[OSM-newbies] defining an area with potlatch

[Uwe Geuder]

Thanks for the explanation.

> Will something like that fit your case(s)?

I didn't have any particular case in mind. As a true newbie, I just happened to read this discussion and tried to understand how the system works.

So the original answer, you draw an area by drawing a closed way was incomplete. Obviously it should have been added: "and tag it appropriately".

And there doesn't seem to be a single standardized way to indicate in an abstract way that a circular way represents an area, but the appropriate tag depends on the context.

Examples:

1. amenity=parking (interpreted implicitly as area, if applied to a circular way) 

2. highway=pedestrian, area=yes (explicitly tagged as area, because there are also circular pedestrian ways, which are not areas)

Regards,

Uwe

On 5/10/08, ael law_ence.dev-at-ntlworld.com |osmNewbiesNoAuto| <yjktk0nrrq0t at sneakemail.com> wrote:
> Uwe Geuder wrote:
>> Hi!
>> 
>>> An area is simply a line, in which the last point is the same as
>>> the first.
>> 
>> So how do you distinguish a closed way from an area? Well, closed
>> ways aren't that common, but they do exist. Racing tracks for example
>> or just circular streets.
>
> There is a tag=area which is how I do it. osmarender seems to handle
> this as I expect, but mapnik does not. But I can't complain because the
> particular semantics I have in mind isn't official, and I haven't found
> time to put a proposal into the wiki.
>
> I have many quite large enclosed parking areas in residential parts in
> my locality. And also industrial estates with large car parks and yards.
> There doesn't seem to be any existing tag to handle that although
> "square" is near. Instead I draw a closed way tagged as a service road.
>  Then I add the area tag. Osmarender does what I expect: without the
> area tag, it draw the way as you would expect: just a road that joins
> itself.   When tagged as an area, it shows an service area - a polygon -
> exactly as I want. The wiki seems to say that it is illegal to use the
> tag area on a service road. All we need to do is remove that restriction
> and require the semantics above.
>
> Will something like that fit your case(s)?
>
> ael
>
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