[OSM-talk] disputed territories

[Gervase Markham]

Tony Bowden wrote:
> Half the people on the ground call it by one name, and half by the
> other. I suspect that this is far an isolated example, worldwide.

In that case, it appears that there's a judicial ruling on the correct 
name, which makes it easy.

"Mr Justice Weatherup ruled on 25 January 2007 that the city officially 
remained Londonderry. The judge ruled that just because the council had 
changed its title to Derry, this did not mean the name specified by the 
17th century Royal Charter was changed."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derry-Londonderry_name_dispute

Perhaps the dispute page should have a clause which says that if the 
government with effective control of the area (he says, phrasing 
carefully and thinking of Cyprus) has an official source of names or an 
official stance on a naming dispute, that name should be used.

This might, of course, lead to a situation where the official name is 
one that _no-one_ uses, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

Gerv