On Sun, 29 Dec 2019 at 16:24, bkil <bkil.hu...@gmail.com> wrote: > We had the same argument over a local mailing list and another idea came up: > some of the signage you see and many of their own website use the given > capitalization for stylistic purposes. But the question remains: why isn't a > map using stylistic capitalization? Or as some others do, why isn't > OpenStreetMap using it? > > The signs, official company registry documents, websites, receipt, press > releases, newspapers and Wikipedia sometimes contradict (Wikipedia > notoriously even within itself, so don't use that as a reference), while at > other times the mostly match. What do you think about these?
I think this comes down to OSM's "use the commonly used name" guideline (or "common usage" guideline) which I don't think has ever been firmly defined. As I understand it's always been on a "you know when you see it" basis, and exceptions and rules established one by one. We can now fairly easily find how internet news sources refer to brands and that can be another indication. For the ALDI example, a search for "site:bbc.co.uk ALDI" suggests that BBC's usage is usually "Aldi". A search for "site:rbb24.de ALDI" (RBB is a local German public broadcaster) suggests that they also usually use "Aldi". We have to keep in mind that as I understand it, BBC's editorial policy is to title-case names or acronyms that are pronounced as a word rather than spelled out in letters (so "Nato" and not "NATO" because they don't say "enn-eh-tee-oh"), but perhaps that's a decent guideline for brands anyway. I would also vote for title-casing Tesco, though I was only in London for a couple of years so I can't claim nativity. Of my local Ontario brands, things like CIBC, TD, LCBO are always uppercased and spelled out in letters (they are initially acronyms) - I would ignore and fight any decree to title-case them. A less clear-up example I came across when Osmose complained was "DECIEM", I eventually title-cased it since it seemed to me a stylistic uppercase. Things like "LASIK MD" are debatable and perhaps change over time (much as radar was once a Serious Uppercase Acronym). I would lean towards leaving all-uppercase other brands that are spelled out in letters, like KFC, but there's iffier cases like "RW&CO." where "RW&Co." also looks okay to me. I do think that brand tagging could be a useful cop-out here. Let the brand tag be whatever the brand desires (or whatever the Wikidata entry is) and leave the name tag for the name commonly used by people rather than corporations. --Jarek _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
