[Tagging] type=bounday

[Colin Smale]

> On 03/28/2022 10:33 PM stevea <steveaosm at softworkers.com> wrote:
> 
>  
> On Mar 28, 2022, at 1:19 PM, Colin Smale <colin.smale at xs4all.nl> wrote:
> >> On 03/28/2022 9:31 PM Minh Nguyen <minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us> wrote:
> >> Boundary relations can indicate the capital (admin_centre) or cultural 
> >> center (label) of an administrative area.
> > 
> > Since when has the "label" indicated the cultural centre? AFAIK it's a hint for the renderer, useful when the geometry of the area is such that classic placement algorithms such as centroid would pick a bad place.
> 
> Thanks to Minh who has refreshed us with crucial distinctions between boundary and multipolygon.  As a seasoned OSM contributor of both, I still sometimes have to check a wiki or relevant examples to make sure my new tagging on these slightly-similar, but just-different-enough entities is exactly right.  The distinctions are subtle, but they are there.
> 
> An admin_centre node is absolutely correct on a state capital (e.g. capitol building), county government administration center building, city hall or "traditional cultural heart" of a community, especially when the latter is the strongest component of what might be described as the "centre" of a boundary-enclosed area, lacking something more specific, politically accurate, or actually known to the OSM contributor adding the datum.  I believe adding admin_centre or label represents an actual, political "thing," rather than a hint to a renderer for label placement.  Though, if this helps a renderer, all the better.

I only referred to the "label," which, as it says on the tin, is a "label" and doesn't represent any physical entity at the specific location of the node.

The "admin_centre" node is normally put on a "place" node (not polygon) of some kind - the city, town, village etc where the (local) government has its seat. It is not put on the actual building. As the wiki says, it goes on the capital, not the capitol.