Addresses are just labels, with (in the general case) an N:M relation
with "areas". Addresses are not used to identify buildings, as that
would imply that all buildings (even sheds and garages) would need their
own address. In multi-occupancy buildings (apartments, shared offices
etc) each separately registered unit needs its own address (in order to
ensure post etc is directed to the right party); the geometry of each
unit can vary wildly, in three dimensions. A 1:1 relation between
addresses and "areas" (actually "volumes" might be a better word here)
is certainly very common, but not enough to cover the reality.
International addressing in databases is an extremely complex area,
which is caused to a large extent by people thinking they understand
their own address (after all, everybody has one) and then expecting the
rest of the world to follow the same model. The UK address model lives
in a parallel universe compared to the administrative boundaries. It
needs extra fields ("locality" for example) to disambiguate, when a Post
Town has multiple roads with the same name. The UK has properties which
don't have a number (just a name). Until recently it used counties which
hadn't existed for years. All this because the addressing system is run
by Royal Mail, purely for its own convenience in delivering mail, and
there's nothing better.
I pity some countries which don't have addresses, and have stuff
delivered based on mileposts and landmarks. Maybe what3words[1] will
catch on. How will we put that in OSM I wonder?
Ireland still doesn't have postcodes by the way, despite "working on it"
for the past million years. All they have at the moment is "Loc8" [2]
which is a private initiative, probably born out of frustration with the
lack of progress by An Post. They are about to get "Eircode"[3] which
looks incredibly complex for what it is.
//colin
[1] http://what3words.com/
[2] http://www.myloc8ion.com/ [2]
[3] http://www.eircode.ie/
On 2015-05-28 09:34, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote:
> Am 28.05.2015 um 09:24 schrieb Colin Smale <colin.sm...@xs4all.nl>:
>
>> Mike, what's a "node address" and what's an "area address" (without
>> resorting to circular definitions)? I have never seen a flag for this in any
>> of the many address databases I have worked with.
>
> have you dealt with international addresses or were they related to specific
> countries? Were the addresses in these dbs polygons or points?
>
> Cheers
> Martin
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tagging mailing list
> Tagging@openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging [1]
Links:
------
[1] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
[2] http://www.myloc8ion.com/
_______________________________________________
Tagging mailing list
Tagging@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
