[openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website] Copyedit English localization as American English (PR #5029)
Minh Nguyễn
notifications at github.com
Mon Jul 29 09:50:04 UTC 2024
@1ec5 commented on this pull request.
As you can see, spelling is the least of our concerns. I could split out a scaled-back PR that only replaces British spellings with American spellings, but I would still advocate for a number of other changes to resolve key misunderstandings. Alternatively, we could split up this PR section by section, isolating the Nominatim and map key integrations that will probably be more contentious.
> @@ -748,14 +748,14 @@ en:
fire_station: "Fire Station"
food_court: "Food Court"
fountain: "Fountain"
- fuel: "Filling Station"
- gambling: "Gambling"
- grave_yard: "Grave Yard"
+ fuel: "Gas Station"
+ gambling: "Gambling Hall"
+ grave_yard: "Graveyard"
This is normally a [closed compound](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/closed_compound#English), but this file and id-tagging-schema both had it as an open compound. There are a bunch of examples of this throughout the file.
> nursing_home: "Nursing Home"
- parking: "Parking"
- parking_entrance: "Parking Entrance"
+ parking: "Parking Lot"
id-tagging-schema calls its preset “Parking Lot” because it has a separate “Parking Garage” preset for the `amenity=parking` `parking=multi-storey` tag combination. Since this file doesn’t split hairs, we could call this tag “Parking Facility”, though “Parking” on its own isn’t so bad.
> telephone: "Public Telephone"
- theatre: "Theatre"
- toilets: "Toilets"
+ theatre: "Theater"
+ toilets: "Restroom"
I realize `amenity=toilets` can technically refer to an outhouse in the woods, but “toilets” is impolite in American English, bordering on vulgar.
/ref openstreetmap/id-tagging-schema#419
> "yes": "Amenity"
boundary:
- aboriginal_lands: "Aboriginal Lands"
+ aboriginal_lands: "Indigenous Boundary"
This is usually seen as a more inclusive term than “aboriginal”, which is technically a synonym but has an Australian connotation.
> defibrillator: "Defibrillator"
fire_extinguisher: "Fire Extinguisher"
fire_water_pond: "Fire Water Pond"
landing_site: "Emergency Landing Site"
life_ring: "Emergency Life Ring"
phone: "Emergency Phone"
- siren: "Emergency Siren"
- suction_point: "Emergency Suction Point"
- water_tank: "Emergency Water Tank"
+ siren: "Siren"
+ suction_point: "Water Drafting Site"
“Drafting site” is firefighter’s jargon but the only remotely English term I could find in the real world for a _[Saugstelle](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saugstelle)_.
> living_street: "Living Street"
milestone: "Milestone"
- motorway: "Motorway"
- motorway_junction: "Motorway Junction"
- motorway_link: "Motorway Road"
+ motorway: "Controlled-Access Highway"
This is engineering jargon, but all the normal words would produce confusion among some subset of users:
* “Motorway” doesn’t mean `highway=motorway` anywhere in the U.S., but it does mean a `highway=raceway` in some parts of the U.S. and a `highway=track` `access=forestry` `emergency=designated` in other parts of the U.S.
* “Expressway” means `highway=motorway` in the Eastern U.S., but it means a `highway=trunk`/`primary` `expressway=yes` in the Western U.S. and in traffic engineering lingo.
* “Freeway” means `highway=motorway` in the Western U.S., but it means a `highway=motorway` `toll=no` in the Eastern U.S.
* “Highway” means `highway=motorway` in some parts of the U.S., but it means any `highway=*` in other parts of the U.S.
> traffic_mirror: "Traffic Mirror"
traffic_signals: "Traffic Signals"
trailhead: "Trailhead"
trunk: "Trunk Road"
- trunk_link: "Trunk Road"
- turning_circle: "Turning Circle"
- turning_loop: "Turning Loop"
- unclassified: "Unclassified Road"
+ trunk_link: "Trunk Link Road"
I noticed that all the `*_link` roads had identical descriptions to the corresponding non-link tags. Was that intentional? I could revert these changes if the lack of specificity is OK. “Link road” is European terminology, but I couldn’t think of a succinct term that covers both freeway-style ramps and channelized turn lanes (slip lanes) on surface streets.
> traffic_mirror: "Traffic Mirror"
traffic_signals: "Traffic Signals"
trailhead: "Trailhead"
trunk: "Trunk Road"
- trunk_link: "Trunk Road"
- turning_circle: "Turning Circle"
- turning_loop: "Turning Loop"
- unclassified: "Unclassified Road"
+ trunk_link: "Trunk Link Road"
+ turning_circle: "Cul-de-Sac"
+ turning_loop: "Cul-de-Sac"
This is usually described as a “cul-de-sac with a central island”, but I don’t think we need to get that specific here.
> traffic_mirror: "Traffic Mirror"
traffic_signals: "Traffic Signals"
trailhead: "Trailhead"
trunk: "Trunk Road"
- trunk_link: "Trunk Road"
- turning_circle: "Turning Circle"
- turning_loop: "Turning Loop"
- unclassified: "Unclassified Road"
+ trunk_link: "Trunk Link Road"
+ turning_circle: "Cul-de-Sac"
+ turning_loop: "Cul-de-Sac"
+ unclassified: "Minor Road"
“Unclassified” causes lots of confusion among inexperienced mappers who think it means `highway=road`.
> cemetery: "Cemetery"
commercial: "Commercial Area"
conservation: "Conservation Area"
construction: "Construction Area"
farmland: "Farmland"
farmyard: "Farmyard"
- forest: "Forest"
- garages: "Garages"
+ forest: "Managed Forest"
“Forest” by itself means `natural=wood`.
> @@ -1031,7 +1031,7 @@ en:
orchard: "Orchard"
plant_nursery: "Plant Nursery"
quarry: "Quarry"
- railway: "Railway"
+ railway: "Railroad Right of Way"
A “railway” is the company that operates freight or passenger service along the tracks. id-tagging-schema calls it “Railroad Corridor”, but a corridor can be much broader than the land actually given over to railroad infrastructure.
> communications_tower: "Communications Tower"
crane: "Crane"
cross: "Cross"
- dolphin: "Mooring Post"
- dyke: "Dyke"
+ dolphin: "Dolphin"
A “mooring post” is a `seamark:mooring:category=bollard`, definitely not a dolphin.
> + rock: "Boulder"
saddle: "Saddle"
sand: "Sand"
scree: "Scree"
scrub: "Scrub"
shingle: "Shingle"
spring: "Spring"
- stone: "Stone"
+ stone: "Boulder"
The distinction between _[Felsblock](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felsblock)_ and _[Findling](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Findling)_ has no equivalent in American English. “Rock” and “stone” appear in some place names but don’t specifically refer to any particular size. id-tagging-schema refers to “attached” versus “unattached”, but the composition apparently matters too?
/ref openstreetmap/iD#6311
> advertising_agency: "Advertising Agency"
- architect: "Architect"
- association: "Association"
- company: "Company"
+ architect: "Architect Office"
+ association: "Nonprofit Organization Office"
“Association” appears in organization names but isn’t used as a common noun to refer to these organizations generically.
> archipelago: "Archipelago"
- city: "City"
+ city: "Major City"
This specific occurrence of “city” causes a _ton_ of confusion among inexperienced mappers, who go on rampages retagging `place=village`s and `place=town`s to `place=city` based on legal city status. In many U.S. states, every hamlet is officially a city. (I’ve even mapped cities with a population of zero!)
The idea here is that “major” would encourage mappers to think twice. OSM Americana’s legend describes `place=city` as “large city”, but it seems like this tag is also used for small but significant cities in some parts of the world.
I’m not entirely sure about trying to solve this problem here. Maybe we should come back to it in another PR.
> quarter: "Quarter"
region: "Region"
sea: "Sea"
square: "Square"
state: "State"
subdivision: "Subdivision"
- suburb: "Suburb"
+ suburb: "Urban District"
“Suburb” means something completely different in American English: a separate town on the outskirts of a metropolitan area. This terminology causes lots of confusion even among experienced mappers.
> buffer_stop: "Buffer Stop"
- construction: "Railway under Construction"
- disused: "Disused Railway"
- funicular: "Funicular Railway"
+ construction: "Train Track Under Construction"
+ disused: "Inactive Train Track"
“Disused” isn’t used that much in American English; it sounds very academic. When a railway discontinues a line, the tracks and crossings are considered “inactive”.
> monorail: "Monorail"
- narrow_gauge: "Narrow Gauge Railway"
- platform: "Railway Platform"
- preserved: "Preserved Railway"
- proposed: "Proposed Railway"
- rail: "Rail"
- spur: "Railway Spur"
- station: "Railway Station"
- stop: "Railway Stop"
- subway: "Subway"
+ narrow_gauge: "Narrow Gauge Track"
+ platform: "Train Platform"
+ preserved: "Preserved Train Track"
+ proposed: "Proposed Train Track"
+ rail: "Train Track"
A “rail” is one half of a train track.
> shop:
- agrarian: "Agrarian Shop"
- alcohol: "Off License"
- antiques: "Antiques"
- appliance: "Appliances Shop"
- art: "Art Shop"
- baby_goods: "Baby Goods"
- bag: "Bag Shop"
+ agrarian: "Farm Supply Shop"
+ alcohol: "Liquor Store"
“Off-license” is a total mystery. An American English speaker would probably think it refers to something unlicensed. But in some regions, all liquor stores are [run by the state](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/state_store#English), forget licensing.
> convenience: "Convenience Store"
- copyshop: "Copy Shop"
- cosmetics: "Cosmetics Shop"
- craft: "Crafts Supply Store"
- curtain: "Curtain Shop"
- dairy: "Dairy Shop"
- deli: "Deli"
+ copyshop: "Print Center"
+ cosmetics: "Cosmetics Store"
+ craft: "Art Supply Store"
+ curtain: "Curtain Store"
+ dairy: "Dairy Store"
+ deli: "Delicatessen"
“Deli” refers to a sandwich counter at a supermarket. “Delicatessen” connotes sophistication, so it’s more likely to be understood as the kind of gourmet food store that OSM wants tagged as `shop=deli`.
/ref https://github.com/openstreetmap/id-tagging-schema/pull/475#discussion_r886136776
> hairdresser: "Hairdresser"
hardware: "Hardware Store"
health_food: "Health Food Store"
hearing_aids: "Hearing Aids"
herbalist: "Herbalist"
- hifi: "Hi-Fi Shop"
- houseware: "Houseware Shop"
- ice_cream: "Ice Cream Shop"
- interior_decoration: "Interior Decoration"
- jewelry: "Jewelry Shop"
- kiosk: "Kiosk Shop"
- kitchen: "Kitchen Shop"
+ hifi: "Hifi Store"
+ houseware: "Houseware store"
+ ice_cream: "Ice Cream Store"
`shop=ice_cream` is one of many deprecated, obsolete, or undocumented tags in the file. Do we need to keep them around for compatibility reasons?
> + camp_pitch: "Campsite"
+ camp_site: "Campground"
The tags have it backwards, causing considerable confusion among mappers in the U.S.
> bed_and_breakfast: "Bed and Breakfast"
cabin: "Tourist Cabin"
- camp_pitch: "Camp Pitch"
- camp_site: "Camp Site"
- caravan_site: "Caravan Site"
- chalet: "Chalet"
- gallery: "Gallery"
- guest_house: "Guest House"
+ camp_pitch: "Campsite"
+ camp_site: "Campground"
+ caravan_site: "RV Park"
+ chalet: "Holiday Home"
If I’m not mistaken, this also aligns with the British English term. 🎉
> hostel: "Hostel"
hotel: "Hotel"
information: "Information"
motel: "Motel"
museum: "Museum"
picnic_site: "Picnic Site"
- theme_park: "Theme Park"
- viewpoint: "Viewpoint"
- wilderness_hut: "Wilderness Hut"
+ theme_park: "Amusement Park"
A “theme park” is a specific kind of amusement park. [`tourism=theme_park`](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Special:PermanentLink/2716299) is documented as applying to all amusement parks.
> hostel: "Hostel"
hotel: "Hotel"
information: "Information"
motel: "Motel"
museum: "Museum"
picnic_site: "Picnic Site"
- theme_park: "Theme Park"
- viewpoint: "Viewpoint"
- wilderness_hut: "Wilderness Hut"
+ theme_park: "Amusement Park"
+ viewpoint: "Vista Point"
This is the most common generic term. “Scenic overlook” is more common but makes some assumptions that may not hold for existing usage of `tourism=viewpoint`.
> @@ -1425,7 +1425,7 @@ en:
dam: "Dam"
derelict_canal: "Derelict Canal"
ditch: "Ditch"
- dock: "Dock"
+ dock: "Shipyard Dock"
“Dock” can refer to a `man_made=pier` unless qualified by “wet dock” or “dry dock”. I tried to avoid equivocating, so I made up “shipyard dock” on the spot as an umbrella term.
> + level2: "International Border"
+ level3: "Regional Administrative Boundary"
+ level4: "Regional Administrative Boundary"
+ level5: "Regional Administrative Boundary"
+ level6: "Local Administrative Boundary"
+ level7: "Local Administrative Boundary"
+ level8: "Local Administrative Boundary"
+ level9: "Sublocal Administrative Boundary"
+ level10: "Sublocal Administrative Boundary"
+ level11: "Sublocal Administrative Boundary"
I’m not sure which country the old descriptions came from, but they don’t seem to line up with any of the countries in [this massive table](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Special:PermanentLink/2702276#admin_level=*_Country_specific_values). Since every country has different structures in the real world and different tagging practices in OSM-land, I don’t think it makes sense to describe these `admin_level=*` values so precisely. I’ve divided the levels into a few buckets that seem to line up decently well with most countries in the table.
> speed_camera: "Speed Camera"
- steps: "Steps"
+ steps: "Stairway"
“Steps” appears in some names but isn’t a usual term for an outdoor flight of stairs. “Stairway” and “stairs” would both be reasonable in this context.
> stop: "Stop Sign"
street_lamp: "Street Lamp"
tertiary: "Tertiary Road"
- tertiary_link: "Tertiary Road"
- track: "Track"
+ tertiary_link: "Tertiary Link Road"
+ track: "Land Management Road or Vehicular Trail"
A “track”, unqualified, is something a deer forges in the woods, a trail of shoeprints in the mud, or [maybe](https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/343841) the imprint of a farm tractor cutting through the fields. Qualified, it could be a `railway=track` (train track), `leisure=track` (running track), or `highway=raceway` (racetrack), but definitely nothing to do with `highway=track`.
`highway=track` is the only tag for which I had to equivocate on the description. This tag is essentially used for two different purposes:
1. Special-purpose roads built for a productive land-based activity (forestry roads, mining roads, levee roads, fire roads, dirt roads on a farm)
2. In some regions, quasi-roads used by offroading vehicles for recreation
There isn’t a concise, obvious word for the first purpose, let alone both at the same time. id-tagging-schema uses “Track / Land-Access Road” as a grand compromise, but this is a word salad that only makes sense to someone who managed to read all of openstreetmap/id-tagging-schema#288 and the preceding mailing list threads.
I considered a number of [terms of art](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/term_of_art#English) for this tag. The two that stood out to me are “land management road” and “resource road”. These are established albeit obscure terms for use case (1) in the U.S. and Canada, respectively.
An American user probably won’t have encountered the phrase “land management road” per se, but they’ll hopefully recall the Bureau of Land Management and the various activities allowed on BLM lands. But they might misunderstand “management” to imply that the road is actively maintained. Appending “vehicular trail” would counter that assumption.
The current description is very long. I’m inclined to switch to the Canadian “resource road”, which is shorter. It’s also more enigmatic, so the user is less likely to assume anything in particular about the road.
> @@ -748,14 +748,14 @@ en:
fire_station: "Fire Station"
food_court: "Food Court"
fountain: "Fountain"
- fuel: "Filling Station"
- gambling: "Gambling"
- grave_yard: "Grave Yard"
+ fuel: "Gas Station"
Some time ago, I was showing someone OSM; they were unfamiliar with this archaic term and misread it as “filing station”. It was during tax season, so they thought it the feature was miscategorized as a government office. More recently, I was chatting with someone who snarked that it has something to do with a cafeteria.
> - carpet: "Carpet Shop"
- charity: "Charity Shop"
- cheese: "Cheese Shop"
- chemist: "Chemist"
- chocolate: "Chocolate"
- clothes: "Clothes Shop"
- coffee: "Coffee Shop"
- computer: "Computer Shop"
- confectionery: "Confectionery Shop"
+ car: "Car Dealership"
+ car_parts: "Car Parts Store"
+ car_repair: "Car Repair Shop"
+ carpet: "Carpet Store"
+ charity: "Charity Store"
+ cheese: "Cheese Store"
+ chemist: "Drugstore"
This is a notorious string among the U.S. mapping community. It’s quite difficult to fathom why a pharmacist would set up shop inside a chemistry lab. On the other hand, I hope Commonwealth English speakers who wind up seeing the replacement won’t think it refers to a vendor of illicit drugs. Personally, I haven’t been a fan of equating drugstores with `shop=chemist` (openstreetmap/iD#3213), but that’s a done deal now.
> @@ -2266,7 +2266,7 @@ en:
welcomemat:
url: https://welcome.openstreetmap.org/
title: For Organizations
- description: With an organization making plans for OpenStreetMap? Find what you need to know in the Welcome Mat.
+ description: Do you belong to an organization that wants to work with OpenStreetMap? Find what you need to know in the Welcome Mat.
The old wording might read better in some other dialect of English, but it never felt grammatical to me because it starts with a preposition phrase and lacks a subject. The new wording more closely matches the masthead on the Welcome Mat site itself.
> @@ -2450,17 +2450,17 @@ en:
local_chapters:
title: Local Chapters
about_text: |
- Local Chapters are country-level or region-level groups that have taken the formal step of
- establishing not-for-profit legal entities. They represent the area's map and mappers when
+ Local chapters are national or regional groups that have taken the formal step of
+ establishing nonprofit legal entities. They represent the area's map and mappers when
At least one of the local chapters, OpenStreetMap U.S., is a nonprofit organization. It is _not_ a not-for-profit organization. The two terms are [legally quite distinct](https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/non-profit-vs-not-for-profit-vs-for-profit), and mixing them up could dissuade some people from joining or donating to OSMUS.
--
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/pull/5029#pullrequestreview-2204154085
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.
Message ID: <openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/pull/5029/review/2204154085 at github.com>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/rails-dev/attachments/20240729/3540c05f/attachment-0001.htm>
More information about the rails-dev
mailing list