From: William Hughes 
Sent: Tuesday, 27 July 2004 12:34 AM
To: jo.lim@auda.org.au
Subject: Submission on Geographic Names

In response to the request for submissions on the restriction of 
geographic names.

"2. Should the restriction on geographic names in com.au and net.au be 
removed - ie. should people be allowed to register geographic names in 
com.au and net.au? If so, why?"

Whilst restrictions on registration of geographic names should remain in 
place for the general public - I believe that it would be of benefit if 
councils were able to provide localised portals, or be given the 
opportunity to delegate control of the domain to another organisation. 

For example:
www.newcastle.com.au may direct visitors to a council portal for 
businesses in Newcastle. 

www.newcastle.org.au may direct visitors to a council portal for 
community organisations within Newcastle. 

A predictable system like this, would enable travellers and locals alike 
to quickly find reliable sources of information for their area of 
interest. 

Problems with this system arise where there are more than one community 
with the same name -- For example: Belmont, NSW; and Belmont, WA. 

This system may create an initial rush on councils trying to secure their 
domains. 

How to solve it? 
One solution may be to combine it with other geographical identifiers - 
such as State. 
Thus we would be presented with:
www.belmont.nsw.au / www.belmont.nsw.com.au 
www.belmont.wa.au / www.belmont.wa.com.au 

Unfortunately, this still doesn't let us differentiate between similar 
geographic names in the same state. A post code search 
for "Belmont, WA" on www.whitepages.com.au returns two results: Belmont 
PLB, WA: 6984 and Belmont, WA: 6104. 

There may not be an easy solution to this problem. Adding yet another 
geographic identifier may make it more difficult for someone to remember 
the correct address. 

It may be that "conflicting" geographic named locations be encouraged 
cooperate and provide a clearer 
result for end users. Perhaps a collaborative approach to query the 
visitor on which state/region/location they were looking for. 

Regards, 
William Hughes.