[Tagging] Historic building usage

Dave F davefoxfac63 at btinternet.com
Thu Mar 29 15:05:10 UTC 2018



On 29/03/2018 15:38, Tom Pfeifer wrote:
> On 29.03.2018 15:38, Dave F wrote:
>>> The building=train_station tag remains, since it describes the 
>>> building type, independent of the current usage.
>>
>> No. The building tag is for current usage. OSM maps the present with 
>> its primary tags. If contributors want to indicate it had previous 
>> use, as I do in this case, it should be tagged with clearly defined 
>> sub tags.
>
> We understand that you have strong personal opinions, and remember the 
> debate about exit nodes in roundabouts.
For which I still believe I'm correct.

>
> However the consensus with many other mappers in OSM is, as descried 
> in the wiki:
>
> "the [building=*] value may be used to classify the _type_ of 
> building. Note that it may be not the same as the building's current 
> use (tagged using building:use=*). For example, a hospital building 
> that is abandoned or repurposed to be a marketplace is still a 
> building=hospital, and to mark active hospitals amenity=hospital is 
> used. "

Which was added less than one month ago. Was there a recent discussion?

>
> It also perfectly reflects common language. Imagine the following BrE 
> example:
> "Do you see the church building over there? It is now used as a 
> climbing hall!"

I disagree. "Say what you see" is more common. if you point to a 
warehouse that's converted to apartments & ask "What's that there?" 
you're either get "Those are apartments"  or "That's the old warehouse". 
A building's historical purpose should be put in a specific tag.

>
>> The building:use tag is inaccurately used. (I believe it shouldn't be 
>> used at all).
>
> Again this is your personal opinion. building:use is well defined in 
> the wiki, and used 630000 times.
>
>> IMO this is poor tagging. If a building is now used as a place for 
>> people to live then it clearly isn't a warehouse any more.
>
> No, but it has the building type of a warehouse. Ans some people like 
> it, and say:
> "Hey, I have an new loft in the old warehouse."

Yes! Note your use of 'old'. 'Building' tag does not indicate a previous 
purpose.

If a shop tagged a building=retail, shop=* is change to a residential 
house would you keep the building=retail tag?


DaveF
.



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