[Talk-us] Directional suffixes on roads: yes or no?

[John F. Eldredge]

On 11/29/2014 10:39 PM, Jack Burke wrote:
> Howdy,
>
> I have a question about how much effort should be put into adding
> directional suffixes to road names.
>
> Many counties around Atlanta have adopted directional suffixes for
> roads, both in incorporated areas as well as outside city limits.
> Usually all areas in the county use the same system, with directions
> denoted NE, SE, NW and SW from some standard point, although some cities
> tend to ignore the suffixes. Also, signage is inconsistent--some street
> signs bear the suffix while others on the same street don't.
>
> In most cases, the suffix is immaterial, and most people don't use it
> anyway. Use of it or not won't affect directions most of the time,
> although I know of a few specific cases where knowing the suffix can be
> important in finding the right location (is your house 100 Concord Road
> Southeast or Southwest?).
>
> The majority of the Tiger data doesn't include the suffix.
>
> So, how much should I worry about the missing suffixes? Should they be
> included in the main name= tag? Or one of the other *name tags with the
> unsuffixed name in the name= tag.
>
> Because most people don't use the suffix, on some roads I've put the
> with-suffix name in the name= tag and the unsuffixed one in the
> short_name= tag, but I'm wondering if I should continue to bother.
>
> -jack
>
>
> --
> Typos courtesy of fancy auto-spell technology.

An additional complication is ring-roads, which are likely to have XXX 
North transition into XXX East, etc.

-- 
John F. Eldredge -- john at jfeldredge.com
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.