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Why we have two different keys instead one? This make it a bit complicated.

Are there any reasons for use postal_code instead addr:postcode?

asked 19 Dec '15, 01:24

eBin's gravatar image

eBin
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In my opinion you shouldn't use addr:postcode= on a street because it is intended for tagging addresses, and the street has no "address" per se. postal_code= has a slightly different meaning, which is "all addresses along this street share this postal code", the same applies to areas, see also the wiki: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:postal_code

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answered 19 Dec '15, 09:35

Alecs01's gravatar image

Alecs01
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All addr:* tags are for things that have an address, exclusively. Never use addr:* on a street or an administrative boundary. On the other hand, if you tag an area with boundary=postal_code then you need postal_code=* to go with that, and never addr:postcode.

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answered 19 Dec '15, 09:45

Frederik%20Ramm's gravatar image

Frederik Ramm ♦
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I think this neglects the potential iterative nature of OSM. One can quite frequently easily discover the addr:postcode which applies to houses on a street without ever having to map the actual addresses. Storing such partial info in OSM is still useful. NOTE: hereabouts some local authorities actually put the post code (which in UK is always address, not area, based).

(19 Dec '15, 14:38) SK53 ♦

Frederik's reply is perfectly valid for countries where the postal code forms a region, such as Germany and Belgium. It is probably not valid for the UK and USA, where ZIP-codes or postal codes are assigned in a different way.

Furthermore, for Germany and Flanders (part of Belgium), it is not really needed to add postal code information to a single address. All postal code boundaries are mapped. Some people will still map this information on addresses and POIs though, as not all data consumers can handle the postal code boundaries.

(21 Dec '15, 04:57) escada

it should be noted that nominatim will actually use addr:postcode that is tagged on a street in lieu of postal code boundaries or address nodes including the code. So the information is useful, but naturally it would be preferable to have the actual addresses mapped.

(21 Dec '15, 08:53) SimonPoole ♦

I don't understand which bit of my message should be invalid for the UK or USA. Use addr:xx for everything that has an address; don't use addr:xx for things that don't have an address. (The fact that Nominatim might try to harvest all it can get and consume addr:xx even on non-addressable objects like streets should not lead mappers to mis-use addr:xx in that way.)

(21 Dec '15, 09:02) Frederik Ramm ♦

@Frederik so I take it that you're against mapping addresses by an iterative process

(21 Dec '15, 10:20) SK53 ♦

There is no particular reason to use the postal_code key. It was invented before the addr:* tags and some of the old uses haven’t been rationalised. If you find it in an existing address bear in mind that it may not have been used the way we would now use addr:postcode (though maybe it was).

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answered 19 Dec '15, 09:18

Wynndale's gravatar image

Wynndale
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question asked: 19 Dec '15, 01:24

question was seen: 4,564 times

last updated: 21 Dec '15, 10:20

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