[Tilesathome] rendering order of buildings

[David Lynch]

On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 11:05, Martin Koppenhoefer
<dieterdreist at gmail.com> wrote:
> No, I don't even consider covering of a street by a building a
> problem.

Why not? If it's covered up, it might as well not exist.

> Mapnik proves that it is better

Better how? Please be as specific as possible.

>  Btw.: we are not drawing maps
> but feeding a geodatabase.

Depends on how you define "we." We (OSM) are building a geodatabase.
But we (T at H and other renderers) are drawing maps, with the OSM
geodatabase as the source of the data.

I have a saying that I've borrowed from the professor of one of the
GIS courses I took with my computer science degree. An ideal map has
three qualities: accuracy, visual appeal, and ease of understanding.
Non-GIS cartography always lets you do at least two. GIS forces
accuracy on you to such a degree that you usually have to make
compromises on both appeal and usability.

For the most part, map users will know that streets and buildings are
mutually exclusive. If the edge of a building does happen to be close
enough to a street that the street is drawn on top of it, it's
probably going to be understood that the building ends where the
street starts.

-- 
David J. Lynch
djlynch at gmail.com