[Tagging] Capital=* and admin_level on cities

Joachim noreply at freedom-x.de
Mon Oct 3 14:59:54 UTC 2016


The recent rendering of capitals in osm-carto[1] brought new interest
in the tag capital=*[2]. I edited the feature page according to the
latest summary in the proposal (linked in feature page) which also
mirrors actual data usage.

Claim 1: Capital=yes should be used for capitals of countries.
Capital=<admin_level> should be used for administrative subdivisions
in countries.

Another tagging approach (used widely in Russia) is to tag capital=yes
+ admin_level=<number> on cities. This usage depends on how
admin_level on place is actually defined!
For example Berlin[3] is inside boundary=administrative+admin_level=4
(Berlin State). But currently Berlin has place=city+admin_level=2 and
is at the same level as Germany!
For example Yakutsk[4] is inside boundary=administrative+admin_level=6
(Yakutsk Urban District). But currently Yakutsk has
place=city+admin_level=4 and is at the same level as the Sakha
Republic.


Claim 2: Capital=yes/number is more than enough to describe the
capital status, we don't need admin_level for it. Admin_level on place
should not be used for describing capital=yes or national importance
but just for administrative level of the place as defined by the
borders around it.

Just a heads-up: the long-term solution is to use admin_centre on
national boundaries.

[1] https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/2314
[2] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:capital
[3] https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/240109189
https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/62422
[4] https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/191652335
https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/1444344
https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/151234



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