Re: Wikidata-Links

@mmd, I didn't say remove them from the download dump 😉 One option could be to dynamically merge useful values from Wikidata. We could have the "pure OSM" and "augmented with extra sources" downloads. The population data is more likely to be up to date in Wikidata, because of constant monitoring by bots. I think OSM should use the "override" model, rather than "we are the only source, if we don't have it, write your own software". If OSM has a value, it overrides the Wikidata value.

I just compared some population numbers in OSM and Wikidata - seems like there are a lot of mismatches: http://tinyurl.com/ydg4evlc which might be an argument to use both systems. The number of people in London clearly should not be based on "personal observation", but instead should have a verifiable source. But when we are talking about some tiny 5 person village, things may be different.

For example, according to Canadian Census, Mistissini village (node 107364956) has population of zero, but OSM has 3,285, without giving the source. 3,285 is a large number to count by hand, so clearly it came from some source, and can be easily added to Wikidata too.

I know this is a heated and debatable topic at the moment - these are just ideas, not "call to action", so lets keep theorizing - maybe we can come up with a better solution. 🙂