Changing of city and country name tags in Southeast-Asia

It´s hard to have any map orientation in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh. I would like to change some only-local-script-letters city and country name tags to this form:

name = local-sript letters -> name = local-sript letters (latin-script letters)

name = ປະເທດລາວ -> name = ປະເທດລາວ (Laos)
name = ວຽງຈັນ -> name = ວຽງຈັນ (Vientiane)
name = ວັງວຽງ -> name = ວັງວຽງ (Vang Vieng)
name = ຫຼວງພະບາງ -> name = ຫຼວງພະບາງ (Luang Prabang)
name = ประเทศไทย -> name = ประเทศไทย (Thailand)
name = กรุงเทพมหานคร -> name = กรุงเทพมหานคร (Bangkok)
name = နေပြည်တော် -> name = နေပြည်တော် (Naypyidaw)
name = বাংলাদেশ -> name = বাংলাদেশ (Bangladesh)

What the users are thinking?

asked 17 Sep '13, 11:38

andi9876
26●1●1●4
accept rate: 0%

edited 18 Sep '13, 07:36

Only if you like names in countries with latin alphabets looking like this: "Berlin (Берлин ; برلين ; बर्लिन; ベルリン; 柏林)" (see http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/node/240109189) to allow for some other major writing forms; AND you get consensus from the mappers who live in Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh etc.

One of OSMs strengths is that we try to avoid not privileging one view of the world over others. We don't always succeed, but the main map on OSM is primarily to help mappers, who tend to orientate themselves with the local names for places in the local language & script.

(17 Sep '13, 13:23) SK53 ♦

Thanks for helpful answers and this link: http://thaimap.osm-tools.org/

(18 Sep '13, 07:44) andi9876

One Answer:

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I am thinking don't do it. See for example this section of Multilingual Names and the link to this example where you can choose what language you see in the Thailand area. Just because not all languages show on the default OSM rendering isn't a reason to override the name tag with mixed languages.

permanent link

answered 17 Sep '13, 12:58

EdLoach ♦
19.5k●16●156●280
accept rate: 22%

Yes, what we really need is a multilingual rendering stack (or, failing that, renderings in various languages). There's a good bit of work going on here already.

We can't impose our biased view of the map (or are you suggesting we write "United Kingdom (ສະຫະລາຊະອານາຈັກ)" too ?). Multilingual "name" tags are only acceptable if the locality itself is multilingual, and even then only the local mapers know enough to make the decision.

(18 Sep '13, 10:09) Vincent de P... ♦

I also map in SE Asia (Thailand)and had a similar concern when I started out. Now, I use name:en when entering name data for streets and POIs. The Garmin compatible maps I D/L from http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ show the English names if you specify English during the installation on your computer. Works for me.

(20 Sep '13, 03:43) AlaskaDave

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question asked: 17 Sep '13, 11:38

question was seen: 5,782 times

last updated: 20 Sep '13, 03:43

Changing of city and country name tags in Southeast-Asia

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