Automatically convert copies from OSM Wiki into keys and values

[Tirkon]

The OSM-Wiki describes how objects are identified by several tags with key and value.

For example, you can copy from this wiki page
​https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/DE:Tag:athletics%3Dlong_jump
in one go the following:
"athletics=long_jump"
If you paste this in one go into JOSM as a property of an object in the key- or value-line, a button next to it should automatically split it into key and value and eliminate the equals sign.

The whole thing would be even more convenient if you could transfer several tags from the wiki in one go. For example, you can copy from this wiki page
​https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/DE:Tag:athletics%3Dlong_jump
in one go the following:
"leisure=track sport=athletics athletics=long_jump"
If you paste this in one go into JOSM as a property of an object in the key- or value-line, a button next to it should automatically split it into three tags with their respective keys and values.

[stoecker]

Why? I don't see a single reason why something like this should be supported.

[Tirkon]

Replying to stoecker:

Why? I don't see a single reason why something like this should be supported.

Hi Dirk, I thought the reason was obvious. It makes things easier. At the moment, you have to do multiple marking and copying operations, switching between Wiki and JOSM. With this feature, you only need to do this once.

[stoecker]

Copying tags from the wiki seems a strange workflow for me. Why do you do this? I can understand this in single cases, but you seem to do this so often that you think a change in the software would be helpful.

You know that JOSM

• has tagging presets for the majority of features,
• presents you lists of tags in the downloaded area when you enter something new,
• remembers the stuff you enter and presents this to you next time and
• has a lot of other features which are easier to use than copying tags from somewhere?

Please describe why you use such a complicated method instead of the JOSM internal features.

[Tirkon]

Replying to stoecker:

Please describe why you use such a complicated method instead of the JOSM internal features.

Thank you for allowing me to describe my way of using. I use JOSM's predefined selection options for frequently occurring objects with the desire of more than one tag. With only just over 1600 edits, I only know a small number of them that I could access in a targeted manner. For the well known things like "building=yes" or "highway=residential" I do not need any help apart from the auto-completion in order to reduce typing. The predefined list in JOSM is very extensive, so that at best you can only remember most of them as an excessive mapper with almost daily and umfangreichen edits in order to remember all the possibilities. But if, as in the example above, I search for the tagging of the run-up and the pit for “Weitsprung” (german for "longjump"), I only know the wiki, where I could actually search for “Weitsprung”. I don't know or remember how such a search should work in the predefined selection options of JOSM or whereever in it. Searching in the wiki is therefore not complicated for me, but the easiest way to quickly find keys and values for what I want. It works in a similar way of finding a rarely used overpass-search in the wiki and copied from there. If I had to enter a “Weitsprung” facility again years later, I would probably not remember if and especially where I had found it by chance in the preset objects of JOSM. The wiki would also be the first and quickest way to find the result in this case of repetition. Sometimes you do not immediately come across the solution in the wiki, but can work towards the desired object via links. I cannot imagine that there is a different JOSM-option in such a case.

For you as a thankfully more than 1,5 decade-long maintainer of JOSM, it may not be a problem to remember, find and use all the possibilities of JOSM in a targeted manner. But for an occasional mapper like me, this is not possible. Since many mappers have far fewer edits than I do, it should be even more difficult for them. The feature-juggernaut JOSM is barely fathomable by occasional use. Even the first step described above, which only splits ONE! tag into key and value and eliminates the equals-sign would be helpful in this respect. The extension with several tags would be used much less frequently and only “would be nice”. In this respect, we could delete the latter from the feature request. I don't know how to better describe the use.

[stoecker]

Longjump seems is not important enough yet, so it's not in josm presets, but for others you can simply search the presets (<F3>) and it will show you matching entries.

While I agree that your method may work for you I fear the request is to specific to implement.

Mabye that helps you: If you don't copy the wiki link, but a text in the wiki: athletics=long_jump this can already now be pasted:

• Select the text athletics=long_jump
• Select an object in JOSM
• <CTRL>+<V> (Do NOT go to properties dialog, but in the main view)

As most wiki pages contain the text of the link somewhere again that should be easy.

[gaben]

I do the same what stoecker wrote in the previous comment, that's more than enough, I think.

[Tirkon]

Replying to stoecker:

<CTRL>+<V> (Do NOT go to properties dialog, but in the main view)

That's perfect, Dirk. Many thanks for the hint! :-) That does exactly what I wanted. Compared to my request, it even saves calling the properties dialog.

Did you just implement this or did it already work before?

[stoecker]

Probably works since about 15 years 😽
That's why we ask for the workflows for new suggestions. JOSM has many features, some hard to find...

I'm also often surprised what exists.

[Tirkon]

Replying to stoecker:

I'm also often surprised what exists.

And I can surprise you again. Incredibly the feature also works for the case with multiple keys, for example
leisure=track sport=athletics athletics=long_jump. :-)

worksforme²