On Fri, Aug 10, 2018 at 6:38 PM, Daniel McCormick <[email protected]> wrote:
> > The goal of OSM is not to create a map that renders great on the default > renderer. The goal is to create repository that can be rendered quickly and > easily by anyone. The default map is what we primarily interact with and > just like anything it has become the lens by which we view our contribution > to the map. However, that lens is not the best viewing glass in most > situations. When we add multiple languages we are not actually adding > anything to data, as long as we are using name:xx=*, but rather are > cluttering the existing data and impeding the use of the very data that we > spend so much time making better. With the names properly categorized we > can create a renderer that does all we want it to in much simpiler fashion > then if we are to add multilingual names to the name=* tag. We could even > make a renderer that shows multilingual names that sources all of our > name:xx tags. > I fully agree that in a monolingual area, adding other languages in the name=* tag is foolish and unhelpful. For streets I'd argue that adding name:xx=* is also unhelpful. Seeing "William Strasse" or "Wilhelm Strasse" on a map isn't much help if you're on the ground and looking at as sign saying "William Street." The situation changes in multilingual areas, where the signs themselves are multilingual. The example I keep using is: Heol Napier Napier Street But if the sign were damaged and replaced, the new sign is more likely to follow more recent conventions and say "Heol Napier Street." Either way name:cy="Heol Napier" and name:en="Napier Street" but in both situations rendering either of those does *not* show what the sign actually says. Having the renderer software use " / " to concatenate the two represents the first format adequately but misrepresents the second. I don't think there is any substitute for mapping and rendering the actuality. Maybe with vector tiles and the option to display any or all of name, name:cy, name:en, loc_name and alt_name at the click of a mouse, that changes, but I'd still prefer on-the-ground reality as the default. -- Paul
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