[OSM-talk] disputed territories

[Tony Bowden]

Gervase Markham wrote:
> 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.

That sounds plausible, as long as it's clear what "control" means. In
the L/Derry case, day to day government is in the hands of Derry City
Council[1], whose official position is that the city is called 'Derry'.
The January 2007 ruling was them failing to have that recognised at the
level of national government, where it is still officially called
'Londonderry'.

If we're looking for other examples to ensure we come up with something
that works more widely, Kosovo/Kosova is another interesting case, where
"control" means something different again.

That one isn't just academic either. Under "What needs to be done?"
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/WikiProject_Kosovo notes:

  Decide what language should be used for names on the map (Serbian or
  Albanian). This is a highly political decision, so I am not adding any
  names until some policy has been agreed upon.


Tony

[1] In light of the ruling cited this is a slight misnomer and would
technically be something like Derry District Council. If anyone is
interested in the detail, the full ruling can be found at:
  http://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NIHC/QB/2007/5.html