Wikipedia:Notability (Places and transportation)
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The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as "policy". |
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This is a proposal under creation. Your input is valued and encouraged. |
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This page in a nutshell: Localities that are, will be, or have been, recognized by a government, communitity or a representable subsection of the populace might be considered notable. |
| Notability |
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| Inclusion guidelines |
| Academics Books Films Music Numbers Organizations & companies People Web content |
| Active proposals |
| Aircraft Criminal acts Fiction Places and transportation Schools Serial works Streets and roads Toys and games |
| See also |
| Common deletion outcomes |
A place which has received significant coverage in reliable independent secondary sources is presumed to be notable.
Contents |
[edit] Places
[edit] Cities and regions
A city/town/village should show a verifiable notation in multiple atlases.
- A neighborhood within a major city that has a substantially noticeable difference to the surroundings.
- A neighborhood or sub-section of a city/town/village should be incorporated in the article about the town or city it is located in, unless it has exceptional notability of its own.
However, any area that has something exceptional about it merits its own article, and ideally the area should be discussed in reliable sources. The notable feature could be for instance (but not limited to) a business or tourist district, a place with a noticeable economic effect upon a region (jobs and/or raw materials usage/production), or a place where some historical event occurred.
[edit] Buildings and Structures
A company, corporation, organization, group, product, or service is notable if it has been the subject of coverage in secondary sources. Such sources must be reliable, and independent of the subject. The depth of coverage of the subject by the source must be considered. If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources should be cited to establish notability. Trivial or incidental coverage of a subject by secondary sources is not sufficient to establish notability. Once notability is established, primary sources may be used to verify content. Ultimately, and most importantly, all content must be attributable.
The "secondary sources" in the criterion to include reliable published works in all forms except for the following:
- Press releases; autobiographies; advertising for the company, corporation, organization, or group; and other works where the company, corporation, organization, or group talks about itself—whether published by the company, corporation, organization, or group itself, or re-printed by other people. Self-published material or published at the direction of the subject of the article would be a primary source and falls under a different policy.
- Works carrying merely trivial coverage; such as (for examples) newspaper articles that simply report meeting times or extended shopping hours, or the publications of telephone numbers, addresses, and directions in business directories.
[edit] Annexations
If a Facility is deemed valuable enough by Cities/Towns/Villages to want to add its tax revenue to Gov't coffers, then this would indicate notability to a large number of persons, the economic effect being proof. (eg. This AfD )
[edit] Streets and roads
All Wikipedians agree that there cannot be an article about every little side street in the world. But there should be a general guideline as to what makes a street or road notable for inclusion in an article of its own. Some possible guidelines are:
- Roads that link two or more cities, towns, or communities, and stand out against a group of smaller streets or roads in their respective areas should generally be considered notable. These are the type of roads you would find on a folding wall map or road atlas that does not display every little side street, but does show main roads. If you were to look at a detailed street map of a neighborhood, these would be the roads that you would view as the "main road" (or few roads) of the community or town, that are printed in bolder lines.
- In the downtown area of a major city with a gridlike pattern of streets, the major streets that are considered the city's main streets would be considered notable. However, more minor streets (which there are in most downtowns) would not be considered notable, unless some other factor else establishes them as such. For example, in Manhattan, where there are a few major north-south streets which transverse the town a long distance (mostly numbered Avenues), these would be considered notable. However, not all west-east numbered streets would be considered notable. Most of these are narrow, with one lane for thru traffic, and parking on each side. A few (like 79th and 86th Streets, for example) are wider, transverse Central Park, have bus lines operating on the streets, and other stand-out factors like these, and therefore, would be considered notable.
- In Washington, DC, not all lettered or numbered streets are notable. But a few major ones, like K Street or 16th Street are notable.
- A side street or small road divided by a yellow line that is contained to one area and is not close to being the "main" road in the area is generally not notable. Exceptions are if the street plays some role in popular culture (such as being the location of a major news event, is or is featured in a movie, or is distinctive in some way compared to a common street), or is the subject of some highly notable writing.
- Roads that are part of a national or state/provincial numbered highway system are generally agreed to be notable due to the selectiveness of the agencies that admit routes to those systems. (Only a fraction of the many thousands of roads in a typical U.S. state are selected as a state-maintained numbered highway.) In jurisdictions with parallel primary and secondary systems (such as Missouri, which maintains a 'primary' system of numbered routes and a 'supplementary' system of lettered routes), generally the primary system is regarded as notable, while the secondary (and tertiary, etc.) systems need to be evaluated on a route-by-route basis. At the county/parish level and below, notability needs to be assessed for each individual numbered route. Note, however, that there are many streets that are not numbered routes that all agree are notable. Besides, some jurisdictions do not have numbered routes.
- Roads that are contained to one town, suburb, or other similar area that have a high importance within that area alone, but do not connect to other areas, and do not merit and article of their own can be mentioned with a few short paragraphs within the article about that town. Such lists may also include roads that do have articles, accompanied by the {{main}} tag. See Owings Mills, Maryland#Transportation for an example. Such a list, however, should not be indiscriminate and include every little side street. A road that is listed should have some significance, such as a major landmark being located on the road.
- In a major city, a page listing streets within the city can be created to list streets that do and do not have articles. See List of streets in Baltimore, Maryland for an example. Once again, such a list cannot be indiscriminate and include every little side street. A line that all can agree to has to be drawn somewhere.
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- These include more than just interstate-like highways. This means everyday streets and roads. City streets, suburban roadways, etc.
Here are some examples of notable versus non-notable streets and roads. The notable ones are displayed in bold print, and the non-notable ones in fine print.
 In the downtown area of a major city, large streets would be considered notable. Smaller "back" streets would not. |
 In a major city, outside of the downtown area, or in a smaller city, these major streets would be considered notable. Smaller streets would not. |
 In a suburb, these major roads that connect to a nearby city or other suburbs would be considered notable. Smaller streets contained within the suburb would not. |
 This major road connecting two towns would be considered notable. Other roads connecting either town to any other city or town would be considered notable. Small streets contained within the town would not. |
[edit] Transportation services
Another question that has been brought up is what transportation services are notable? This includes rail lines, rail stations, bus lines, etc. Here is my opinion on each:
[edit] National/Continental rail services
The services themselves are notable, and many of their stations (and some defunct stations) are notable. As for whether their individual routes are notable, that is on a case-by-case basis. Some routes, such as the Northeast Corridor, are clearly notable.
[edit] Commuter rail services
Commuter rail (such as subway or light rail systems) are notable. In addition, there can be an article about each line in a major system, and many (but not all) of the stations are notable, too, especially in major cities where each station is a major work of architecture. In some systems (especially light rail), when little information can be provided on most individual stations, there should be a list of stations on the line on a single page.
[edit] Municipal bus services
An agency (public or private) providing regularly scheduled mass transit services in a city, town, or region, no matter how small, is notable. But there is a question as to whether bus lines are notable.
- In a major city with a large mass transit agency, bus lines can be notable for inclusion in their own article if they have a verifiable decades-old history that has had a social impact. It is recommended that if several lines fit some common characteristic (such as corridor served) to include them in a group article, such as Pennsylvania Avenue Line (Washington).
- In a smaller city or town with a small number of bus routes, all routes should be listed in the article about the agency serving the place, perhaps in chart form. If this list makes the page pretty long, or there is notable information to write about them, a separate article about the agency's lines may be written.
[edit] Intercity bus services
Intercity bus services providing regularly scheduled, fixed-route service between two or more major cities are notable. Notability is not limited to large companies like Greyhound Lines, but may also include smaller, regional companies like Chinatown bus lines.
