597
In light of recent events, here's OpenStreetMap editors discussing naming of the Gulf of Mexico
(community.openstreetmap.org)
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
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Honestly, I think that we the people need to assert our own right to name things more often. I don't recall the latest name of the Brewers stadium in Milwaukee, for example. Whatever company that paid to have them put its name on the front didn't pay me. It's "the new County Stadium" as far as I'm concerned.
(I have no philosophical objection to the name, by the way. Reps of the new company can DM me, we can work out a deal.)
Ask any illinoisan what the tallest tower in Chicago is and you won't hear the name that's on the building. And good for them
An acquaintance helped close a deal for a stadium naming rights. It had been a multi year process, the negotiations were crazy, the company deliberated forever trying to decide if this was the best way to increase brand recognition and man that shits expensive.
So like a shit head that thinks he’s funny I started calling the stadium by its sponsor like 3 sponsors ago when I was around them. You could see the anxiety spike when I did it.
Your comment made me think of that. It’s hilarious. They would have had a fucking breakdown if they had heard someone say that out loud.
Frankly I agree. From my personal experience, every single native Chicagoan has been calling that particular building "Sears Tower". Even though the name has been officially changed for more than 15 years by this point...
And I thin OSM actually handled this quite well! The original Sears Tower name is still available as an "alt_name" tag on OSM as well, I just double-checked and yep it's still searchable on the map
There's a county cricket ground near me that was named the Hampshire Rose Bowl when it was first opened 25 years ago. In that time it has been renamed a number of times in honour of a selection of insurance companies I'd never heard of before, but to pretty much everyone in the area it's the Rose Bowl.
So yeah.