On Tue, Jan 04, 2011 at 11:42:40AM +0100, Martin Feuersänger wrote: > Chris Browet wrote: > > On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 00:27, Richard Lyons <rich...@the-place.net> > > wrote: > > > >> On Sun, Jan 02, 2011 at 11:46:04AM -0700, James Ewen wrote: > >> > >>> On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 7:04 AM, Christian Kraemer > >>> <christian.krae...@gmail.com> wrote: > >>> > >>>> in german translation "Knoten" is used for "node". Despite very > >>>> common unfortunately "Knoten" in german is "knot" and I doubt that a > >>>> newbie will know, that "Knoten" means something like a dot or point. > >>>> Next phrase: The OSM "way" term is "Weg" in german translation". I > >>>> > >> would > >>>> prefer "Linie" (means line) to not have to explain why a stream is > >>>> mapped with a "way" data primitive. (As far as I know this was > >>>> valid only once in history :-) What's the situation in other > >>>> languages? Did you use the OSM-terms or more newbie-friendly > >>>> expressions? > > As I'm not a GIS expert, I don't know what is used there as there "right" > terminology for these objects. > But for me, with an engineering background, "node" and "way" resp. > "Knoten" and "Weg" make sense. > > Those terms align both in German and English with graph theory. > And the data in OSM is nothing but a description of such graphs in all > their varieties. > Check http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphentheorie or > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory > > In the end this is probably owed to the fact that OSM was initiated by > computer scientist and not by GIS experts.
Yes, that is all very well, but the point is that drawing or using maps is not really graph theory. When looking at a map, a "way" is usually a "carriageway" or a "right of way". The line outlining an urbanized area or the perimeter of a body of water a national park or whatever are not "ways" in the common sense of the word. Using this term is confusing, particularly as there may indeed be a way along part of such a perimeter, but not along other parts. In addition, tools exist to handle the drawing of the double lines used to indicate actual "ways" (roads, etc), that are not needed when drawing a perimeter. In contrast, "node" is a normal word for the end of a line or the meeting point of two or more lines. "Node" is a perfectly natural and unambiguous term for this use, and is in everyday use. I cannot comment on the german word, as I have no idea how widely it is in use. However, I think we are merely "grinding water" in this discussion, since the decision, however perverse, seems to have been made long ago. richard _______________________________________________ Merkaartor mailing list Merkaartor@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/merkaartor