alt_name query (newbie)

General talk
1

Hi,

I’m just starting to contribute to OSM and I have a query about the use of the the alt_name property.

Is it possible to enter more than one alt_name? I tried doing this in JOSM by adding multiple alt_name properties, but only one seems to be allowed as it kept overwriting the first one. Should the alt_name value then be a comma separated list?

The reason I’m asking is because the city I’m entering (and will start mapping) has several well-used transliterations into Latin script (from the Amharic/Ethiopian script), its usual name is Mek’ele, but can also be Mekele, Mekelle, Makale, Makele (and more!)

Cheers,
Alex

2

Tough one.

As I understand it, a key should only be represented once on an element. Multiple values are usually, as you say, comma delimited and this is probably what you should do in this case.

If the different versions of the name are more often used in particular languages then you could perhaps use name:en, name:en-us, name:en-gb, name:es, name:fr etc.

Welcome to the forum, by the way. :slight_smile:

3

Alex,
Does this page http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:name helps you in the right direction? If the comma separated trick works, please add it to this page. Hugo