[cykros]

This seems silly for the reason they're doing it, in that a modern database should be able to handle characters with a little sanitation.

However, it does seem like it could be helpful when it comes to satnav applications to remove ambiguity. Google's going to autocorrect most of the time anyway, but this way, you're less likely to run into an issue where it takes you to Kings Landing in the wrong town because you didn't type King's Landing in the town you meant.

Sure, they tell you what town you're looking at, but I can't be the only one who's quickly typed in a destination and didn't take the time to double check and ended up driving to the wrong location for something. For some reason all of the hockey rinks near me have almost identical names...

[thfuran]

>but this way, you're less likely to run into an issue where it takes you to Kings Landing in the wrong town because you didn't type King's Landing in the town you meant.

That's pretty uncompelling. Should we also get rid of the letter s to avoid mix-ups between Kings Landing and King Landing?

[TylerE]

Devils advocate: the apostrophe isn’t pronounced. The s is.

[thfuran]

England would have to do some serious work to get rid of all the unpronounced letters in their place names.

[TheRealPomax]

"This seems silly" is the nicest way to describe government standards that were already outdated in the 90's