Given the OpenStreetMap project and its data and the possibility of offline maps for clients, is there an established way to download only the delta of the weekly updates??
I am considering developing an offline capable application for smartphones(android first) and web clients. This would involve downloading the OSM data for the region, which can be quite large for a mobile connection. Ideally, there would be an initial large download and then each week as the new OSM data gets updated the client would retrieve only the new data,or data that has changed.
I have yet to dive deep into the workings of OSM to see if this data has a timestamp included with it. If so you could theoritically set up a server that could serve only the delta. Is there anyone doing this at this time?
Yes. See Planet.osm/diffs in the wiki. There are minutely, hourly and daily diffs available.