[Tagging] "Feature Proposal - RFC - Qanat"

[Paul Allen]

On Sat, 20 Jun 2020 at 13:17, Christoph Hormann <osm at imagico.de> wrote:

>
> I think this is a good idea.  Both in the sense of establishing a distinct
> tagging for it that does not engross qanats with other types of underground
> waterways and in the sense of using a non-English and non-European term
> where the most descriptive and clear term comes from a non-European
> language.


I agree with you there.  Sort of.  English has no equivalent term because
the UK has no equivalent structure.  But English has done what it always
does with such things when it needs to refer to such things - it made them
loan words.  Qanat IS a word that appears in English dictionaries and it IS
the British English name for such structures.  Some languages prefer
to come up with new words of their own rather than borrow words from
another language; English, being a mongrel tongue, has no such qualms.


>   We have other cases of such tags in OSM but still in a proposal process
> which is dominantly discussed in English this is rare and kind of a litmus
> test for how culturally diverse tagging in OSM can be and if the cultural
> geography of non-European regions can be mapped in the classifications used
> locally just as we are used to doing it in Europe and North America.
>

We should definitely map things that do not physically occur in
English-speaking parts of the world.  But we should use the British English
name (which may or may not have been derived from the local name) to tag
them.

-- 
Paul
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