Light rail vs. tram category plus wrong translation

[dbrvnistan]

Problem 1: All tram stops in Prague (and all other cities that I checked) changed category from "Tram stop" to "Light rail station" about half an year ago. I don't know why. Prague and most other tram systems that does not fall under light rail category. This is two completely different things and terms. People who are used to "trams" will never search for "light rail" nor will understand what it is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tram

Problem 2: Completely wrong translation of category "Light rail station" as "stanice úzkokolejné dráhy", literally "narrow-gauge railway station". Light rail is not narrow gauge, light rail means a segregated tram or similar urban railway as opposed to "heavy" metro or conventional railway. Regardless of gauge. Correct translation would be "Stanice městské dráhy" (it is not a literal translation, as there is no such system in Czech republic). Reference: https://www.linguee.cz/angli%C4%8Dtina-%C4%8De%C5%A1tina/p%C5%99eklad/light+rail.html

[Stuart_C]

I agree that "light rail station" is completely the wrong translation. It should be tram stop, no two ways about it. The use of English translations for stop and station names in Prague is also contentious. It helps no one. 

[Anonymous]

Look this problem @BruceDM TNX

[BruceDM]

Hello @dbrvnistan,

I believe in a case like this, you'll get different answers when you ask different people.  I believe a Tram is maybe a smaller version of a train, and still something that runs on a track. A light rail runs on tracks exactly like the pictures you have shown here. This is just my opinion however as I don't typically ride on either. 

I can go ahead and investigate the translation issue and category issue for you although The Google Maps teams that deal with Transit base schedules, paths and other features based off of the information received by local transit authorities. For suggestions like these, you would need to "Send Feedback" when the marker is located on the place of interest.

[BruceDM]

@dbrvnistan - Could you also share the Google Maps URL of the places with the possible translation errors, as you have shared above?

[dbrvnistan]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the fast response.

Regarding the category issue (regardless of language):

I would really appreciate if you could try to forward this to your colleagues at Transit if that's their area. I don't think it is related to data received from transit authorities as this seems to have changed across many cities (In Central Europe you have trams in pretty much any city of 100k+ people).

If this is somehow related to the data from transit authorities, then it was probably due to change in the data structure on Google's side (e.g. new categories available) and them not being told that. Surely they have not changed this on their own, suddenly, everywhere, in each city.

Also, while I appreciate your opinion, I would honestly expect a more professional answer than "depends who you ask, both are on rails, though I ride none, so I don't know" - I hope you have people in Google Transit who can tell a difference. If not, then that's pretty sad. It is not a matter of opinion, this is well defined technical terms. I gave you links that clearly explain the difference (let me know if you need something more technical/authoritative than Wikipedia). Especially disappointing since you have local competitors who do a LOT better job on transit, biking directions, and a couple other things maps (I mean mapy.cz).

Regarding the translation issue:

Here is an English listing:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/U+Zvonu/@50.071849,14.3891269,18z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x470b95abb7cbe3...

And here Czech:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/U+Zvonu/@50.071849,14.3891269,18z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x470b95abb7cbe3...

Again, it is just a completely wrong translation. Link to resource on this topic given. I can provide more if needed.

Thanks for looking into this.

Daniel

[BruceDM]

Thank you for sharing the links @dbrvnistan - I will go ahead and escalate the issue to the proper teams. This may take some time to review but the items you shared and any rationale for translation will all be provided for review.

[vfriedrichova]

Hi all, thanks for your attention. The incorrect translations have been reported and corrected (there are more issues than just this one). The problem is that the UI hasn't been updated for a really long time despite my regular pings. This is the actual issue. There's a bug, I can loop you in if there's anybody who can fix it.

Veronika

[dbrvnistan]

Hi Veronika, Bruce,

Is this getting some attention internally or should I forget about it? 🙂

Thanks,

Daniel

[BruceDM]

Hi @dbrvnistan - This is an issue that is still being looked into by specific internal teams. There are two separate issues you noted -  translation issues and classification of the stations. Language localization is an on-going process that occurs behind the scenes. I do not have information I can share about the status of a "Tram" versus a "Light Rail" but the teams that determine these classifications aim to choose the best ones that cast the most accurate and widest net over a given subset of locations. 

The Local Guides team will always escalate and raise suggestions from community members like yourself but we are unable to share specific results of such inquiries directly in our forums.  Please be sure to tag me or others you would like to speak with in any future responses to ensure that your message will be seen. Thanks!