I happen to know the answer to this one. I'll save Brett the trouble of replying again, and point you to an earlier explanation in this thread. (Though being so long, I don't blame you for not seeing it the first time around.)
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/2010-April/003087.html It seems really odd to me, too, but it's not the first time customs have developed in odd ways... Nathan Oliver On 5/17/2010 7:01 PM, Nathan Edgars II wrote: > Dale Puch wrote: > >> On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 4:44 PM, Nathan Edgars II <neroute2 at >> gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> Lord-Castillo, Brett wrote: >>> >>>> But another good one close to us is "Old Olive Street Rd" and "Old Olive >>>> St Rd" (both official names for different sections of the road). These two >>>> streets run parallel to Olive St, Olive Street Rd, and Olive Blvd (all >>>> three >>>> of these are different roads). >>>> >>> So if "Old Olive Street Rd" and "Old Olive St Rd" are different, how >>> do you distinguish them in speech? Or are they actually >>> interchangeable names, as would seem logical (in other words, one or >>> the other may be "official", but both are unambiguous and correct for >>> all practical purposes)? >>> >> If "Old Olive Street Rd" and "Old Olive St Rd" are one road, ie. connected >> and not and a corner. Then things that may explain it are different >> addresses where they intersect, or if they are in different jurisdictions. >> Like where two cities meet. But if the addressing continues between the >> different names, then it seem one sign is wrong. I personally think "Old >> Olive Street Rd" should be used, and only cardinal direction prefix and type >> suffix abbreviated. The rest being the core name. >> > I'm not sure what you mean - if you tell someone "I live at 50 Old > Olive Street Rd", how is that any different from "I live at 50 Old > Olive St Rd"? (Obviously one would need to specify which city the > address is in, if the "official" name changes at the city line. But, > without the city name, neither of those statements, even written, > would be truly unambiguous, since the reader can't assume the chosen > Street or St is identical to the "official" usage. In fact, if we do > name these segments differently, it could cause more confusion, since > someone typing one might be taken to the "official" match when they > wanted the other one and didn't realize they were "officially" > different.) > > As for abbreviations, there's no consistent way to abbreviate. Around > here, you'll see Parkway, Pkwy, Pky, and Py all used for the same > road. And directional prefixes are part of the address, appearing > above the block number in a separate square on street signs. > > _______________________________________________ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us > _______________________________________________ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
