[Imports] TIGER09 over-digitizes, doesn't capitalize, abbreviates strangely

[Alan Mintz]

In case anyone is working on a large-scale TIGER09 import, here are some 
things I'm noticing in the data:

A. Spanish street names are still not always proper-cased. IME, it is 
generally the practice in the US that street names are written as "El 
Morado", not "el Morado"[1].

B. Some street names are being abbreviated in ways that the average 
consumer may not recognize. Examples[1]:
Cll Quebrada (Calle Quebrada)
Cam Norte (Camino Norte)

Also, suffixes are sometimes abbreviated strangely, like "Magdalena Ci" 
instead of "Magdalena Cir" (Circle). At first glance in a small font, I 
mis-read it as "Ct"[2].


C. In some places, it seems like they may have gone overboard in their
newfound quest for accuracy, creating far more points than necessary
to accurately represent a curve at a scale likely to be used by a
consumer. One example I'm looking at[3] uses 23 points for a 90-degree
"knee-shaped" corner with a total arc length of about 100'. They aren't
even following the "knee" - it's drawn with a constant radius (about
55'). I'd have used between 1 and 5 points[4] to model the same turn.
Depending on how prevalent this is elsewhere, my concern is a
significant increase in the number of nodes in the database. It may be
good to "simplify" such ways during import.


[1] Examples from San Bernardino County, CA (tl_2009_06071_edges.shp)
[2] Example from Riverside County, CA (tl_2009_06065_edges.shp)
[3] Peony St/Hyacinth Wy in Riverside County, CA (tl_2009_06065_edges.shp)
[4] Depending on how busy/creative I feel :)

--
Alan Mintz <Alan_Mintz+OSM at Earthlink.net>