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<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Here are some rules of
thumb:</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">* If it displays a sign
reading "embassy", "high commission", "nunciature", or
"interests section", it is a safe bet that it should be tagged
"embassy".</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">* If the sending side
has made loud public pronouncements and published widely that
its embassies are now called "people's bureaus" or some other
formulation, it can be safely tagged "embassy".</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">* If it has a sign on
it that says "consulate", it is a consulate, and the sign will
specify what flavor of consulate.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">After that it is safest
to ask somebody at the institution in question whether it is
part of the embassy or consulate (like my American Center) or
not (like TIFA), though status can sometimes be divined by
reading the institution's website. If all else fails, check the
host country's diplomatic list and see if the chief of mission
is on it. If s/he is not listed, the institution is not
diplomatic (diplomatic=other). If s/he is listed but has a
non-diplomatic title (e.g., "director" or "coordinator" as
opposed to "ambassador", "charge d'affaires", "minister",
"counselor", "first/second/third secretary", or "attache") the
mission is pretty clearly not under the VCDR (diplomatic=other).
Here we walk a fine line. TIFA is an agency of the Turkish
government, hence diplomatic=other. American Councils, which
operates our American Corners in Turkmenistan, is an NGO
operating under contract with the U.S. government, so our
American Corners are not diplomatic, but rather NGO offices
(office=ngo). Parsing all of this constitutes a good excuse to
recruit diplomats to OSM to help with mapping :-)<br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Two more examples and
I'll stop--I can hear the eyes rolling all the way from Ashgabat:</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">* The Apostolic
Nunciature in Ashgabat is headed most of the time by a charge
d'affaires because the nuncio is resident in Ankara and only
visits periodically. The charge d'affaires is nominally the
"cultural attache". Since it is a nunciature, we know it is
under the VCDR.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">* The European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank, and
the United Nations missions in Ashgabat (there are two) enjoy
diplomatic status under the Bretton Woods arrangement (the
banks) and the UN Charter. Technically that makes the EBRD and
ADB diplomatic missions, but we tag them as banks, not as
embassies (under the new construct we might however tag them
diplomatic=other in addition to tagging them as banks). The
lead UN Mission, in a new construct with diplomatic=* as a
primary tag, would be tagged diplomatic=other since its head is
called "resident coordinator" and the UN Mission is covered by
the UN Charter, not the VCDR. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Would the lay person
know all this? Not until reading the wiki articles we will need
to compose if a primary diplomatic=* tag is adopted. Sometimes
it is not completely obvious and you have to do a little
research. <br>
</font></p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/29/2018 3:08 AM, Graeme
Fitzpatrick wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAP4zaXqMF4kE7j0xwuqxLT3gFk_FeYfU6Y4rSnywwLxSEm_5BQ@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr">On Mon, 29 Oct 2018 at 02:32, Allan Mustard
<<a href="mailto:allan@mustard.net"
moz-do-not-send="true">allan@mustard.net</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><font face="Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif"><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>
</font></div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thank you for a very detailed, very interesting post,
Allan.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>One question, please.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Is there any way that a layman such as myself would know
that "<span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The
Libyan Economic Cooperation Bureau would be
diplomatic=other, other=trade office because it is
accorded diplomatic status by bilateral agreement, not the
VCDR", or is this sort of thing only known to Govt /
diplomatic staff?</span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Graeme </div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
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