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Does the “name=*” tag make sense for a tram track?

As a related question to What is the proper way to tag tram tracks embedded in a street? : Does the name=* tag make sense for a tram track?

On Tag:railway=tram , the Wiki proposes to use name=* to tag the "Line numbers". This seems ill-advised, because:

often several lines share a track
usually a line will consist of many ways (because of length); tagging them all by line number will make it difficult to find the whole length of a line (it would have to be joined by searching for the name)
name is not meant for designations, but real names, so even disregarding the above, ref= would seem more natural
If a street and a tram track share a single way (see my other question linked above), the name= tags will conflict
Finally, there is already a way to tag public transport lines using relations, which solves all these problems, so tagging the line no. as the name is redundant, and likely to become wrong soon when it is not updated together with the relation.

So is there any good reason for this recommendation? Or can it be deleted?

tram public-transport tagging

asked 19 Jan '11, 23:33

sleske
4.1k●13●56●78
accept rate: 24%

edited 19 Jan '11, 23:35

One Answer:

AFAIK, name=* is used in infrastructure when a way or a junction is generally well known with a name. Like "Tsarigradsko shose" street (have it written on street plates) or "Trainstation circle" roundabout (officially not named, but well known by all residents).

ref=* would more likely stand for some official naming like E85 (but still could be "Tsarigardsko shose" as long as it is official name).

I think the same rules could apply for tram tracks.

answered 20 Jan '11, 08:27

ivanatora
2.7k●35●55●68
accept rate: 7%

ref=* is clearly more consistent with the rest of OSM and I've corrected the page.

(20 Jan '11, 10:44) Richard ♦

Like the rest of OSM, both are possible (ref and/or name)

(20 Jan '11, 14:46) Pieren