[Talk-GB] RFC-2 mechanical edit: UK shop names

[Philip Barnes]

On Wed, 2014-11-05 at 08:32 +0000, Stuart Reynolds wrote:
> I have to say that this is all getting rather intense. We are talking
> about one chain of shops! And clearly we aren't going to get an
> agreement on standardisation.

We aren't, and to be honest the data consumer can post process whether
we spell LIDL as Lidl or LiDL.

To be honest I am more concerned about potential tag merging that will
probably come next.

> 
> 
> To be honest I've never quite understood the obsession with mapping
> individual shops. Fine if it is done everywhere, but it isn't. Shops
> come and go, and if I was to do this in Southend High Street I'd have
> to walk up it on a weekly basis at present to capture all the changes.
> Frankly, I've got better things to do given many missing crossings,
> footpaths, cycle ways etc that would really enhance the data.
> 
Mapping small shops is probably of limited use, but I do try to remove
the bias of what I do map and sometimes the only way is to map
everything. As a community dominated by male geeks we do tend to add
POIs in the order of pubs, take aways, food shops, petrol stations.

That said pubs are a traditional landmark in the UK and have been used
to give directions since long before OSM. In the modern world
supermarkets are becoming equally important navigation points. It is
certainly important to add these, and they are useful to be able to
search when in a strange area. I am unlikely to want to find Brantano,
but many a time I have needed to find Tesco/Asda when away from home.

> 
> As I read about a million messages ago, the user of the data can find
> Brantano, or Coral, or whatever, in all its various forms by
> processing the data. I've found three different ways of mapping bus
> lanes so far, which to me is more important than one chain of shops.
> But we live with it, and code it up so that we account for it rather
> than proposing to change everything wholesale to identical schemas.
> 
> 
> Any chance we can just move on from this? 
> 
We perhaps should, but the nature of this thread is alien to the way we
generally do things. Votes/polls or mechanical edits are going to
generate debate and strong feelings.

We should at least put this on the backburner for the near future, it is
after all SOTM time and many community members are away.

Phil (trigpoint)