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

A large number of former churches have been converted into private dwellings. offices, etc. but are still useful landmarks, as they still look like churches! How should I map such a building on OSM? I tried "building=church" but that doesn't show what the building is now used as - is it possible to make it clear that it's now a house? Should I label it as "disused:amenity=place_of_worship"? The building is not disused, as it's a house now.

In some cases a church has been divided into two semi-detached houses, which a mapper might want to number separately. Any guidance please?

asked 02 Jan '12, 22:25

Hilary's gravatar image

Hilary
71123
accept rate: 0%


It's still totally OK to tag is as building=church. According to the wiki, the building tag describes the "building typology", i.e. how the building is constructed. It does not say anything about its current use (if any); that is addressed by amenity=place_of_worship.

Note that while the external appearance/structure of a building and its use often go hand in hand, that is not necessarily the case. For example, there are many places of worship that look like regular houses, or convention halls (e.g. small prayer houses, or big modern churches), and conversely there are buildings that look like a church, but are used differently (as in the case you describe). Thus the separation between building= and amenity=.

permanent link

answered 20 Mar '12, 09:14

sleske's gravatar image

sleske
4.1k135678
accept rate: 24%

Good explanation, Sleske.

(20 Mar '12, 17:19) gerdami

If it is built as a church, tag it as building=church, if it is not used as one, do not add amenity=* or any other religious information. I do not think that this is common enough to have a special rendering style for church buildings used as private houses...
I do not want to change it in map just to see how it looks, but I suppose it would be rendered grey as a church, but without any cross. If the same building has more numbers, you can split it or use address nodes instead of putting addresses directly on the building. The later being probably smarter for divided church.

permanent link

answered 03 Jan '12, 01:44

LM_1's gravatar image

LM_1
3.3k335188
accept rate: 10%

In Belgium there are : - former railway stations sold and used as private houses - some churches converted into hotels

In Switzerland, there are - prisons converted into hotels

(17 Mar '12, 21:15) gerdami

I'd treat it as a case of "what does it look like?" That is, if it still CLEARLY looks like a church, by all mean put building=church, possibly with disused:amenity to prevent people from adding that tag (unless it's residential, there are plenty of tags that can be used to mark its current use). If youcan't tell it was once a church unless you know it, tag it as a house/flats/school whatever, and if you feel like it, add appropriate old_name and disused: tags.

permanent link

answered 19 Mar '12, 22:58

Circeus's gravatar image

Circeus
58391426
accept rate: 7%

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:

×39
×20
×14

question asked: 02 Jan '12, 22:25

question was seen: 5,944 times

last updated: 20 Mar '12, 17:19

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