Aren't admin_level and place getting at slightly different things? admin_level is to mark official political/legal boundaries. place is to mark a...well...place that has a name, and the place=city|town|village|hamlet does not necessarily align with the type of government (if any) of the place. From the place page: <div>
"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; ">In most Western countries, the status of a location (whether it is a city/town/etc.), is decided by the government, and is not a function of size. ***But most OSM communities of those countries have made a convention to use the population to decide which place tag to use, to ensure a more common way of tagging across the globe, and not to end up with cities of 1000 residents for example.***" Just like the term "township" that Ant linked to, the same word can have different meanings in different contexts.</span></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; ">Brad</span></font></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 7:54 PM, Antony Pegg <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:antthelimey@gmail.com">antthelimey@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
ok, I got a question<br><br>tagging admin area / populated centers / labels in USA seems to come down to two main tags:<br><br>admin_level and place<br><br><a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Admin_level#10_admin_level_values_for_specific_countries" target="_blank">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Admin_level#10_admin_level_values_for_specific_countries</a><br>
plus<br><a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Place" target="_blank">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Place</a><br><br><br>I've ran into a problem recently fixing up my area, where either the TIGER import, or inexperienced contributors have/are mis-tagging townships as being, in some way, more important / more visible than Cities or Towns.<br>
<br>Before I go further, If you aren't sure exactly what a Township is in the US, please read this first:<br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_%28United_States%29" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_%28United_States%29</a><br>
<br>In rural PA (Lancaster) I am specifically dealing with a buttload of these:<br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_%28United_States%29#Civil_townships" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_%28United_States%29#Civil_townships</a><br>
<br>From personal experience, the best I can equate them to is neighbourhoods or in-town areas in england.<br><br>West Lampeter is to Lancaster as Tarpots is 918 years ago) to South Benfleet, or the Sea-front in Southend.<br>
<br>The problem is that currently we dont have a discrete tag for place=township and all admin_level= are =8<br><br>so, half a question, half a statement of intent, unless someone argues me down from the ledge...<br><br>
I'm going to start using place=suburb for townships as the closest comparison I can find <br>
<a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:place%3Dsuburb" target="_blank">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:place%3Dsuburb</a><br><br><br>thx<br>Ant<br>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Tagging mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Tagging@openstreetmap.org">Tagging@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging" target="_blank">http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br>