The Importance Of Street Naming

Franz Okyere

Lecturer KAAF University College

There has been rekindling interest in the naming of our streets in recent times. Whether the renewed interest is as a result of a desire to score some political point or not is not the motivation for this brief discourse; but the real need for consideration of the purpose of street names. In the advanced countries where cities have practically outgrown their sizes street names are ubiquitous and obviously very helpful in so many ways. Often the some of the advantages are obvious whiles the there are other indirect benefits that needs a little technical exposition for the lay man to understand.

In a recent press briefing by the deputy minister for local government, Mr. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, he spoke of the determination of the government to implement street names in our communities. The question that comes to many a mind is, how helpful is the naming of streets? Of what benefit is the adoring of a street to the economy and the ordinary man on the street? Many reasons were given by the deputy minister as to why it is important to embark on a pilot project within the Ayawaso area which I found laudable but not indepth enough.

Many reasons were cited by the deputy minister as to the reason why it is important to embark on a pilot project within the Ayawaso area. One remarkable statement the honorable deputy minister made was the fact that the process was ‘complicated’. It needs not be if the right consultation and expertise is used. I believe he said that because ‘Street Naming Systems’ are indeed not an easy feat to accomplish, even in a bid to explain how to obtain the benefits. Street naming belongs to the technical area of Geographic Information Science and Systems. The resultant benefits outlined in this paper are products or results from a system (Geographical Information System) that is capable of providing the following services or benefits.


Location-finding for Fire Service and Police Services

Geographical Analysis


Home and location addresses


Business and Tax Applications (geodemography)


General queries regarding where people and places are and more. To name a street without storing that information in a computer system in a way that can help achieve the above benefits is to simply throw away the tax payer’s money without a cause. But is there any justifiable need to do a thing like that at all. To store information pertaining to streets without planting a street name sign does not make sense either. A street name, just like any other data that can be stored in a computer needs proper storage and management. Together with other geographical data it is possible to integrate such data with geographical information system (GIS) to harness its enormous capabilities. Such a system can be customized or tailored for many institutions and organizations that need geographical decision support to work effectively.

Police service and Fire service

The recent spate of crime across the country has raised several questions. The question that every concerned Ghanaian is asking is whether the police are really in control. Let us consider armed robbery for example. The deficiency or absence of street names and a corresponding storage and query system means that when a person is attacked by an armed robber their location can not be accurately be communicated to the police. The police should be able to check within the shortest possible time where exactly where the victim is for quick response, ceteres paribus. If street naming had been intensely pursued, the information provided by the potential victim could be fed into the system which could then immediately show on a computer screen, upon query, a representation of the geography of the area where the victim resides including their very own precise location. This representation of geographical reality, also known as a map (a digital map in this case) can guide the user (the police officer), in the appropriate beat or response team to have little or no excuse not to be able to help the victim out. The scenario being given here applies equally to the fire services. When they are called upon to help a fire outbreak the first question the boss at post asks is; where is the place?

It is important to note here that decision-making regarding the space within which a problem occurs is as vital as the planned line of action to be taken- as in intelligencebased approaches- by the departments. The need of a resource is as important as the optimal use of it.

Geographical Analysis

Information collected from people about their geographical locations can help in analyzing the spatio-temporal patterns of the incidences of disease, crime, and other phenomenon. Talking of disease, epidemiological databases can be created to contain addresses which patients can only supply if they can see a street name sign on the nearest junction on the street they live on. Out of sight out of mind!

Spatial point pattern analysis has been studied for so many decades now but interest in it has arisen with the advent of computers and appropriate software. The current issue of whether the presence of communication masts poses a health hazard to the residents located near them or not can be easily understood scientifically if and only if the location of the masts and the affected residents can be geographically referenced to the nearest street name. Street names are therefore a common reference for all and sundry. Inputs of such positional data into a computer and the use of geographical information systems (GISs) can aid in reducing the cognitive load on decision-makers in making a better presentation of the issues since they have a geographical component. A picture is worth a thousand words, goes the Chinese adage. Most residents are not allowing the installation of communication masts and are using violence any other inappropriate means to stop communication companies from building masts. The masses are confused simply because the picture is not clear, if any.

Home Addressing

Home addresses that make sense, is the bottom line of my submission here. I once observed a house number stack in front of a house in Ablekuma- Fan Milk. The house number was alpha-numeric (a set of numbers and alphabets) that looked more like something from a rocket scientist’s report than that of an address for a house. Once a street can be represented on a computer graphically it is also possible to find house numbers on those streets almost automatically (Geocoding is the technical term). For example 49 Kwame Street, makes more sense than S/0/11X. They are both representations but one represents better than the other. So by extension after street naming proper house numbering should also be pursued if there is available funding.

Business Applications

Your business location means a lot to your business success. To be able to analyze market data and make a well informed decision a survey is required to find out where to locate a new entrant business. Market research that takes into consideration geodemographical information in its analysis is preferred to traditional market research which is purely statistical. Market data can be collected easily from potential consumers if they can recollect with little effort the streets they live on as is case in many developed countries. Targeted advertisements can be done with the results from a geographical analysis of locational data in order to pin-point, virtually, the potential place (s) for a market niche.

Tax Collection

The fastest and most convenient way to collect tax revenues from citizens is through the use of maps. This is the reason maps were invented (question of who invented them is difficult to say as it has its own complicated history) in the first place. We need not reinvent the wheel again. If tax collectors from the IRS and other state agencies can collect tax effectively they need to be accurate in doing that; they need a map with street names that exist on the ground too. This way their staff can find anyone who has told the truth regarding his dwelling or business address.

All Queries to find where people and places are To conclude, it is important to state that all the listed possible benefits that can be obtained from the naming of streets is very realizable because of the incredible processing power that computer possess and the available expertise. Computers can process data faster today than compared to the past decade or so. Database management systems that have been enhanced to work with GISs have really given us no reason to sit and stare at where squirrels store their nuts and grass. Not long ago I showed a map on my mobile phone to a taxi driver instructing him to drive there. It was so easy for him to follow the route without any stress. Finding the location would have been easier if there were street names on the ground.