<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_18930" dir="ltr">Hello,</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19237"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19236">I am converting an .osm file to shapefile, and there is one thing that I do not understand:<br><br>What is the difference between: <i>osm_id</i> and <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19238">osm_way_id</i> fields (keys)?<br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19040"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19041">They are defined in osmconf.ini file, but only for [multipolygons].<br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19043">Here is an explanation from the osmconf.ini file:<br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19044"></div><blockquote id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19183"><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19184"># note: for multipolygons, osm_id=yes instanciates a osm_id field for the id of relations<br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19178"># and a osm_way_id field for the id of closed ways. Both fields are exclusively set.</div></blockquote><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19095">Does that mean that <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19199">osm_way_id</i> will be used to represent the osm id number of a closed way, while <i>osm_id</i> will only be used for to represent the osm id number of relations?<br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19049"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19050">It's a bit confusing concept.<br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19051"><br>What makes the closed ways so special so that they need to have their own special field (<i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19250">osm_way_id</i>)?<br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1480613000241_19052">Why wasn't there a separate field for relations instead: like: <i>osm_relation_id</i>, while closed ways would use the <i>osm_id</i>.<br><br>Thank you for the reply.<br></div></div></body></html>