[pkg-fso-maint] tangogps and openstreetmap

[Steffen Moeller]

Mitja Kleider wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Am Sonntag, den 01.03.2009, 22:20 +0100 schrieb Steffen Moeller:
>>>> The directory /root/Maps seems to find some consensus between Qtopia and Debian concerning
>>>> the location of OpenStreetMap data that was downloaded for offline reuse. I'd prefer to
>>>> use /var/cache/osm, instead. Would that sound reasonable to you as well? Or is there a
>>>> better location?
>>> Downloaded maps are user data, thus should be below ~ (i.e. /root while
>>> running as root, /home/someone while running as a normal user).
>>>
>>> That said, it should probably be in ~/.tangoGPS, to follow unix
>>> convention.
>> I don't think so. This is public and mostly invariant data. With multiple individuals one
>> could possibly learn about someone's preference in locations, but otherwise this should be
>> shared - between users and applications.
> 
> OSM data is not invariant at all. Mapnik and Cycle Map tiles are updated
> once a week, Osmarender is rerendered daily or more often.
> The bare data behind the rendered tiles is updated 24/7.

Partly because of mine :) But you will agree that OSM (at least in D) has become such
good, that the only bits that still change are lamp posts or so ... admittedly, I know a
few spots myself that I [sc]ould still fix, but there is no strong need for continuous
updates any more, at least not for the majority of users - it is invariant in the sense
that most streets don't move or appear any more.

> Most common users will not update often, most mappers would like to have
> the most recent tiles.

And the update of one user should be autoforwarded to the next in my view.

> For multi-user environments it would make sense to share the cache, but
> I do not want to update tiles as root.

Just thinking loudly: how about a directory /var/cache/osm with that is owned by
nobody.nogroup, that has the sticky bit set and is chmod 777 ?

But as long as everyone is happy with $HOME/Maps ... it is a side issue, obviously. My
main point indeed is that the directories are shared - between applications and in my view
also between users.

Many greetings

Steffen