[Talk-us] First vs 1st

[Minh Nguyen]

On 2012-11-28 6:23 AM, Peter Dobratz wrote:
> I think the key word here is abbreviated.  In the OSM name, the
> un-abbreviated form should be used:
> name=Fourth Street
> To record the abbreviated form, you could use the following:
> short_name=4th St
> As with all abbreviations, sometimes they will appear on signs and
> sometimes the full word will be written out (often depending on size
> contstraints of the sign itself).

Yes, the well-established guideline is to avoid abbreviations, but 
numerals are different than most abbreviations. If you'll excuse the 
straw man, would it be wise to apply this guideline to the following two 
examples?

----

highway=residential
name=West 650 South
     => West Six Fifty South
tiger:county=Randolph, IN

----

addr:city=Maineville
addr:housenumber=2669
     => Twenty-Six Sixty-Nine
addr:postalcode=45039
addr:state=OH
addr:street=West United States Highway 22 and 3
     => West United States Highway Twenty-Two and Three
cuisine=ice_cream
loc_name=UDF
name=United Dairy Farmers
shop=convenience

----

In older residential neighborhoods, I often find house numbers over the 
mailbox spelled out in elegant Edwardian script. [1] That isn't much 
different than the spelled out street numbers that some cities opt for.

Numerals are less error-prone and allow for greater consistency. Where 
should hyphens go? How many times are you going to misspell "Eighth" or 
"Fourteenth"? Should it be "Six Fifty" or "Six Hundred Fifty"? 
Voice-enabled applications would likely use the former, while those 
elegant house number signs might go either way. And does this mean I 
should start putting in spelled out `name:es` and `name:zh` tags too?

So except where the signage is spelled out, I prefer to use numerals in 
`name` and stick everything else in `alt_name`. [2]


[1] Elegant? I meant illegible.
[2] And I wouldn't bother for `addr:housenumber`. That really was a 
straw man. ;-)

-- 
Minh Nguyen <mxn at 1ec5.org>
Jabber: mxn at 1ec5.org; Blog: http://notes.1ec5.org/