[Tagging] amenity=food_court - some questions

[Nathan Case]

For reference:

OSM tag wiki page: 
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:amenity%3Dfood_court

Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_court

I would note that the Wikipedia article is clearly the basis for this 
tag description - with OSM's being pretty much a like-for-like copy of 
Wikipedia's intro.


My thoughts on your questions:

1a. Multiple is more than one - though I would expect, generally, 
normally at least three or four. However, it's not the sole defining 
feature (i.e. there should be a central dining area too) so I think it's 
fine to leave it ambiguous.

1b. A bit of a grey-area. I think multiple unique counters, even by the 
same operator, would still be fine. I don't think self-serve "salad bar 
+ meat + pasta + desert" counters would be food court - more of a 
cafeteria. But I do think "Thai Palace + American Grill House + Italian 
Pizzeria + Juicy Smoothies" (for example) would be OK. Probably each 
counter needs staffing individually rather than as a whole.

2. Sure - educational institutions, conference centres, theme/amusement 
parks. Probably worth adding "for example" to the text in question.

3. I guess outdoor food courts are a bit more ambiguous - are they a 
food court or are they a courtyard/square with vendors on the perimeter?

4. Self-service is probably the wrong term. As Graeme mentions, this (to 
me) signals more of a buffet style where you serve your food yourself. 
I'm not sure what the correct term for "self seating" is - but I expect 
that most food courts would be that. I have occasionally seen some food 
courts where vendors /may/ bring food to a table (particularly if there 
might be a long wait for an item). Normally this will involve taking 
some sort of item with a number on it (like large wooden spoon or 
plastic table number).

5. I've seen both and also a mix of the two (i.e. some vendors have 
designated space but others don't, all in the same food court). So no.

Cheers.



On 06/04/2022 16:49, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote:
> What are the hard requirements for a food court?
>
> 1.
> The wiki says it requires "multiple food vendors" and has to do with 
> "self-service".
>
> Is "multiple" more than one or more than 2? Is the term "vendor" 
> referring to different brands / cuisine types, or to the business 
> structure, in other words, if the same vendor (and noone else) has 2-3 
> counters where different food (style, cuisine, brand, etc.) is 
> offered, is it still a food court?
>
>
> 2.
> It also states they are found in "shopping malls, airports or standalone".
>
> Can they occur elsewhere?
>
>
> 3.
> And that they are "usually" indoors. (what climate zone is this 
> referring to, or is it everywhere?)
>
>
> 4.
> Is "self-service" a hard requirement, or is table service possible?
>
>
> 5.
> Does it matter whether every business has a dedicated space or 
> customers of different businesses can sit mixed on all the tables?
>
>
> Cheers,
> Martin
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tagging mailing list
> Tagging at openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tagging/attachments/20220407/c716a2d0/attachment.htm>