[Talk-ee] Abbreviations in names

[Jaak Laineste]

Hi,

In theory I agree, street names in database should be full, and it is user/renderer problem to abbreviate it. 

Actually in the Names page there are two rules:
 1. don't abbreviate
 2. ... as it appears on the street name signs

Which is in our case not fully possible, as real street signs dont have "puiestee" or "maantee", there are these abbreviations instead. Actually I have seen in some rare cases "tn" or even "tänav" in physical signs also (I think in Narva), sometimes some older signs on the same street have different system than newer ones.

 I don't see that the main renderers (mapnik) and search engines (nominatim) will handle Estonian street name abbreviations properly any time soon. Yes, it is "mapping for the renderer", but for me it sounds like optimal solution at least in short term. 

So I would still suggest  abbreviations for these 3 Estonian special cases
1. maantee -> mnt
2. puiestee -> pst
3. tänav/tn -> <nil>

No abbreviations for other cases, e.g. person names

But this is just my opinion, always subject to re-open the discussion.

Jaak

On 04.01.2012, at 10:28, Bartosz Fabianowski wrote:

> Hi list
> 
> Sorry for writing in English again as my Estonian is still too weak.
> 
> I noticed that a lot of abbreviations such as "mnt" and "pst" have appeared on the map where "maantee" and "puiestee" used to be. Vitalts had made this change, motivated by information on the Estonian OSM wiki page:
> 
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Et:Key:addr
> 
> My worry is that this approach is exactly opposed to the consensus that has been reached internationally:
> 
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Names#Abbreviation_.28don.27t_do_it.29
> 
> Abbreviations in name tags should always be fully expanded. A renderer can contract them if it so wishes but the OSM data should be complete and unambiguous. There is a short_name tag that could be used for a shortened form of the name if there is a desire to store it.
> 
> What do you think of changing the policy in Estonia to using expanded name tags and optionally short_name tags?
> 
> - Bartosz
> 
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