Overall, about 10 attempts to change the name of the Gulf have been returned to OpenStreetmap in the last one week. Many contributors have argued that OSM should wait General use in society To change before an editing on the primary name of the Gulf. Clifford Snow, a member of the organization's data working group, says, “The primary goal of OSM shows what people on the ground, it is true that trying for accuracy and neutrality in front of diverse approaches,” without consensus .
A similar is played back and forth But DenaliBut reaching the agreement can prove to be difficult. “I don't believe that OSM will ever be able to choose one [name]Without humiliating some users somewhere, ”a contributor wrote. “We need a path from this quagmire that does not include edited war.”
Other contributors discussed when it would be appropriate to change. Maping providers, including Google, say they follow the geographical name information system (GNIS) of the US Geological Survey, but that database has not yet been updated with new names. The internal spokesperson Elizabeth Peace Department refused to estimate when the USGS staff could get to process updates.
beneath 1947 lawWhich geographical name will be used by the US government Board on geographical namesOr BGN, a panel of officers from a smattering of government agencies. GNIS is a store of BGN-approved names.
Till Tuesday, at least one Listed member As per the request filed by Wired under the Independence of Information Act, BGN had not received any correspondence or records related to changing the name of the Gulf. This either suggests that the general mechanisms are not attached, or that some other authority is being used to change the official name. A spokesman for the internal department refused to comment.
Another point of uncertainty is whether the name of the entire Gulf should be changed. The President's order “extends the US Continental Shelf region to the North -East, North and North -West to the sea border by the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and with Mexico and Cuba.”
But as a contributor on OpenStreetmap is written, “The Gulf of Mexico is much larger than this. So it seems to be a name instead of changing a name, this executive order is creating a new name for a sub -area of the Gulf of Mexico. ,
The White House did not respond to Wired's request to clarify the boundaries intended to the new name. If the change is applied in any non-American sector, the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency will have to update what the geographical name is known as a server, a database of names for foreign places. The National Geosal-Intelligence Agency refused to comment.
Mikel Maron, a spokesman of the OpenStreetmap Foundation, who helps volunteer efforts, says that the debate on Trump order highlights the value of an open community trying to represent the world's complexity. For now, their discussion continues. “Finally the OSM Foundation Data Working Group has stepped up to hold any major changes in the OSM database Until things are more clear,” He says.
Snow, a member of the working group, says that trending unanimous unanimous is leaving the Gulf of Mexico and Denali as primary names and Add a label For each for new official American name. But if we catch the Gulf of America, you may have to follow the open source map.
Additional reporting by Tim Marchman.