request from overpass-api endpoint

Hi

what if i do not have the data on my machine - can i do a overpass-api request at the overpass-api endpoint: derived from here: http://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?pid=364460#p364460 _ and thanks go out to suncobald

require 'open-uri'

    require "net/http"
    require 'rexml/document'

    def query_overpass(object_type, left,bottom,right,top, key, value)
       base_url = "http://www.overpass-api.de/api/xapi?"
       query_string = "#{object_type}[bbox=#{left},#{bottom},#{right},#{top}][#{key}=#{value}]"
       url = "#{base_url}#{URI.encode(query_string)}"
       resp = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse(url))
       data = resp.body
       return data
    end

    overpass_result = REXML::Document.new(query_overpass("node", 7.1,51.2,7.2,51.3,"amenity","restaurant|pub|ice_cream|food_court|fast_food|cafe|biergarten|bar|bakery|steak|pasta|pizza|sushi|asia|nightclub"))

    overpass_result.elements.each('osm/node') {|x|
      if !x.elements["tag[@k='name']"].nil?
        print x.elements["tag[@k='name']"].attributes["v"]
      end
      print " | "

      if !x.elements["tag[@k='addr:postcode']"].nil?
        print x.elements["tag[@k='addr:postcode']"].attributes["v"]
        print ", "
      end
      if !x.elements["tag[@k='addr:city']"].nil?
        print x.elements["tag[@k='addr:city']"].attributes["v"]
        print ", "
      end
      if !x.elements["tag[@k='addr:street']"].nil?
        print x.elements["tag[@k='addr:street']"].attributes["v"]
        print ", "
      end
      if !x.elements["tag[@k='addr:housenumber']"].nil?
        print x.elements["tag[@k='addr:housenumber']"].attributes["v"]
      end
      print " | "
      print x.attributes["lat"]
      print " | "
      print x.attributes["lon"]
      print " | "
      if !x.elements["tag[@k='website']"].nil?
        print x.elements["tag[@k='website']"].attributes["v"]
      end
      print " | "
      if !x.elements["tag[@k='amenity']"].nil?
        print x.elements["tag[@k='amenity']"].attributes["v"]
        print " | "
      end
      puts
    }