Project of the week/2010/May 02
This week's project: "What's in a name?"
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." --Juliet
What is in the name=*s of OpenStreetMap? In most cases, the name tag holds the default name of an object. Very often this is the text from the sign attached to the object. We even have name:?? to describe names in different languages so that we can create maps for many users in many places.
The big name fixup
But there are names that are in error in OpenStreetMap. And some of them are fairly easy to clear up, if you know that they are a problem. Consider some of the longest name fields in OSM. From the examples below we can see that some of the longest names in OSM include needless duplication.
| osm_id | name= |
| 22846106 | Veer Nariman Road (Church Gate Street); Veer Nariman Road (Church Gate Street); Veer Nariman Road; Veer Nariman Road (Churchgate Street); Veer Nariman Road (Churchgate Street); Veer Nariman Road (Churchgate Street); Veer Nariman Road (Church Gate Street); |
| 14355862 | United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); |
| 22846022 | Veer Nariman Road (Church Gate Street); Veer Nariman Road (Church Gate Street); Veer Nariman Road (Church Gate Street); Veer Nariman Road (Church Gate Street); Veer Nariman Road; Veer Nariman Road (Churchgate Street); Veer Nariman Road (Churchgate Street) |
| 28824734 | United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); |
| 28824759 | United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); United States Highway 50 (Alt); United States Highway 95 (Alt); |
How to repair the big name fixup
select a problem way
Examine a problem way with the browser. Select an osm_id, and visit http://openstreetmap.org/browse/way/osm_id Examine the name field and decide if you want to fix it. You may decide that this way is too far from home, or too complicated for your experience, and that is fine. Select another way that you can fix.
edit the problem way
The browser display will offer a link, "View way on larger map", click that link, then choose the edit tab to edit in Potlatch. While editing remember to do no harm. If you are uncertain about how to fix the name, leave it for somebody else. To remove unnecessary duplication i the name field, select the name value, and delete the duplicate data. Press the save button and add potw - big name fixup to the commit comment box.
Select another way and continue
Have more fun improving the data in OpenStreetMap
List of large name fields
These 400 long-name osm_ids were collected in late April and some may have already been fixed. See if you can find some that you can improve.
Propose a project
Please go over there: Project of the week/Proposals