[OSM-talk] Mapping everything as areas

[Tobias Knerr]

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:
> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason's diary entry last week (http://j.mp/8ESP8o) 
> stired my interest. Using a few examples, he showed how mapping 
> everything as an area - or as a volume - makes ultimate sense. Should we 
> go for it now ?

Imo, area mapping is too advanced for now. After all,
- it's quite hard to get the data (several width measurements required)
- there aren't many practical applications
- you can't work around some editing problems with shared nodes anymore
- we don't have software support for it

As the next step for areas where most of the basics are done, I'd rather
start lane mapping. It has some very attractive use cases (detailed
routing instructions for cars, routing and maps for
pedestrians/bicycles) and it's relatively easy to gather the data (you
just look at the street, no tools required - not even a GPS).

Actually, I don't believe most mappers will be able and willing to
produce data that is more precise than what can represented with width
tag + lane info any time soon.

Of course, if you *want* to map areas in addition to linear road
representations, just do it.

Tobias Knerr