could be one of the reasons why. The key=value tag approach is  
great for extending OSM into specialist fields or adding metadata but  
the core properties have to be standardised. That is why we have the  
guides on the wiki and arguments over the uses of these tags. I just  
think there could be improvements to the way the core tags are  
handled in the database and editor software, is all :-)

elvin
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