River Database - When there waterway name is not unique...

[muralito]

Using the River Database index, when there waterway name is not unique, in the same region, it would be helpful to display some information that could help to disambiguate them, e.g. the name of the waterway or water body it flows into, or that is near some named place...

For a testing case, in https://waterwaymap.org/river/region/UY-Lavalleja/ there are four distinct waterways named "Arroyo Molles".

[nealmcb]

Perhaps the easiest and best way to disambiguate them would be to show the lat/long of the downstream end of each river in the database.
That would also help us identify significant unnamed rivers, which often should be linked to others.
That's particularly helpful with the "End" view.

[nealmcb]

I note that latitude and longitude are noted already in the river pages, e.g.
at https://waterwaymap.org/river/Verioja%20000579518058/ it says:

Verioja flows into an unnamed river , which it joins at N 57° 44′ 8″, E 26° 44′ 44″ at OSM node n7525999724, and there 12 km of total upstream flows in.

I see an ongoing trend in both gegraphy and astronomy towards use of decimal degrees rather than DMS for angles. I think it is easier to work with a single number for latitude and for longitude, easier to compare them, and dealing with all the ways of rendering the minutes and seconds makes it harder to copy-paste accurately. So I'd also suggest using decimal degrees in the index pages, and switching to them for the database pages. I don't know if anyone is currently relying on the use of DMS, but providing a configuration option would be one way to deal with that if necessary.

[muralito]

Perhaps the easiest and best way to disambiguate them would be to show the lat/long of the downstream end of each river in the database.

IMO not in this issue. Of course coordinates sure will disambiguate them, but they are harder to read. Is much easier (at least to me to think in terms of affluent, some near place (maybe a populated place, or some natural relevant).

Also the "flows into" info is already in the river page, but the case I started was about the list of rivers, the River Database index.

[amandasaurus]

On So, 10 Aug 2025 1:15 +02:00, Neal McBurnett ***@***.***> wrote: I see an ongoing trend in both gegraphy and astronomy towards use of decimal degrees rather than DMS for angles. I think it is easier to work with a single number for latitude and for longitude, easier to compare them, and dealing with all the ways of rendering the minutes and seconds makes it harder to copy-paste accurately. So I'd also suggest using decimal degrees in the index pages, and switching to them for the database pages.

Hehe. 🙂 Fair point. I added the DMS because I want it to be "word-y" and less "raw list of numbers". But I can see you're point (ha!). I'll add some more number formats. -- Amanda

[amandasaurus]

Yes, I want to improve that "list by name". Probably by including the admin region or something

…

On Do, 03 Jul 2025 22:55 +02:00, muralito ***@***.***> wrote: *muralito* created an issue (amandasaurus/waterwaymap.org#93) <#93> Using the River Database index, when there waterway name is not unique, in the same region, it would be helpful to display some information that could help to disambiguate them, e.g. the name of the waterway or water body it flows into, or that is near some named place... For a testing case, in https://waterwaymap.org/river/region/UY-Lavalleja/ there are four distinct waterways named "Arroyo Molles". — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#93>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAAMCYUINFC47FV2IU4WOL3GWKEHAVCNFSM6AAAAACAXZ3DHCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43ASLTON2WKOZTGIYDANRSGU4DGOA>. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

-- Amanda

[muralito]

Yes, I want to improve that "list by name". Probably by including the admin region or something
…

It maybe would be useful in some case, but won't help in this one. In this example the four waterways with the same name are within the same admin boundaries. The information about which body of water each stream flows into is already calculated and displayed on each stream's page; where it still needs to be added for disambiguation is in the index.