CAM-Gerlach (2026-02-16 21:41:09+00:00): Hi user3266,

First off, welcome to OpenStreetMap, and thanks for your contribution to our community! I'm happy to answer any questions you may have on your mapping journey, and there are a number of other friendly users mapping in the NRV that would be glad to do likewise.

Could you help us understand the rationale for your change here? Like every other town-maintained street in Blacksburg, the street signs for Church Street (and addresses along it) have always had directional suffices, at least as far back as when I first arrived in Blacksburg in 2013 (and likely far longer), which has been visible on the signage as long as street-level imagery exists (e.g. Streetside, Mapillary and other sources). Therefore, I'm not really sure what street-sign change you're citing here as far as this is concerned.

The reason the directional suffix isn't currently in any of the Blacksburg street names, nor `addr:street` is for, AFAIK, historical reasons related to the limitations of the data import of Town of Blacksburg GIS data circa 2010 that form the basis for the OSM data in the area. I absolutely agree that we should be adding it, but rather than a piecemeal effort like this for one part of a single relatively-unremarkable street (there are a number of further blocks of Church St to the south that are still missing the directional suffix), this should be done consistently and holistically everywhere it applies (possibly with automated or semi-automated tooling) following a discussion and consensus in the local community as required by OSM principles, to ensure everyone is on the same page. I've been planning to do so for quite some time following the completion of several other ongoing Blacksburg mapping projects, and I'd of course appreciate your contributions to that process.

Also, the change introduces two significant regressions in terms of data quality and correctness per OSM guidelines. First, it changes the name of the street way while not also updating the `addr:street` of the addresses along it, leading to the latter not matching the former creating a serious data inconstancy. Second, one of the core OSM principles when naming things is to always expand abbreviations for clarity, including in directional suffices like this as well as street names. So this should be "Northwest" and "Northeast" rather than "NW" and "NE" (and "Road", not "Rd" in your other changeset #178565996 https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/178565996 ).

The easiest and most consistent fix I'd recommend is just reverting the change for now, either by manually changing the street name back or using OSM-Revert (which I can do for you, if you'd like). Alternatively, if you really want to make this change now rather than waiting for community discussion and consensus, and then just having it being applied consistently in an automated/semi-automated fashion town-wide, you should be prepared to fix the naming issue, be consistent about renaming the southern parts of Church Street as well, and update all the various addresses that refer to Church Street to reflect the new names (a relatively straightforward task for an experienced mapper using a full-featured editor like JOSM, but likely rather tedious and error prone to do using iD as you are).

Looking forward to hearing from you, and happy to answer any further questions you might have and assist you in remediating this! And again, welcome to OSM!