[OSM-talk] source tags (was Can I say "yes" to the ODbL if I can't account for 100% of my data?)
Andy Street
mail at andystreet.me.uk
Thu Jun 16 19:37:29 BST 2011
On Thu, 2011-06-16 at 18:50 +0100, SomeoneElse wrote:
> On 16/06/2011 18:00, M∡rtin Koppenhoefer wrote:
> > You can also put this information in the change-set-comment. IMHO this
> > is where this belongs to. AFAIK the source-tag is disputed and it is
> > recommended to use the changeset comments.
>
> The problem with the changeset "source" tag is that there's no
> granularity - one tag applies to the whole edit. Presumably the only
> time that this would be valid would be an entirely armchair tracing
> session with no local knowledge and no other on-the-ground evidence
> (surely not recommended) or an import (which should surely afterwards be
> tidied up with local knowledge anyway).
I'd go so far as to say that source tags on individual objects is too
general. In my area there are a number of country lanes which I surveyed
with GPS and did not have signs showing their name. Since then other
contributors have added names from other sources and included a source
tag. The trouble with this is that it gives the impression (unless you
go digging in the history) that the whole object is from a single
source.
My personal preference is to use the source:name=... (or equivalent) for
each different data source. It might be long winded but it's accurate!
Andy
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