[OSM-newbies] Shopping area

[Richard Weait]

I've done these often, as follows.

One building=yes for the strip mall.  Add addr:street and
addr:housenumber for the building polygon.

Add amenity=parking polygon(s) where appropriate.

Add highway=service; service=driveway to connect the local roads to
the parking areas.

Add a node for each business, and place it near where the main door to
the business is located.  That node should include name=xxxxxx;
shop=yyyyyy (or amenity, whatever is applicable)

Add wheelchair=yes if the place has a power door and wheelchair
button, or whatever criteria you use locally.

Adding the addr:suite= is a nice touch, as is adding opening_hours=

there are things that can not be modelled perfectly in OpenStreetMap,
and that's okay.  We can model things well enough to be very useful.
Doing a survey of a local strip mall brings, accurate, complete, up to
date data to OpenStreetMap.  That's excellent.

Best regards and happy mapping,

Richard