On 02/08/2011 11:08, Frederik Ramm wrote:
Well then let them think of a solution. Using our internal IDs to link to is a vapourvare "solution" just the same. Anyone who uses them must be aware that they might change at any time, even wholesale.
Exactly.
OSM does not cause buildings to be created or roads to be built or restaurants to be opened.
Very many real-world objects already have a stable unique identifier. Every time a building is constructed, a new ID is created in the list of all buildings maintained by some governmental organisation. Every time a railway station is built it gets an ID in the list maintained by the railway operator. Every time a company is created it gets a company number in some administration or other. Just add these external IDs to the OSM data, together with an indication of the relevant authority.
Example: Victoria Station in London is known by the unique identifier "VIC" in the list of stations maintained by Network Rail. So it might have tags "ref=VIC" and "source:ref=Network Rail". There's your stable ID: whenever you want to find it, query on these tags. Of course performance would likely be a major issue here, but that is probably not insurmountable and anyway should not be used as an excuse for not doing the Right Thing.
Colin _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
