Tourist's needs

[flocsy]

In #277 we started a discussion regarding the best practice for stop_name vs translation.txt.

The text was "Use a name that people will understand in the local and tourist vernacular" (new text currently being merged: "Names should be meaningful to local and tourist vernacular") but IMHO both are missing a key part of defining what a tourist means, or what the needs of a tourist is. One simple example is in a place where the local alphabet is non-latin, and a foreigner tourist will have hard time to read anything. In this case I think it would be a good idea to include a "best practice" (or requirement?) for the producers to include latin transcription (or translation to a latin scripted language where it makes sense)

[skinkie]

I think stops.txt should match what can be observed on the stop sign. Because the general public cannot read Japanese, Chinese, Cyrillic, does not mean that stop_name should be in Latin, that is why translations.txt are useful.

[flocsy]

That's true, nothing's wrong with what you say, but the above mentioned sentences with "tourist vernacular" is misleading then.

[scmcca]

The current description for stop_name is:

Name of the location. Use a name that people will understand in the local and tourist vernacular.

Perhaps we can get inspired from the Best Practice documentation to update the stop_name description to something like:

Name of the location. The stop_name should match the agency's rider-facing name for the location as printed on a timetable, published online, or represented on signage. For translations into other languages, use translations.txt.

I wonder if we should also add a note that datasets may be multilingual before translations? (Already captured in the proposed description above.)

[e-lo]

I like this solution and the spirit of continuously updating/refining the spec based on what we find useful from best practices.