[OSM-talk] keys with multiple values

[Norbert Wenzel]

On 09/14/2014 04:28 PM, Andrew Hain wrote:
> Alternative names in OSM come in two types: names to display (with tags such
> as name:fr) and names to search for. Although a semicolon-separated list is
> more logical in some ways than artificially separating into multiple tags,
> it is makes a difference from searching alternative display names. 

How is making a data search accept all nameXXXXXXXXX fields with X being
any arbitrary number easier, than splitting all values at semicola? The
data preprocessing has to be fixed (? has it, or are semicola already
supported by Nominatim?) for all variants, and I'd say a simple string
split at a semicolon is easier to implement than checking every key for
possible numbers at the end.

And the semicolon list is in my eyes more logical when it comes to
removed values, eg. what does it mean when name2 is deleted, but name3
still exists?

Norbert

PS: Of course this should not mean that name:lang should be changed,
since the language is given in the key, which adds information to the
key. I'm simply referring to fields with multiple values for (I think
most of the time it will be alt_name) a key, where all values are in the
same language and equally "important".