[OSM-talk] naming an item in multiple languages

Stephan Knauss osm at stephans-server.de
Tue May 31 21:45:43 BST 2011


On 31.05.2011 09:19, Andrew Errington wrote:
> In Korea we have this [1]:
> name:ko = Korean name in Hangul (Korean characters)
> name:en = English or Romanised name
> name = Hangul (English)

for Thailand we decided to use the name tag for the official language 
(Thai). This is in accordance to the common understanding of OSM that 
the map is mainly for local people, not foreigners.

For bilingual maps a special rendering is used printing name:en in 
addition to the Thai name.


All these mapping schemes are quite simple. It could be a lot more 
complicated and include more attributes for each name.

If we see how others do it, Navteq defined four levels for bilingual 
areas. In the 1200 page document it's in chapter B.1.3

They specify the type of the name and a Language code. Additional names 
are possible. Each level is based on administrative areas.

Level 1 are areas with more than one official language and more than one 
language is used at the same time, e.g. Brussels in Belgium. All names 
are tagged as base names.
e.g.
name:dut:base=Brussel
name:fre:base=Bruxelles
name:spa:exonym=Bruselas

Level 2 are areas in which only one language is used as primary 
language. e.g. Wales. Other names are tagges as exonymes.

Level 3 are areas that have no specific primary language. Navteq decided 
to use one of the names as the main name based on the primary language 
of the country.

Level 4 are areas that have a different official language than the 
administrative area e.g. Bernina.

In addition they defined types for transcrition and transliterations.

So what is the conclusion? We might specify a lot more rules for the 
naming, possibly creating a reference manual larger than that of the big 
data providers. That would make it quite easy for the software to pick 
the right value based on rules.
Or we live with the fact that each country uses slight variations of the 
naming scheme that fits best the need of that country and community.


Stephan



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