On 18/10/2009 15:59, Anthony wrote: > On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 10:08 AM, David Earl <da...@frankieandshadow.com> > wrote: >> Which is why I am seeing if we can find a middle way: one that makes >> tags more accessible and manageable in automated fashion, but doesn't >> limit people's freedom to innovate and suggest by example. > > A "middle way" is usually either 1) a "solution" where no one is > happy; or 2) a temporary step along a slippery slope from A to B, > which is implemented to get from A to B without the proponents of A > complaining too loudly. > > Let's hope this one winds up being 2 and not 1 :).
A middle way only in that it prevents neither way of working, not in the sense of a compromise that doesn't satisfy either camp. No, I hope it provides advantages for everyone: by having centralised machine readable tag descriptions, all the applications can work off the same schema, we can avoid typos and/or have common error checking, while still being able to add tags, and it allows them to be advertised and documented so there's a better chance of them being adopted rather than reinvented. We can make links between them so similar or identical or superseded tags can be flagged. We can describe them in multiple languages in one place accessible to everyone, not just human readers of a web page (or screen scrapers). We can have synonyms to allow for multiple languages. We can indicate what "property" tags are considered appropriate to what "object" tags. And so on. Basically I think we can do more, and more robustly, without squashing intrinsic freedoms that are there now. David. _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
