4d ago

In light of recent events, here's OpenStreetMap editors discussing naming of the Gulf of Mexico

community.openstreetmap.org Gulf of America - Gulf of Mexico

President Donald Trump just said during his inauguration that he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Aside from the political aspects, how does that even work? How does OSM choose a source for that? I’m curious! Also, somebody executed what I thought while I wrote this post:

As of revision version #85, OpenStreetMap has the following tags for Golfo de México:

name:en Gulf of Mexico
official_name:en-US Gulf of America

OpenStreetMap community @lemmy.ml

Kalcifer @sh.itjust.works

4w ago

The OSM Community discusses the Trump Administration's renaming of "The Gulf of Mexico" to "The Gulf of America"

community.openstreetmap.org /t/gulf-of-america-gulf-of-mexico/124571

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99 comments

Why is this even being discussed?
Are they discussing renaming Taiwan to China as well?
- One way a global index can respect local authority would be for the index to acknowledge that within that territory, there is an official name for things.
  They can also be pragmatic and acknowledge a common local name, the global consensus name, etc.
  In many ways, it's just a further fragmentation like language.
- The name itself can't really change in OSM because it's based on what someone "on the ground" would see, i.e. street signs, etc.
  Previous OSM naming conflicts have usually been areas of disputed land where some group de-facto controls the land/people and therefore the street signs, and therefore the OSM 'name' tag.
  That's not going to work very well for a big region of mostly international waters between several countries.
- Taiwan is the island, also known as Formosa, and it is ruled by the Republic of China. Separately, but still part of that state, there's the autonomous mainland provinces, calling themselves the People's Republic of China, a rebel faction which somehow steadfastly refuses to declare independence.
  
  Looking at it this way, I'd call the "mainland" part West Taiwan
  
  Nah West Taiwan is the western half of Taiwan. It's an island, not a state, just as Denmark is not Jutland, or Spain, or Portugal (fight!) Iberia.
  
  You're getting downvoted but you ain't wrong.
- Are you taking about Formosa or the Republic of China?

99 comments