[Tagging] [OSM-talk] How can the US get its stuff together? (was Re: Response to A critique of OpenStreetMap)

[Peter Budny]

Richard Weait <richard at weait.com> writes:

> On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 8:22 AM, Phil! Gold <phil_g at pobox.com> wrote:
>> * Richard Fairhurst <richard at systemed.net> [2010-10-14 10:47 -0700]:
>>> I think you could largely sum up his criticisms in two broad headings:
>>>
>>>    1. US OSM contributors need to get their shit together
>>>    2. European maps don't look like American ones
>>
>> I'm trying to see what sort of consensus exists on some of the issues from
>> 41 latitude's post.  I've sent an email to the talk-us list[0] asking for
>> feedback and discussion.  I encourage anyone who's interested, particulary
>> people who map in the US, to contribute to the discussion on that list.
>>
>>  [0]: http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/2010-October/004361.html
>
> The North American interest in highway signs may be difficult to
> understand around the world.  If I remember correctly one of our
> Euro-colleagues referred to highway shields as looking "a bit naff".
> I think that means "good" though.
>
> So, highways and road culture play a large role in the life of many
> North Americans, there are even songs that we know like Route 66, and
> Highway 61 that show affection for specific roads.  There are others.
> Many others.  I was surprised to find this list of road songs on the
> official US Federal Highway Administration web site.  That may help to
> define the scope of the interest (problem) for our friends who don't
> see the attraction of highway shields.  Even the humorless official
> bodies in North America like a good road song.
>
> http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/roadsong.cfm

For better or worse, that made me think of images like
http://failblog.org/2008/07/03/sign-design-fail/

Whether it's a good thing or not, we still have to figure out how to tag
it.  Bear with us.
-- 
Peter Budny  \
Georgia Tech  \
CS PhD student \