Can I just be clear on the criteria for adding new cities as I don’t think the wiki is clear enough. I’m only asking as quite a few cities have been removed in Sheffield recently so I don’t want to add any unnecessarily (although this particular query is related to Rotherham).
Is it fair game as long as it appears in the Gazetteer, or should the following also be taken into consideration:
Size (number of segments within) - if so, what?
Whether there are any ‘Welcome to’ signs.
Does it appear in addresses on the Royal Mail postcode finder?
In this example for Masbrough in Rotherham, it appears in the Gazetteer, but doesn’t appear to satisfy 2 or 3 from the above list and I’m trying to understand how big it is from the reporter (although I suspect not very).
I’m not a fan of the city and state being the same (Rotherham, Rotherham) so I’m tempted to add this.
The criteria for adding cities - well it’s really difficult to say. There are a lot of different ways to look at it!
“1. Size (number of segments within) - if so, what?”
Almost irrelevant. There are villages in rural Scotland that are clearly signposted at entering/leaving, appear on nearby road signs, yet do not have a single segment of their own. You have to split a much longer main road segment just to give the name to the right place!
“2. Whether there are any ‘Welcome to’ signs.”
Is a very good indicator. If the boundary is marked with entry/exit signs for the area, that’s a good criterion for having it named in Waze.
“3. Does it appear in addresses on the Royal Mail postcode finder?”
Not sure about this one. I don’t know how well Royal Mail matches other sources or what people expect.
It’s certainly worth considering if it’s in the Gazeteer. It’s more the flipside that’s true - if it isn’t in the Gazeteer, then it probably shouldn’t be used.
A long time ago, I made this post about cities and a lot of our current thinking stems from that. In particular:
Another thing that’s worth looking at is the OS map, as linked to by WME OpenData. If the area is named on the OS map, then it’s worth considering naming it in Waze.
In your case of Masbrough, it’s clearly marked on the OS map, and Rotherham is it’s own “County” in Waze, so sub-dividing it makes sense. The biggest difficulty is, as always, defining the boundaries. In London, we’re lucky that the postcodes have been around a very long time and match very well with borough boundaries. I would suggest that post code boundaries are the first thing to consider.
Noting another point from your post - in built-up urban areas, you often won’t have “welcome to” signs. It depends on whether a local council feels particularly proud of themselves or have some other reason to do so. For example, Greenwich in London put up a lot of signs some years back when they won some sort of award - so they could say “Welcome to Greenwich - Local Authority of the Year” or something similar. :lol:
Lastly, whilst all of Rotherham County shouldn’t be Rotherham City, the center of Rotherham absolutely should be. Again - if you can decide on a boundary! :lol: