Street-name checker
The checker compares the name of every visible segment against the official Swiss street register and flags the mismatches, with a one-click fix.
It only reports a difference with the official register. The naming rules themselves are described in Naming roads and cities.
Enabling and scanning
The checker is enabled by default. It is switched on and off either by the Street names box in the layer selector, or by the Enabled toggle in the CH · Street names tab.
The analysis restarts every time the map moves, provided you are zoomed in enough. If the view is too wide, the banner offers a Scan this area button, which takes a minute or two and can be cancelled.
The Rescan button reads the official register again, useful after correcting a series of segments.
Reading the findings
The mismatches are grouped by name and by type. Each group shows a coloured dot and the type of mismatch spelled out.
| Type | What it flags |
|---|---|
COSMETIC | Typography only: capitals, apostrophe, spacing |
VARIANT | Abbreviation, accent or missing article |
BILINGUAL | Bilingual street: one language only as primary name, the other as an alternate |
NEAR | Probable typo |
WRONG_TYPE | Different or missing way type (Chemin instead of Route) |
WRONG_STREET | The name is valid, but it belongs to another street |
WRONG_CITY | The name exists, but in another locality |
NOT_FOUND | Not found in the official register |
UNNAMED | Segment without a name, although an official street runs underneath |
UNDER_LOCK | Lock lower than the Swiss minimum |
OVER_LOCK | Lock higher than the Swiss minimum, often intentional |
MICRO_SEGMENT | Segment shorter than 5 m, roundabouts excluded |
LOOP | Loop made of fewer than 3 segments, to be split |
NARROW_MISUSE | Narrow street misused: one-way, or shorter than 50 m |
UNNAMED_NO_MATCH | Unnamed, and nothing official underneath: most often normal |
`WRONG_STREET` always calls for a check
This finding does not come from a name comparison but from the position of the segment: another official street runs underneath. It therefore offers to replace a name that looks perfectly correct.
Look at the map before accepting. The ↗ links on each row open the exact spot on the federal map and on the cantonal map where one exists.
The two lock checks and WRONG_STREET are not active below editor level 3, and UNNAMED_NO_MATCH is off by default because it mostly brings up normal cases. All of them can still be enabled in the settings.
Fixing
Three paths lead to the same fix: the Fix button in the list, the one in the box added at the top of the segment panel, or the Alt+F shortcut.
Existing alternate names are kept, and a bilingual name is added as an alternate rather than replacing the primary one.
The Ignore button hides a finding you consider wrong. These exclusions stay on your computer, and Reset brings them all back at once.
Group fixing requires editor level 3
Below that, the Fix all and Ignore all buttons do not appear. Fixing segment by segment, however, remains open to everyone.
A group fix handles 50 segments at most at a time, asks for confirmation beyond 20, and stops at the first error, indicating where it got stuck.
The floating window
WME switches the sidebar to its selection panel as soon as you click a segment: the checker's tab therefore disappears at the very moment you are using it.
The Detach button, or Alt+W, moves the list into a small window that stays visible at all times. It is moved by its title bar, resized by its corner, and finds its place again in the next session. Dock puts it back into the sidebar.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Alt+N | Select the next mismatch |
| Alt+F | Fix the selected segment |
| Alt+W | Detach or dock the window |
All of them can be remapped in WME's keyboard settings.
Settings
The settings mainly let you choose which road types are checked (streets and primary streets are checked out of the box, not paths or freeways) and which types of mismatch you want to see.
The rest is there to adjust comfort: showing the expected name on the map, accepting an alternate name as correct (useful in a bilingual municipality), hiding segments locked above your level, or changing the checker's language.
A "not found" is not always an error
In very dense city centres, the official register does not return everything, and correct streets can be flagged as not found. The banner warns you when that happens: avoid group fixes in that case.
Sources
- Script repository: https://github.com/Waze-Dev-CH/WME-Switzerland-Helper
- Official street register: swisstopo, https://www.geo.admin.ch