User:Emacsen/Draft:Cachable API

API 0.6 is not reliably cachable. This page outlines some modest proposals to make OSM API calls HTTP cachable. These changes could be implemented without requiring a change in the database schema and would, if implemented, have the effect of decreasing the load on the database servers.

HTTP Caching

Described in [ RCF ____ ], HTTP caching provides a mechanism by which HTTP resources (data returned by an HTTP server) is stored on an intermediate server, thereby providing faster response time to the client, as well as reducing computational and network load on the HTTP server.