[OSM-talk] OSM data, how can we contribute to keep it to a reasonable size?

Paul Norman penorman at mac.com
Fri Jan 19 00:53:11 UTC 2018


On 1/17/2018 9:14 PM, Oleksiy Muzalyev wrote:
>
> What can I as a map editor do to keep these data files to a reasonable 
> size without compromising  data quality? I mean in the sense, - take 
> care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves?
>
> I could think of the following three approaches so far:
>
> - using as short an URL as possible, website=http://somewebsite.com 
> instead of website=http://www.somewebsite.com , three characters less; 
> [2]
>
> - correct phone number ISO format, phone=+12 345 678 90 12 instead of 
> phone=+12 (345) 678 90 12 , two characters less;  [3]
>
> - deleting unnecessary nodes from a way (Shift-Y in JOSM) with 
> consequent verification of its geometry;
>
> What else, if anything, could be done? 

Speaking as a developer and frequent consumer of OSM data, don't do any 
of these things to save space.

Instead, worry about ease of editing. If a few meter long way has 
hundreds of nodes, that's a problem for editing, and should be fixed; a 
mass of unnecessary import-sourced tags confuses people, don't use them; 
and overlapping landuse with lots of multipolygons is difficult to edit, 
so should be avoided. Following these behaviors will slightly reduce 
data size, but the point is keeping the map maintainable.

It's also difficult to say what will affect size without a detailed 
understanding of the format and how it's processed. Size is also not the 
only indicator of time to process - for various reasons, relations are 
much slower to work with than ways with most data consumption workflows.



More information about the talk mailing list