DC: NW/NE/SW/SE suffixes

[Duke87]

This deserves its own thread to call some greater attention to it. Was originally brought up here.

Suitland Pkwy:  Are the SE label suffixes essential?  I would definitely say that SCapSt has an essential prefix.

Again, speaking from experience, I would argue yes.  The DC quadrants are very much part of the street name.

So, this is not something specific to Suitland Parkway, actually... as things stand, it's implemented inconsistently. usanp uses the quadrant suffixes, but usadc, usaus, and usausb do not (usai has no labels where such would belong).

One way or the other, it should be consistent across systems.

Currently I'm leaning towards removing the suffixes from usanp since:
1) this defers to the precedent set with the older systems
2) it shortens labels/reduces clutter
3) none of the suffixes are necessary for disambiguation. Yes, F St NE is not the same street as F St SE (for example), but no route has a point at both. Indeed, all of the usanp routes exist within only one quadrant.

I'm not taking any action without giving others a chance to weigh in first, though. So if ye hath an opinion... have at it.

[compdude787]

I would agree with removing them. The directional prefixes/suffixes are on street names in many other US cities, and we don't include them in the waypoint names. Not sure why DC should be any different.

[the_spui_ninja]

I agree; the only reason to include the suffixes would be if there were points at both (per your example) F St SE and F St NE. That's how I implement this in North Dakota (if this situation arises), where the statewide rural road network has the potential for conflicts such as these.

[Markkos1992]

I agree; the only reason to include the suffixes would be if there were points at both (per your example) F St SE and F St NE. That's how I implement this in North Dakota (if this situation arises), where the statewide rural road network has the potential for conflicts such as these.

Yeah, that was my thinking when I noticed them on Suitland Pkwy.  I think that Alabama Ave, for instance, is only in the SE quadrant.

[dave1693]

There are highways in DC that go through multiple quadrants, but it appears at first glance that none of them have waypoints at the same named or numbered street in different quadrants. (Example: US 1 goes through SW, NW, and NE, but doesn't have waypoints at both 11th St NW and 11th St NE -- which two are parallel streets, not at all the same one.)

[Duke87]

With one vote against and multiple votes in favor, the suffixes are getting removed from usanp (any in-use labels are preserved as alts)

https://github.com/TravelMapping/HighwayData/pull/5839


That said the "NorCapSt" labels in usaus are getting left alone, and I changed SCapSt on Suitland Parkway to SouCapSt to match. This is different because while the quadrant suffixes are often not spoken in conversation when not necessary to disambiguate, you will not hear people refer to "Capitol Street" without a direction in front of it.

[yakra]

Being commonly spoken doesn't alone elevate a direction specifier to "essential".

And further expanding such a specifier doesn't seem to be what #keepdirection is all about -- a solution in search of a problem?