[OSM-talk] Names for Fiji

[Jean-Guilhem Cailton]

Hi,

Fiji was severely hit by category 5 cyclone Winston, the second most
powerful recorded in the Southern hemisphere.

If you look at OSM data for Fiji, you may notice that names are lacking
for many villages, whose extent has been or can be mapped from Bing
imagery.

A source to locate village names can be public domain US Army Map
Service 1:250,000 1944 topo maps. A layer with the whole series covering
Fiji is available at:

http://mapwarper.net/layers/483

Tiles can be accessed at:
http://mapwarper.net/layers/tile/483/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

A WMS link suitable for JOSM is:
http://mapwarper.net/layers/wms/483?request=GetMap&version=1.1.1&styles=&format=image/png&srs={proj}&exceptions=application/vnd.ogc.session.inimage&width={width}&height={height}&BBOX={bbox}&

Note that names currently in use are often a simplified form of these
"old" names, and that it is straightforward to recognize current names
in old names.

For example, on Koro Island, here is a list of correspondences old name
- current name:
Kande - Kade
Nambuna - Nabuna
Nangaindamu - Naqaidamu
Sinuvatha - Sinuvaca
Namathu - Namacu
Mundu - Mudu

There are also many names that haven't changed.

This map from UN OCHA shows cyclone track, strongest wind strips, and
current names of islands:
http://reliefweb.int/map/fiji/fiji-tc-winston-final-track-21-feb-2016

This map of news and social media reports can provide other examples of
currently used place names:
http://u.osmfr.org/m/72342/

Best wishes,

Jean-Guilhem


-- 
"On ne m’ôtera pas de l’idée que, pendant la dernière guerre mondiale,
de nombreux juifs ont eu une attitude carrément hostile à l’égard du
régime nazi." Pierre Desproges
"I won't be deprived of the idea that, during the last world war, many
Jews had a downright hostile attitude toward the Nazi regime."