[OSM-talk] Extract a polygon into a polygon filter file format

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 08/26/11 15:16, Kirill Bestoujev wrote:
> could you please explain why do you need to keep France border in the
> way it is now? What is the purpose?
>
> I see no benefits of such a structure, could you show them to me?

I think the benefits are obvious.

An average country will have a number of neighbours. There will be the 
border with country A, the border with country B, the border with 
country C, and maybe the coast of ocean D. All of them are probably too 
long to be represented as a single way, so they will be made up of 
several ways.

I think it is only logical to group all ways making up the border with 
country A in one relation, and those making up the border with country B 
in another, and so on. These relations can then easily be used to form 
the borders of A and B as well.

You are right in saying that presently not many tools support this kind 
of cascading relations but I really think that the tools need to adapt 
in the long run. We already have cascading relations in long-distance 
hiking trails and they will certainly become more widely used in the future.

Bye
Frederik