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Hi, newbie post, so forgive the "daft" question! I'm attempting to add building outlines to a residential street. I think I've managed to add the "building" tag along with "house number" ok, but am unsure as to how I should tag the other buildings and structures on the property. I would like to tag things like a brick built garage or car-port and any other structure eg. swimming pool and somehow "link" these to the property area, but being a very new "newbie" am unsure how to go about it. My best guess is to have some sub-category of "building" tag, but when I click on the "add properties" in JOSM ver4064, I just get "hanger" or "yes" as the only options for the "value" of the "building" tag. eg. building=yes. Thanks for any hints.

asked 12 Jun '11, 22:27

c93729's gravatar image

c93729
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edited 12 Jun '11, 22:52

SomeoneElse's gravatar image

SomeoneElse ♦
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One aspect of OSM's tagging scheme that can be difficult to grasp at first is that it's essentially freeform, and that the presets in Josm/Potlatch, etc. are merely suggestions.

The best way to look up a tag is really to look at the Wiki: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org

and search for the feature.

You can also look up tags in taginfo http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org

Looking in both places, I see that overall, we don't have a good tag for outdoor sheds, and so my suggestion would be to either just tag it with building=yes, or else, as per taginfo, tag the building as building=shed. There is also a page on the wiki proposing this which appears not to have been passed, but seems to be in some use anyway.

It can be confusing at first to know that some of the tags aren't standardized, but this is what gives the project its flexibility. If you want to help make this more documented, you should join the tagging list and work on a proposal, but in the meantime, my suggestion would be something simple like using the building=shed tag.

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answered 13 Jun '11, 03:39

emacsen's gravatar image

emacsen
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accept rate: 13%

There's a good selection of building tags on the key:building wiki page. As most things in OSM, these tags are not set in stone and there's perhaps some discussion over some of them but it's a good guide none-the-less.

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answered 28 Jul '11, 15:29

Matt%20Williams's gravatar image

Matt Williams
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accept rate: 10%

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question asked: 12 Jun '11, 22:27

question was seen: 9,976 times

last updated: 08 Feb '12, 00:24

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