[OSM-talk] Mapnik: strange prioritisation/appearance of place names

[Adam Schreiber]

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 8:34 AM, David Earl <david at frankieandshadow.com> wrote:
> On 23/03/2009 12:13, Adam Schreiber wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 8:08 AM, Elena of Valhalla
>> <elena.valhalla at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> finding a working algorithm that uses only objective data and is
>>> always able to select the proper item to print would be excellent, but
>>> also probably not feasible in real life.
>>
>> Population?  People can vote importance with their feet.
>
> Population's not enough. Some places "punch above their weight" - the
> example I like to use is Hay-on-Wye in Powys. It's under 2,000 people but is
> most clearly an important market town for the surrounding area. In
> population it would be a modest village, but it is more important than that.
>
> Similarly, many US states have capitals which would otherwise be relatively
> insignificant towns/cities (take Albany NY for example). Their
> administrative function makes them more important than population alone
> would suggest.

Albany would also no doubt have capital=yes set to further elevate it.

Cheers,

Adam