[OSM-newbies] Separating streets that don't join

[Randy]

David ``Smith'' wrote:

>On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 6:02 AM, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
><avarab at gmail.com> wrote:
>>I thought there was consensus about not using these street
>>abbreviations anywhere in the OpenStreetMap data. We've had bots
>>transversing the planet changing these abbreviations to their full
>>forms (mainly from TIGER data) and nobody's complained.
>
>I'm not convinced that consensus represents the US point of view.  But
>I wasn't around when this was decided.
>
>>It's also documented e.g. here:
>>
>>http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:name#Abbreviation_.28don.27t_do_it.29
>
>When I wrote my little essay on the matter, that section wasn't as
>clear.  It essentially said, "use exactly what's on the sign, and
>don't use abbreviations" which is contradictory for nearly all US road
>signs.  So I assumed that the decision not to use abbreviations was
>made without input from the US mapping community.
>
>I still think it makes the most sense to use abbreviations when they
>are commonly and consistently used in reality.  That said, the
>abbreviations that came with the TIGER data aren't always the same
>ones used on the signs.
>
>The practice of expanding these abbreviations in OSM data creates (in
>my opinion) problems which are not (yet) adequately addressed.  I'm
>just trying to bring attention to these problems, so the issue can
>eventually be resolved one way or another.

It's so easy to hijack a thread without even realizing it. And it's all my 
fault for mentioning it in the first place. Sorry about that.

-- 
Randy