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Tagging large sites entrance / area

What is the best way to tag large touristic sites (museums, theme parks, campsites) - where should I put the tags - name, type, fee etc. There are two options:

Add tags to the area covering the whole site

this has more logic in osm world, but it is less pracical

Icons denoting site are put in the center whereas on "normal" maps they are often placed at the main entry/reception/box office which helps navigation to the site greatly.
Automatic navigation can be confused and the visitor can find himeslf coming from very wrong direction. This happened to me and it is very flustrating - it this case LESS information (one point at the entry) would be in fact more

Add tags to the main entry/reception/box office

It does not have the disadvantages mentioned before and helps navigation however

a. I feel it is somehow against OSM good practise.
b. The connection betwean the tags about the whole site is totally disconnected to the rest of the site - access restrictions for example but others as well.

Some examples

Skanzen Strážnice - the basic information - from where to come as a turist is not presented. THere are two gates and only by human heuristic you may guess that the eastern one is the main entrance. Funny think is that recently someone added to the entry way name "vstupní cesta" (entry road in Czech) to help tourists to find it. This is obviously not very systematic - the way does not have this name - it is just a track going to main info centre. However it helps to remporarily solve the problem.
Prague ZOO - in this case is difficult to guess correct entrance even for local people as it has changed recently. It is very well mapped, but as there is no way to mark the entrance it is again left on the imagination of turists where they will stop their car. It is a pity, as this is exactly the usecase where OSM could excel and surpass other maps.

entrance picnic_site tourism tagging camp_site

asked 08 Jul '12, 16:45

gorn
542●21●25●37
accept rate: 11%

edited 23 May '13, 11:12

3 Answers:

I would add as many tags to area as possible. In addition to that I would simply add all entrances.

In case it is not possible to add all information to area (different fees at different entrances) I would add some information to individual entrances.

answered 09 Jul '12, 21:50

RM87
3.3k●2●37●53
accept rate: 22%

I did, but it has two disadvantages (see the first part of the question). If you look at the given example: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.90183&lon=17.30796&zoom=17&layers=M than you see that there is no visual clue where the entry point / main information box is. You can only tell by experience, that it probably will be the big building on the nort east of the site.

(15 Jul '12, 19:32) gorn

This looks like the best solution. The wiki page for key entrance describes it as "the point where you can go into a building or enclosed area (as a zoo, theme park etc)", so it is for areas as well. You could then use entrance=main for the main entrance. That should be sufficient information for routers (if they use it).

(24 May '13, 01:19) sleske

@gorn: About the visual clue for the entrance: At present Mapnik (the software that draws the map on openstreetmap.org) does not show entrances nodes. However, there is a feature request to at least show named entrances, which would solve the problem (if you give the entrance a name): https://trac.openstreetmap.org/ticket/3498

(24 May '13, 01:29) sleske

Why dont you name / tag the complete area (park, museum, theme park aso) after making a multipolygone around it and ad the gateways afterwards ?

answered 14 Jul '12, 16:22

Hendrikklaas
9.3k●207●238●387
accept rate: 5%

There are two disadvantages of doing so: 1. Icons denoting site are put in the center whereas on "normal" maps they are often placed at the main entry/reception/box office which helps navigation to the site greatly. 2. Automatic navigation can be confused and the visitor can find himeslf coming from very wrong direction.

Please have a look at the given example http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.90183&lon=17.30796&zoom=17&layers=M - the icon of museum does not give any clue where I can enter the site.

(15 Jul '12, 19:28) gorn

Hi Gorn, Looks great, but is it Poland ? What about my suggestion using 'gate' for the the entrance ? Does nt the park / site has a code to pinpoint the mainentrance ? Succes Hendrik

answered 15 Jul '12, 19:57

Hendrikklaas
9.3k●207●238●387
accept rate: 5%

Hi Hendrikklaas. No it is not Poland if it matters ;-) ... yes, in this particural case there is a gate so it is also marked. Still you should guess, that if there is a gate than it is probably an entrance. And there should not necessarily be one. I do not think it is a feasible solution, sorry ...

(15 Jul '12, 20:40) gorn