How to name a couple of things?

Help and support
1

Hello guys. I want to know how to name a few things in a way that doesn’t violate the rules. For example, let’s say a doctor is called “X” and this doctor specializes in Cardiology. How to name that? Is the following name correct:
“Name: Dr. X Cardiology”

If this is wrong and it should be only “Name: Dr. X” without “Cardiology”, this would be too ambiguous on the map. Because people wouldn’t know the doctor’s specialty. And this would make all doctors/clinics on the map equivalent (because they all will be named “Dr. X”, “Dr. Y”, “Dr. Z”, etc…). What do you think? And how to solve that?

I also want to know how to name the following things (I’ll also use “X” as an example name):

1- Teachers (when they have an independent business place for teaching by their personal name and not a school). Should it be “Name: X Chemistry Teacher” or “Name: X Chemistry” or just “Name: X”? How to tell people that this teacher teaches Chemistry?

2- Lawyers. How to name the office of a lawyer called “X”? Is it “Name: Lawyer X” or just “Name: X”? Wouldn’t “Name: X” sound like a personal name on the map? People may think it’s someone’s house, because OSM icons aren’t clickable for further information and this makes things worse, at least OSM should make the icons clickable to remove the ambiguity (by looking at the “feature type”).

3- Bus stations. Should it be “Name: X Bus Station” or just “Name: X”?

And as far as I know, we shouldn’t add “Hotel”, “Hospital”, “School”, “Shopping Mall” to place names, but I find most people adding them. This is extremely contradictory. I’m confused, what’s right and what’s wrong. Should it be “Name: X Shopping Mall” or just “Name: X”?

I know about the “feature types” and my question isn’t about that. The “feature types” don’t solve the ambiguity of names on the map. Many POIs can overlap because of the name similarity and not all icons clearly show people what that POI is about. So, how to solve that? And what’s the correct naming for the specific places and examples I’ve mentioned above.

Thank you.

2

This can vary by location and language. Can you tell us the rough location where you’re looking to map these features?

The account Sotej | OpenStreetMap doesn’t have any edits, are you a new user? If yes, it might be best to simply copy what local mappers in your area have done so far, if there is some consistency in the current mapping.

3

Yes, I’m a new user and I want to learn before making any edits. How does that vary by location and language? Shouldn’t OSM rules be stable and apply to all countries and locations? Especially that I find people from different countries correcting the edits of each other. You can tell me how to name those things in any country you want; for example the country with the most correct edits. Thank you.

4

In all cases, name should be the actual name not description.

Do not add extra explanations to name.

To tag POI type there are extra tags/properties, for example doctor type can be also tagged.

Yes, some renderers display all doctors in the same way. That is not valid reason to add description to name.

5

We should not add those, but some actual names include it.

Some cases are borderline.

6

This is admirable but note that things can be fixed.

Do not go around changing names all across your area. But shop or lawyer or school added with name not exactly following OSM but where mapper honestly tried is better than object not mapped at all.

7

Read through various threads on this forum and you’ll see just how varied and nuanced mapping is based on location and area. What you need to figure out is how your part of the world names things.

8

But shop or lawyer or school added with name not exactly following OSM but where mapper honestly tried is better than object not mapped at all.

I totally agree. But I see people correcting each other with harsh-worded changeset comments. And some POIs get deleted. And this is so frustrating. They waste others’ efforts. So, it’s better to follow the naming rules accurately to avoid such acts.

9

From your rather specific comments, I get the feeling you are not a new user at all

Does OSM do IP checks for sockpuppets?

10

Hello,
Thank you for your thoughtfulness. Quite a few people tend to make a mistake and then try to correct it immediately, but you have shown the caution to investigate the matter carefully before taking action. I am deeply impressed. ^^

I think I can answer the questions in the second and third points with fairly high confidence.

Regarding the second question, the basic name should always be the actual name. Regardless of how it looks, and regardless of whether it is distinctive or not, it should be the common name that is actually used. (If additional distinction is needed, other information could be added.)

Regarding the third question, this should likewise be a “common name that is actually used,” although there seem to be differences between cultures in this respect.

In some cultures, part of a particular feature’s name may be omitted, while in other cultures it is never omitted.

There have been discussions about this as well, but rather than establishing a uniform rule, it seems that the prevailing approach is to “write it according to local conventions.”

Since the OSM Wiki has been organized in separate pieces, there are occasionally places where the guidelines contradict one another. However, as far as I know, there is no consensus that certain parts of names should explicitly be omitted. Rather, I understand the principle closest to a consensus to be that “the common name that is actually used should be written as it is.”

That said, what is the basis for saying that words such as “Hotel,” “Hospital,” “School,” or “Shopping Mall” should not be included in the name tag? I am actually aware that there are cultures in which elliptical toponyms are omitted from feature names such as “-River” or “-Station.” Please refer to ‘this’ and ‘this’ discussion on this matter.

I would also like to point out that OSM has overlapping characteristics of both a database and a general-purpose map. Because of this, some people argue that elliptical toponyms should be omitted from feature names, on the grounds that the feature type will be added when the name is ultimately rendered.

However, I believe that this overlooks the fact that these two characteristics coexist within OSM, and as far as I know, there has not been any clear discussion or consensus within OSM on this matter.

Therefore, ultimately, I believe that the position closest to a consensus is that feature names should simply be recorded as “the common names that are actually used.”

11

OSM is a database and can store the type of doctor in a field other than name (similarly to how amenity=doctor indicates that it’s a doctor’s office, even if they happen to be named “XYZ Health” rather than “Dr. XYZ”. Not all map renderers will show the type of doctor, but this is not a reason to add extra information to name fields.

Questions 1 and 2 are varieties of the same dilemma

Please search through https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/ for tags that can describe different specialties of professional services. You will find, among others:

I don’t know if we have specific established tags for offices of teachers that teach specifically chemistry. Are they like tutors, private additional help outside of schools? Perhaps some variety of Tag:office=tutoring - OpenStreetMap Wiki or Tag:amenity=prep_school - OpenStreetMap Wiki

This depends on whether it’s named with “Bus Station” in real life.

As an example Victoria bus station - Wikipedia is always named with “bus station” (because otherwise it would be ambiguous with the nearby train station), but in a smaller town with no train station, a bus station’s name might well be just “Victoria”.

They solve the ambiguity of names in the OSM database, which is the important part.

Improve map renderers and other data clients to show more data that is in the OSM database.

For example, vector map tiles are now being rolled out, which allow higher zoom levels, which then give allow more space for each POI and allow higher-resolution icons.

12

Thank you all for your efforts and detailed informative answers.

13

it would help to provide specific link to specific edits referred here

note - if you are already got account please use it, or at least disclaim its existence

if you are blocked on other account, then you should not make new one

if you are actually a new user unfamiliar with name= tag but very familiar with internal drama, then please ignore this three lines