NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum

If I'm mapping a university, is it OK for me to tag buildings with a function=* tag to identify a building as having a specific function ie Careers Centre, or more generally to label a few buildings as having a 'catering and social facilities' function?

asked 16 May '11, 12:57

Sam%20Foster's gravatar image

Sam Foster
45559
accept rate: 0%

edited 16 May '11, 13:00

Jonathan%20Bennett's gravatar image

Jonathan Ben...
8.3k1785108


It works, but in my opinion "function" is a bit a of an overly generic word. It's a bit like the word "type". I think we should avoid those kinds of words as keys.

Some functions could maybe be better covered by existing tags. For example the canteen could perhaps be mapped as a restaurant (although if it's very private, then that might be poor fit) The careers centre is a lot like a job centre or employment agency, which we're missing decent tag documentation on unfortunately, but the point is you can map these things with "top-level" tags rather than using a generic word "function".

Another approach used by some mappers, is to represent some types/functions of buildings within the building tag. So instead of just building=yes, do building=catering or something. A bit weird but probably better than using a new "function" key.

I thought we had a page on the wiki about campus mapping, but maybe it was my imagination. So today I wrote a bunch more stuff on the Tag:amenity=unversity page, although I haven't actually answered your question. We could add more detail to the 'Detailed campus mapping' section (or this could go new 'University campuses' wiki page)

permanent link

answered 17 May '11, 13:49

Harry%20Wood's gravatar image

Harry Wood
9.5k2588128
accept rate: 14%

Harry thanks for that

I just typed a big comment and lost it - Doh!

basically I'll remove the amenity=university tag from my buidlings. I'm using name= to label most, but need to use nodes for where many departments occupy one big building. Is that reasonable?

permanent link

answered 17 May '11, 14:00

Sam%20Foster's gravatar image

Sam Foster
45559
accept rate: 0%

IMHO it is.

(17 May '11, 15:02) petschge
Your answer
toggle preview

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

  • *italic* or _italic_
  • **bold** or __bold__
  • link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
  • image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
  • numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
  • to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
  • basic HTML tags are also supported

Question tags:

×191
×75

question asked: 16 May '11, 12:57

question was seen: 11,259 times

last updated: 17 May '11, 15:02

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum