[OSM-talk] NoName

[Nick Barnes]

Gervase Markham wrote:
>     OK, put it this way: if we were to choose name=__noname__ as the
>     value, I'd make it my life ambition to get a road named as __noname__
<snip>

Am I alone in thinking that this is an argument not worth having?

If a road has no name, then the road's name is ''. That is, every road
has a name, it's just that some roads may have a name with zero
characters in it.

This is the only logical way of handling this, surely? It makes perfect
sense and doesn't involve any additional tags or black magic. Any other
solution involves a botch, a workaround or may be made nonsensical.

For example:

name=__NONAME__
(as has been pointed out, what happens if there is a road with the name
'__NONAME__'?)

name=The Avenue
noname=yes
(would be allowed and yet is logically incorrect. In addition, which
takes precidence?)

Yet:

name=

makes perfect sense.

Nick.