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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Please let me clarify.
The three categories [embassy, consulate, other] are based on
their status as diplomatic missions as defined by international
law, which is how governments look at them, label them, and relate
to them. Within those categories functional differences can and
often do exist, which I believe is the question you raised below.<br>
<br>
Let's posit a hypothetical analogy using dessert shops:<br>
<br>
primary key is shop=*<br>
shop=[dessert, ...]<br>
dessert=[pastry, frozen, pudding]<br>
pastry=[cake, cookie, tart, pie, biscuit]<br>
cake=[chocolate, Black Forest, ...]<br>
...<br>
frozen=[ice cream, frozen custard, frozen yogurt, sherbet]<br>
ice cream=[chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, neapolitan,
cookie dough, mango, raspberry swirl, ...]<br>
...<br>
pudding=[gelatin, custard, mousse]<br>
gelatin=[strawberry, lemon, orange, ...]<br>
custard=[chocolate, tapioca, lemon, ...]<br>
mousse=[chocolate, raspberry, mango, ...]<br>
<br>
(Sorry, Hallowe'en is coming so I'm distracted by thoughts of
sweets.)<br>
<br>
At this point we begin to proliferate pretty seriously: is
chocolate ice cream so different from vanilla that it deserves its
own value, so we can tag the shop accurately? Do we even need to
specify the types of frozen desserts in a tag? These are all good
questions, especially if you have a sweet tooth as I do, but if a
user wants to run an overpass turbo job to find all shops serving
strawberry frozen custard, that user will not likely find that
level of detail in OSM. We need to decide what level of detail we
can reasonably expect to be maintained by a volunteer community
while also providing an adequate level of information to our
users.<br>
<br>
Now let's shift back to the proposal of diplomatic=[embassy,
consulate, other], and start by addressing your specific examples:
"trade mission," "liaison office," "interests section". A trade
mission (aka "trade commissioner", "commercial office", "trade
representative") can be part of any of the three categories; it is
not accredited separately. Assuming we intend to adopt the
diplomatic=* tag as a primary tag, a trade mission could be tagged
diplomatic=embassy, consulate, or other, depending on its
diplomatic status. An interests section is probably best tagged
as diplomatic=embassy since it enjoys diplomatic privileges under
the VCDR. A liaison office, on the other hand, may or may not
enjoy diplomatic privileges but if it does, it is only on the
basis of a bilateral agreement, not under the VCDR, so on
reflection it should probably be tagged diplomatic=other (see the
Wikipedia article
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_facto_embassy">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_facto_embassy</a>). <br>
<br>
To me there are three and only three secondary tags: pastry,
frozen, pudding, er, sorry, embassy, consulate, other. The rules
for tagging at this level would be determined by what treaty
applies: the VCDR or other multilateral international treaty such
as the UN Charter (diplomatic=embassy), VCCR
(diplomatic=consulate), or only a special bilateral agreement that
may or may not confer immunities (diplomatic=other). <br>
<br>
Now, are there sui generis names of diplomatic facilities? Yes.
For example, Libya used to call its embassies "people's bureaus".
When the Soviet Union was formed, it stopped calling its chief
diplomats ambassadors, and for ideological reasons (traditional
diplomatic titles were considered bourgeois) said its diplomatic
missions were staffed by "polpreds" (plenipotentiary
representatives) and its missions were now called "polpredstvo".
After a few years of being always at the bottom of every
diplomatic list, the Soviets resumed normal diplomatic
nomenclature. How much do we care about ideological labeling of
an embassy that enjoys protection under the VCDR? They were
embassies, pure and simple.<br>
<br>
So, let's pretend we're taking the example of the dessert shop and
applying it to the proposed diplomatic=* primary tag. Here is a
possible permutation:<br>
<br>
primary key is diplomatic=*<br>
diplomatic=[embassy, consulate, other]<br>
embassy=[chancery, branch office, nunciature, interests
section, residence, trade office, high commission, mission,
legation, cultural center, assistance office, ...]<br>
consulate=[consulate, consulate general, consular agency,
consular office, honorary consul]<br>
other=[liaison office, representative office, subnational,
trade office, cultural center, assistance office, ...]<br>
<br>
N.B. that the tertiary tags now begin to overlap the name=* tag,
and it is my understanding that duplication of information is
generally frowned upon in OSM--please correct me if that
impression is incorrect. That said, if our hypothetical user wants
to pull out all cultural centers or U.S. state rep offices in a
country by tag value, it would be possible. Note also that we are
also mixing apples and oranges here, as "nunciature" is simply a
different name for an embassy, as is "high commission", whereas
cultural centers and trade offices located separately from the
chancery are functionally distinct branches of an embassy, easily
distinguished by their prominent signage ("please visit us and
absorb culture/buy our goods"). <br>
<br>
Here are some illustrations based on Ashgabat, a capital city with
about three dozen diplomatic missions. <br>
<br>
* The USAID office is part of the American Embassy but is in a
separate office flat in a building across town, so would be a node
tagged diplomatic=embassy, embassy=assistance office. <br>
* The Turkish counterpart, TIFA, does not enjoy diplomatic status
so would be tagged diplomatic=other, other=assistance office. <br>
* The Libyan Economic Cooperation Bureau would be
diplomatic=other, other=trade office because it is accorded
diplomatic status by bilateral agreement, not the VCDR (there is
no Libyan Embassy here). <br>
* The American Center would be a node in an office building tagged
diplomatic=embassy, embassy=cultural center, while the Iranian
Cultural Center would be a building with the same tags, since both
enjoy diplomatic status as sections of their respective embassies.
<br>
* The Russian Consulate General has its own building and grounds
separate from the embassy, so would be an enclosed way tagged as
diplomatic=consulate, consulate=consulate general. <br>
<br>
An example from New Delhi, where I was stationed for three years:<br>
<br>
* The State of Virginia (U.S.) Office would be tagged
diplomatic=other, other=subnational.<br>
<br>
Sorry for the long-winded reply but I thought your question
deserved a comprehensive response. <br>
<br>
apm-wa <br>
</font><br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/28/2018 3:52 PM, Paul Allen
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAPy1dO+A0HpQbWE-fW3hzj6f3Nd2ULFWt3Ys92KKQ111eG7B+A@mail.gmail.com">
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<div>On Sun, Oct 28, 2018 at 5:48 AM Allan Mustard <<a
href="mailto:allan@mustard.net" moz-do-not-send="true">allan@mustard.net</a>>
wrote:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>[...]<br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><font face="Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif">d) diplomatic=* would include only
[embassy, consulate, other], with "other" covering
anomalies without status under the VCDR or VCCR (e.g.,
AIT, TECRO, and subnational representations);</font></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><br>
</div>
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><font face="Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif">e) further refining of the type of
facility would be apparent in the name=* tag, obviating
the need for additional subtags; and</font></div>
</blockquote>
<div>[,,,]</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It depends. Are all of the facilities that would be
tagged as "other" sui generis or do some of them</div>
<div>fall into specific categories? If there are specific
categories that some of them fall under, then</div>
<div>giving them their own values instead of other would be
sensible.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Tag values are cheap and promote consistency. Consider
somebody wanting to use overpass-turbo</div>
<div>to find a particular type of diplomatic facility. A
search for diplomatic="fubar" is a nice, easy query. A</div>
<div> search for diplomatic="other" and name~"fubar" works if
you're sure the name is going to contain</div>
<div> "fubar" somewhere within it. If you don't know in
advance what the name is then with only</div>
<div>diplomatic=other you're not going to be able to narrow it
down to a specific category of other (if</div>
<div>specific categories of other exist).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>OTOH, if "trade missions," "liaison offices," "interests
sections," and the like are merely marketing</div>
<div>terms for "I can't believe it's not an embassy" then
"other" suffices.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-- <br>
</div>
<div>Paul</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
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