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I'm a bit new to OSM, but one thing I have failed to understand is why people create separate nodes to label areas instead of putting the label directly in the name tag of the relevant area. It seems to me that it would be better to just put the label in the area's tags because this gives renderers more freedom over where to render the name, and associates the name with the entire area to which it applies, which I thought would be ideal. Are there reasons to use one method over the other? Is one necessarily wrong?

Here is an example of what I'm talking about: The parking symbol on the left is from the area itself, and the one on the right is a separate node which only provides the name of the parking lot.

asked 22 Jun '17, 03:05

idtownie's gravatar image

idtownie
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The general rule is one feature should be represented by one object. In the case you show, you are correct: The amenity=parking should only be tagged on the area, the node is redundant.

When I come across that type of thing I select both the area and the node and then use the JOSM "replace geometry" function to move all tags from the node to the area and delete the node. If there are any conflicts in the tags, JOSM will show them and let you decide what to do. If there are more tags on the node than the area (maybe addr:= tags) those are moved onto the area.

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answered 22 Jun '17, 03:26

n76's gravatar image

n76
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accept rate: 17%

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For parking lots there is an additional problem: It used to be that you only get the "P" symbol on nodes tagged with amenity=parking. But some people wanted to have that symbol, so they added the extra node. Today, the parking lots are rendered not only as yellow areas but they have the additional "P" symbol. This is a prime example why you shouldn't map for the renderer. The renderer might change!

(22 Jun '17, 06:52) Jochen Topf
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question asked: 22 Jun '17, 03:05

question was seen: 2,404 times

last updated: 22 Jun '17, 06:52

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