It is not entirely correct that it is not possible to have a distributed editing API, for example on osmosa.net, but that would require a heavy redesign of the database, server and API parts of OSM. Firstly to have this setup work properly one would need a clustered database, where the database on osmosa.net to be a node of the same database as on OSM.org. That would in most cases (though I havn't researched into it) mean a redesign from postgreSQL to the clustered database. Than all API calls must be redesigned to communicate to the correct database, and significant changes in database architecture and API would mean that most editors would need a complete brushup on the way they commit data to OSM.
The answer as I see it is more in the line of "not possible today, and not likely to be" _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
