The naming of streets, as TS Eliot might have said had OpenStreetmap
been around in his day, is a difficult matter. Anyway, there's one
locally that's just sparked a discussion on social media, and thought
I'd ask for comments here before making any changes.
The street in question is Way 25574182, currently labelled as "Brick
Kiln Street":
https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/25574182
This isn't necessarily wrong, and is what appears in the NSG (following
the local authority's "no punctuation" rule). The PAF and Addressbase
also use that version for properties on the street. However,
historically, the name has been hyphenated as "Brick-Kiln Street", and
is still shown as such on one of the street nameplates:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xAAKYPhb6WBJrwKD6
But, on the other hand, it also has the unhyphenated version on the
other side of the street:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FB2VU7dXEcpAYKJUA
The NSG, though, isn't open data, and therefore can't be used as a
source for OSM. What can be used as a source is OS OpenMap and
OpenNames, both of which use the hyphenated version - see
https://os.openstreetmap.org (you'll need to zoom in because the site
doesn't support a direct link). Google Maps and Bing Maps (possibly
following OpenNames) also use the hyphenated version, as do Michelin and
Apple Maps.
So, which version should be used in OSM?
On the one hand, the official, canonical version isn't hyphenated. But
the official, canonical version isn't available as open data. And we do
have a reliable, widely used open data source which uses the hyphenated
version. On-the-ground sources give both options. Local usage is
probably split, but I obviously don't have any hard data showing which
is more often preferred. Although none of the other mapping services
I've mentioned are open data, there does seem to be a consensus in the
mapping community to use the hyphenated version.
My gut feeling, therefore, is that OSM should use the hyphenated version
in the name tag, with the unhyphenated version as an alt_name, and
possibly with a note explaining the potential ambiguity.
What do the rest of you think?
Mark
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