Map label of small feature incorrectly expands over large area when zoomed out

General talk
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Problem= map label of small feature overlays larger area when zoomed out. When zoomed out the label no longer accurately describes the area underneath. Example: A tiny suburb of a city is labelled correctly but none of the surrounding suburbs are labelled. When the map is zoomed out that label overlays a larger area that is inaccurate. Is it possible to geographically limit the applicability of a label so that it is limited to the exact area only and not able to expand infinitely upon zooming?

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Can you link to an example? It doesn’t have to be where you live, just something that shows the problem.

I’m guessing that you’re asking about one of the six layers available at openstreetmap.org (there are lots of others as well of course). If people can identify the OSM objects involved, they can likely figure out what the problem is (and likely also suggest other maps that do not share the same problem).

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Thanks for your attention to this question.
I can give you an example but first, answer this: Are all map labels treated as points or are they limited by geographic area? For example, If the only label in the US was Joe’s Hot Dog Stand in NYC, when you zoom out to the continent level the entire US would be labelled “Joe’s Hot Dog Stand.” What limits are in place to stop a label from enlarging across an infinite area upon zooming? If so, how can these limits be applied at a level where the label is pertinent to the zoom?

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It depends on the map. Most of the available technologies can display the label of an area as something in the centre, or around the edge, or several times over the area. They’ll also have a concept of the maximum (and sometimes minimum) zoom level that it makes sense to show something at (so showing a hot dog stand at continental level is unlikely to happen).

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Thanks,
So the “concept” of the max/min zoom level that it makes sense to show is at the heart of my question, albeit who/how is this determined? For example, if the label description is for a geographic area, shouldn’t the label be required (at creation) to have extents so the label is intelligently applied per zoom level? And shouldn’t geographic area label be distinguished from point labels, such as a hot dog stand? It is really annoying to have the importance of insignificant labels magnified by being broadcast over a wide area of zoom levels.

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By whoever is making the map…

yes, whoever is making the map can get at the area, and make big things appear at lower zooms than small things.

yes, whoever is making the map can get at that too (although you can’t assume that things will always be mapped as point or area features).

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The person(s) creating the map obviously control it. No revelation there. What I am referring to are the labels added by map users.

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In most maps, including those on the home page, users have no direct control over labels.

Contributors to the OpenStreetMap database provide the information used to draw maps, such as names and the tags that identify the type of object being mapped.

It’s hard to say more without an example. Your comment about a small suburb being rendered more prominently than larger ones might reflect missing or inconsistent data rather than labelling. Maybe the larger suburbs don’t even have names in the data, but we can’t know that without an example.

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Thanks. Map labels must depend on how much the map creators understand and trust contributors. Impossible job. Maybe a Wikipedia style direct approach of cross-examination would be helpful. Or maybe this is the way it already works and I am just discovering it.