[OSM-talk] [OHM] Should we map former endonyms?

[Lester Caine]

CC'ed to wrong list :)

Martin Koppenhoefer wrote:
>> Do the notability guidelines of Wikimedia allow storing only important places?
>
> because the consequence of using wikidata will be to have wikidata objects not only for places but also for minor streets and squares as soon as they change name (most of these will not have Wikipedia articles)

I'd go a step beyond that and say that while targeting historic data wikidata 
object identities are probably as useless as OSM objects.

None of these identities provide for a time element to a search?

What needs to be created is an extension to something like Nominatim or GeoNames 
but with a time related axis.

An simple example of information that has been well mapped in the last 10 years 
is 'Ashchurch Parish Council'. This existed in it's previous format until 1st 
April 2008 when it was broken up and while an area of housing moved from 
Ashchurch to an adjoining Parish, the remaining area is now two Parishes - 
Ashchurch Rural and Northway.

Currently buried in OSM data is the original area, with it's relation to the 
earlier name hierarchy, but there is no simple mechanism to extract this data. 
Personally I would still like to see a proper use of start and end dates 
directly in the OSM data and simply remove the 'concept' of delete for data that 
HAS simply evolved, but in the absence of that, the very minimum OHM needs to 
provide is access to that historic data and the ability to improve on it where 
OSM simply blocks.

'former endonyms' are simply a facet of history which OSM processes simply 
deletes. Only where those endonyms have an actual relevance today do they fit in 
some peoples guide lines for current OSM data? That they need to be mapped is a 
given, just where is the data stored?

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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