[Tagging] Religious landuse

[Friedrich Volkmann]

On 31.07.2014 17:17, Jesse B. Crawford wrote:
> As a perhaps helpful example, near my old home in Portland, OR, USA there
> was a "retreat" facility operated by the catholic diocese. It featured
> extensive grounds that you might call a park, except that they were fenced
> and intended for religious or reflective use, with shrines and such placed
> throughout. This is visible in iD
> at https://www.openstreetmap.org/edit?relation=186579#map=18/45.49915/-122.61703,
> and you will see that it is currently not marked with any polygon (although
> there is a point for the church and school with the same operator).
> 
> I think there should be a polygon for this site, but a 'park' tagging is not
> really appropriate since it is not open to the public and not intended for
> many of the uses of a park anyway (e.g. you wouldn't run your dog there).
> But I'm not sure how it being out of public access changes the situation.

There are many private parks, e.g. around castles or mansions owned by rich
people such as popstar Madonna. I would say that a park is just a recreation
ground with a mosaic of trees, footways, and lawns. Whether it is public or
not, we can specify with access=* tags. I also know of some public parks
where it is forbidden to unleash dogs, because they are not wanted to shit
in the lawns and flower-beds.

Reflective use is not limited to relogious thoughts. Some people reflect on
their jobs, their families, their hobbies etc. or they compose poetry or music.

In your example, the whole area is inside and certainly part of a
residential area, although the school is not primarily used for living. But
it is not primarily used for religion either. The school actually has
nothing to do with religion, except that it is owned by a diocese. Around 5%
of Austrian forests are owned by the catholic church. Does that make a
religious use?

The buildings in the middle and in the northeastern corner of the area look
residential on the arial image.  There's a park in the northern half of the
area. I can imagine that there are plenty of shrines, chapels and alike in
the park. But after all, it's a park. These kind of parks exist here in
Austria too, e.g. adjacent to monasteries. These parks are somewhat dark and
spooky due to the big old trees which have grown over centuries.

In my home district, there is a facility similar to yours, also containing a
church and a school:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/78589643

-- 
Friedrich K. Volkmann       http://www.volki.at/
Adr.: Davidgasse 76-80/14/10, 1100 Wien, Austria