Potlatch sometimes leaves unconnected nodes when editing ways

[openstreetmap-trac]

Reporter: NE2
[Submitted to the original trac issue database at 3.51pm, Sunday, 7th February 2010]

Often making major edits to ways in Potlatch will leave behind random points. Here's how to reproduce (using "edit with save"):
*1. Create a new untagged unconnected point by triple clicking (we'll call it point A), save, and close the tab.
*2. Start editing again with a new changeset and draw two lines, each connecting a new point with point A. In other words, we now have two lines BA and CA, and point A no longer displays as a green dot. Save and close again.
*3. Start a third session. Select line CA, click on point A, hit delete, and then double click elsewhere. Do the same for line BA. The order matters here; the line created second in step 2 must be edited first in step 3. In other words, lines CA and BA are now CD and BE, and point A is unconnected (but still not displayed). Save but don't close.
*4. Now pan and wait for the data to stop loading. Point A will reappear.

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: NE2
[Added to the original trac issue at 6.20pm, Tuesday, 16th February 2010]

For the record, this isn't just an invisible problem - I just saw an unconnected traffic light node get left behind when I redid an intersection.

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: SK53
[Added to the original trac issue at 10.29pm, Friday, 26th February 2010]

I have examined this and indeed the behaviour is as described, but I cannot see that it is a bug. Node A has an independent existence from ways 1 (originally from C->A) and 2 (from B->A). Removing the connection of a way does not remove the associated nodes. Indeed it would be very tedious if one accidentally connected to a node and then undid the connection resulting in the loss of some valuable POI.

At best there is a bug that Potlatch does not immediately redraw the node as a green dot. Accordingly I have downgraded this to minor. It may even be trivial because the workaround is merely to pan away and back.

If you are experiencing this frequently I suggest changing the order of your edits: I only experience this very occasionally, usually when I accidentally connect a highway to a bus stop. In fact your detailed example reassures me that Potlatch does not damage the bus_stop node in this case.

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: NE2
[Added to the original trac issue at 2.54am, Wednesday, 3rd March 2010]

SK53, do you edit in the US? I do and see this happen often on roads from the TIGER import. Merely deleting a highway, with no other edits, sometimes leaves behind stray nodes (presumably due to a combination of the import and edits prior to my deletion).

One possible solution for your described situation would be to only delete the unconnected node if also it's untagged (as most in fact are). The few that are tagged would certainly benefit from redrawing without panning.

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: NE2
[Added to the original trac issue at 9.02am, Wednesday, 3rd March 2010]

(By the way, the workaround requires saving and panning.)

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: NE2
[Added to the original trac issue at 12.50am, Sunday, 21st March 2010]

You can see a good example if you edit here: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=27.955192&lon=-82.796358&zoom=18&layers=B000FTF All I did was redraw a portion of the rail line http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/11250356, which formerly contained all the stray nodes (apparently in version 9?). The only edits made to these nodes, for example http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/node/99962450/history, were by DaveHansenTiger as part of the import and woodpeck_fixbot to remove unnecessary tags.

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: ed[at]loach.me.uk
[Added to the original trac issue at 4.08pm, Monday, 22nd March 2010]

I have seen these extra nodes appear when doing Tiger cleanup. Two ways are duplicated along a boundary. Some side roads go into one county from one of those ways and some go into the other county from the other. To clean up, delete one of the duplicated ways then select the other and press J to join it to all the side roads. As NE2 says, if you then save and pan, all the newly created orphan nodes (at the junctions with some of the side roads) become visible.

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: Richard
[Added to the original trac issue at 4.13pm, Monday, 22nd March 2010]

Thanks, that is helpful.

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: NE2
[Added to the original trac issue at 11.33pm, Monday, 19th April 2010]

I've found that this happens often when cutting a previously-imported way in half and then deleting nodes from the newly-created way (such as when creating and tidying a bridge; here the center of the three ways gets nodes removed by the tidying).

[openstreetmap-trac]

Author: iandees
[Added to the original trac issue at 7.53pm, Monday, 9th September 2013]

Cleaning aging tickets.