[Talk-us] name expansion bot (Re: Imports information on the wiki)

[Rich]

On 02/18/12 01:43, TC Haddad wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 2:42 PM, Paul Johnson <baloo at ursamundi.org
> <mailto:baloo at ursamundi.org>> wrote:
>
>     On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 1:41 PM, TC Haddad <tchaddad at gmail.com
>     <mailto:tchaddad at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>         On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 12:01 PM, Paul Johnson
>         <baloo at ursamundi.org <mailto:baloo at ursamundi.org>> wrote:
>
>               but overall, the automation saved countless hours of
>             manual name expansion for the minor cost of having to deal
>             with a very small number of largely regionally-isolated edge
>             cases.
>
>
>         Can someone explain the original point of name expansion? Is it
>         so that devices that give audio directions using text-to-speech
>         can read fluently? Or was it really all about "saving time"?
>
>         Because there are other use cases where expanded names are not
>         desirable, particularly in cartography. When map or screen real
>         estate is minimal, expanded names can be downright detrimental
>         to utility.
>
>
>     Sounds like a problem for the renderer to solve.  It's possible for
>     renderers to easily create abbreviations when full words are not
>     desired, but impossible for automated translation and renderers to
>     expand abbreviations accurately.
>
>
> I *guess*, but that seems unrealistic expectation to put on GPS hardware
> manufacturers. Particularly if name expansion is inappropriate in one
> town, but perfectly appropriate in another, and usual practice is to
> load a large area (like a whole state or region) into a GPS device. How
> woud a device renderer know to even try to distinguish across community
> lines?

it wouldn't be the device renderer (in most cases) but the the tools 
used to process the data - for example, mkgmap would do the shortening 
for garmin maps

>  From the user perspective it would be nicer if the names in the data
> set correspond to the actual street sign names. In Portland the street
> name is "Tillamook" and if I am on "NE Tillamook" that just helps me
> know the quadrant of town. "Northeast" on it's own doesn't tell me
> anything if I can't see the rest of the street name.
>
> This example feels more like "tag for reality", vs "tag for the
> renderer" argument, and the short prefixes feel more like reality in
> Portland, but maybe that's just me...
>
> I do see the value if text-to-speech is the real reason this was done
> though.
-- 
  Rich