How would you interpret these supposed opening hour plates?

General talk
1

Suppose you want to record the opening hours of places and find the following opening hours plates on shops. How would you *interpret *these (ambiguous) opening hours? Aas a human with common sense, of course.

(**PH **stands for public holidays)

A1.

Mo-Su      8:00-12:00
Sa,Su,PH  14:00-16:00

Would you expect that it is open before noon on Sunday? Would you expect that it is open before noon on a public holiday?

A2.

Mo-Su  8:00-12:00
PH    14:00-16:00

Would you expect that it is open before noon on a public holiday?

B.

Mo-Su  8:00-13:00
PH    12:00-16:00

Would you expect that it is open before noon on a public holiday?

C.

Mo-Fr  8:00-18:00
We    14:00-18:00

Would you expect that it is open before noon on a Wednesday?

D.

Mo-Fr  8:00-12:00
We    14:00-18:00

Would you expect that it is open before noon on a Wednesday?

2

These are a bit confusing as they look too like the OSM opening hours syntax, when they are not.

You need to interpret these in an appropriate local context, as would any member of the public. The ideal would be to ask the shop keeper what they mean.

My guesses would be: Yes, yes, no, no, yes

3

My guesses: Yes, no, no, no, yes.
→

4

It isn’t clear what the context of your question is. Are you seeing these hours on real-life signs and are wondering how to record those in OSM (and you’ve done some basic “translation” into the opening_hours format), or are you seeing these values in OSM and are wondering how to use them as a data consumer?

5

My answer assumes real life signs. If you want to know how OSM opening_hours are interpreted, there are web tools that will give definitive answers.

6

Coming from my background as a computer programmer and a mathematician, my interpretation is use only the most specific, applicable specification. Of course, according to some people, that would make me unhuman. Such is life.

A1) On a non-public holiday Sunday (from the first question), the most specific, applicable specification is the second. My answer would be no. On a public holiday (whether a Sunday), the most specific, applicable specification is the second. My answer would be no.
A2) On a public holiday, the most specific, applicable specification is the second. My answer would be no.
B) On a public holiday, the most specific, applicable specification is the second. My answer would be no.
C) On a Wednesday, the most specific, applicable specification is the second. My answer would be no.
D) On a Wednesday, the most specific, applicable specification is the second. My answer would be no.

7

For the current implementation of opening hours in OSM, it depends on whether you write e.g.

Mo-Fr 10:00-12:00, We 14:00-16:00
or
Mo-Fr 10:00-12:00; We 14:00-16:00

but for human interpretation (or mapping) a view such as on http://openingh.openstreetmap.de/evaluation_tool/?setLng=en or on YoHours is the way to go.