[OSM-talk] Map Features, maxspeed and maplint

[David Earl]

On 14/10/2008 18:26, Tristan Scott wrote:
> Given that SI units are standard across OSM could be define a "speed" 
> value in addition to "Numeric" "String" etc like so:
> (default to kmh as specified before (also means not adding millions of 
> pointless "kmh" strings to the db)
> Factor means "multiply by this to convert to SI - interpreters would 
> either use value as-is or multiply by Factor for that suffix to get SI 
> units.
> "Suffix" is the entire string after the numerical value, with whitespace 
> trimmed - so spaced/not spaced suffix wouldn't matter - defining this 
> rigidly would be ignored by most users, i suspect
> 
> My proposed table:
> Unit - Factor
> "" - 1
> "kmh" - 1
> "mph" - 1.609
> "knots" - 1.852


+1.

I really don't see what all the fuss is about. It's not exactly novel to 
do it this way: CSS puts units as part of the value.

It's what I've been doing all along, except some pedant comes along and 
changes it to some incomprehensible decimal number almost as soon as I 
add them to the map (which means I can carry on doing it that way even 
if others think differently, as they'll get converted automatically as 
far as i am concerned and I don't have to think about a magic number in 
km/h).

David