Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:
I'm new to this problem, but those possible strategies spring to my mind: - Record only the abbreviated name and let the user expand it using his favourite rules if he wants. - Record only the canonical expanded name and let the user abbreviate it using his favourite rules if he wants. - Record both the canonical expanded name and the abbreviated name, let the user choose which one he wants.
Usually, the name tag should contain the non-abbreviated name, and software using the data should shorten it if appropriate. See e.g. the relevant section in http://wiki.osm.org/wiki/Names :
"Do not abbreviate words. Computers can easily shorten words but not the other way (St. could be Street or Saint). If the signs have abbreviated words and you don't know what the full word is, then use it temporarily until someone else complete it. Using short forms is a decision of software i.e. the underlying data should have the full street name. This will allow a renderer, a router or a location finder to introduce abbreviations as necessary."
Around here (Germany), we indeed avoid using even common abbreviations in the name tag . But how you handle this in your area is of course an issue that should preferably be agreed on by local contributors, and any automated edits need to be discussed in advance. I think it would be easier for users of our data if the conventions for tags like name=* would be applied somewhat consistently throughout the map, though.
Tobias _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
