Towards an improved data model for OpenStreetMap

This is big and promising news for OSM data consumers as assembling GIS-suitable geometries from nodes, ways, relations poses a significant overhead for tools like osm2pgsql [1] (2012, pdf)

That said, the current model has advantages like smaller diffs, albeit this might not be as pronounced currently with better storage and network.

[1] https://www.geofabrik.de/media/2012-09-08-osm2pgsql-performa...