[OSM-talk] Announcing name searches for OSM

[David Earl]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: talk-bounces at openstreetmap.org
> [mailto:talk-bounces at openstreetmap.org]On Behalf Of Lars Aronsson
> Sent: 08 May 2007 11:52
> To: talk at openstreetmap.org
> Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Announcing name searches for OSM
>
>
> David Earl wrote:
>
> > The first and last are already there. I have Ø as O at present
> > (some Danish colleagues had in the past described Ø to me as an
> > entirely separate letter that didn't have a direct equivalent,
> > but from what you say, they were wrong),
>
> Ø is a separate letter in the Danish alphabet, sorted after Z
> (ABC...XYZÆØÅ).  However, if a Danish placename is Ørefløde, a
> person with an English keyboard will try to search for Oreflode or
> perhaps Oerefloede and will be disappointed if the right placename
> is not found.  It is not the search function's task to teach
> foreigners about the Danish alphabet or punish those who don't
> know, but to deliver useful search results.


Absolutely. That's exactly what I am trying to achieve.

What I hadn't realised is that there was more than one possibility. Now I know, I will implement it (for the planet dump this week).

> Similarly, if the same rule is applied to
> consonants, you will have that Hannover (German spelling) =
> Hanover (English spelling) and Gdańsk = Gdansk.

I don't think Köln and Cologne would happen automatically :-) But this is already supported in principle by name:en=Cologne tags, which I already recognise and index. Hannover would fall into that category. e.g. http://www.frankieandshadow.com/osm/?find=An+Gearasdan

Gdansk would work by equivalence (now I know about ń),though one might consider that is serendipity.

I wonder where to stop though. Is it helpful to equivalence letters in russian, e.g. Moskva for Москва (if that is what i would be) or at that point simply rely on name:en=Moscow

David 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/attachments/20070508/81555e59/attachment.html>