[OSM-talk] Is it technically and legally possible to add the Open Location Code to the OSM search?

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 08/10/2018 12:04 AM, Vao Matua wrote:
> I use Plus Codes with OSMand offline and it works well. If we are
> worried about the number of tags we should remove all tags and convince
> everyone to just use lat/long.

There's absolutely nothing to be said against OSMand using plus codes,
indeed, this proves that plus codes can be used perfectly well without
adding them to the OSM database.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "remove all tags and convince
everyone to just use lat/long". Our tags describe not *where* something
is, but *what* something is, a feature certainly as useful in Tanzania
as elsewhere. The description of *where* something is does indeed happen
by latitude and longitude in OSM.

In some countries we add street addresses, but only because there's no
mathematical way to derive a lat/long from the address. If it were
possible to apply a formula to an address and arrive at a lat/long, or
apply a formula to a lat/long and arrive at a street address, nobody
would be mapping them.

Just as nobody should be mapping plus codes. Put the formula in the
device (e.g. OSMand) and you have plus code support for the whole
planet. No need to import billions of address points. It's faster,
cleaner, and less likely to break.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"