2012/9/7 Dave Sutter <sut...@intransix.com>:
> easily managed in a different database. To take a step back, the
> obvious example of external databases tied to a map is businesses. It
> would be nice to have a database of businesses.
+1, e.g. to link from osm to it (hopefully would leave no room for
ambiguities, which otherwise (e.g. name, operator) still remain).
> The business is placed
> on the map using its postal address and possibly additional
> information.
well, you can always place everything on the map with the address
(most web maps work like this), if the address is in OSM.
> This allows for a much richer set of data for the
> business. I don't believe there is such a database tied to OSM?
the idea has already been brought up a couple of times, but I am not
aware of an open database tied closely to OSM at the moment.
> This idea can be extend to more general addresses using the ref tag.
> If the ferry routes have a ref tag the external data can cite the ref.
> That database can hold ferry and other transit schedules. Managing
> this seems like it would be much easier than managing through the map.
> Of course, this also requires an external database.
probably several of them ;-), one for public transport, one for
accomodation, one for restaurants, one (or many) for shops, one for
public administration ("where do I have to go for a new passport?"),
one for industrial production, ...
Of course these could also be unified in one big db, but not sure if
this makes sense, as there is huge differences for the data types e.g.
between restaurants (user judgements, diets offered, etc.), a cinema
database (which films are shown, how big are the rooms, ...), and a
public transport database (schedules).
> I would like to see the ref tag formalism expanded a bit to allow for
> this sort of generalized addresses, so that an external database could
> uniquely reference an object using the ref and related tags. Maybe by
> adding some tags for context for the specific ref?
maybe "ref" is not the best tag to do this. Better use sub-keys
(ref:opengeodb=123), there is also uuid, website, url, ...
> Having said this, I am not saying I am against also tagging
> information on a map. I don't think there is a well defined dividing
> line between what should be on the map and what should be placed
> outside the map.
the more dynamic the information is, the less we want it directly in OSM.
Cheers,
Martin
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