On 13 August 2014 18:14, Andy Allan <[email protected]> wrote: > On 13 August 2014 12:38, Robert Whittaker (OSM lists) > <[email protected]> wrote: >> I would still maintain that >> the benefits of having reference numbers shown to users on >> highway=tertiary roads (in terms of allowing them to cross-reference >> the map to official documents) outweighs the drawbacks (extra >> cluttering is minimal, and the fact that they're not signed on the >> ground in the UK should be easy to get used to). > > No, it really doesn't. The number times the average person needs to > cross-reference the map to official documents in their lifetime tends > to zero. On the other hand, the number of times people will look at an > OSM map and get confused by road references not shown anywhere else > that they will ever see - well, that's non-zero.
We'll just have to agree to disagree on this. Certainly in my neck of the woods, there's been some major Highways Agency works going on, which have referred to an affected road only as the C616. Apart from OSM's main map, I'm not sure how else affected people would be able to find out which road it referred to. > Imagine an argument saying that we should show the Companies House > registration numbers for all shops. Or the VOA Business rates > reference numbers for shops. Or both. Now imagine yourself saying, > with a straight face, 'oh, these are useful when you need to > crossreference information with government sources. The fact that they > aren't signed on the ground - and aren't otherwise useful to the > general public - should be easy for you to get used to'. Those are pretty poor examples I think, and not really equivalent at all -- in those cases any official sources would almost certainly include other information such as the business name and/or address as well as the reference number. Thus it wouldn't be necessary to have the number itself displayed to do any cross-referencing. In the case of C roads, often the number is the only name/reference given. Also any clutter from C roads is significantly less that what you'd get from additional references attached to shops. And I've already said that I think the clutter would tip the balance the other way for highway=unclassified, residential, etc. Out of interest, what would you advocate doing about minor road names that are officially assigned, but aren't signed anywhere on the ground? Should those be removed from the map to to avoid 'confusing' people too? Robert. -- Robert Whittaker _______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
