[Talk-GB] Royal Mail post-box finder - error in results

[John Murrell]

On Mon, 2021-08-16 at 15:20 +0100, Dan Glover wrote:
> On 2021-08-16 14:11, John Murrell wrote:
> If you search the Royal Mail post-box finder for BN18 9LY the
> postboxinside the Amberley Museum is missing from the results though
> the oneoutside at Houghton Bridge by the station is shown.
> The post box inside the museum is interesting in that while it is
> onlyaccessible to the public when the museum is open Wed to Sun
> (after youhave paid the entrance fee) it has collections 6 days a
> week !
> BN18 1346 is apparently cleared by staff and items stamped 'Posted at
> Amberley Museum' before being passed to Royal Mail.

If it is a 'private box' cleared by museum staff it is strange it was a
standard Royal Mail Identity Plate & Box Number ? I assumed the postman
has a gate key to allow them in to empty it.
> I guess the box is mostly used by museum staff and the odd visitor
> whofeels like sending a postcard.
> So it would seem. Is it strictly amenity:post_box? It is indeed "A
> box for the reception of mail" but not a public facility. There are
> similar examples (many of which are plain wooden boxes) in semi-
> public places such as hotels, colleges, hospitals. RM collects,
> indirectly, but they're not listed on "Near You". On a sort of micro-
> level they are an amenity to those who are "on the inside" but
> they're unlikely to be useful to anyone else. Some were included in
> the RM 2013 dataset, however.

>From the plate it looks like a Public Box even though you cannot get to
it. In the OSM entry it has the same opening hours as the museum
> There are at least 4 other preserved boxes in the museum - it is
> notclear how these shoudl be tagged and who the 'operator' is (the
> museum??)
> Is a collection made from these boxes? There are significant
> concentrations of old post boxes in a few places, but trying to show
> them all on OSM may not be sensible for a number of reasons. More
> generally, would individual items be tagged within a museum?

I don't think there is a collection from the other boxes as they have
no plates on them though the slits are not sealed ! I have never tried
or asked if they are emptied. One of the exhibits is a rare combined
phone box, post box & stamp machine.
Is there an OSM policy on tagging things in open air museums ? Most of
the buildings are tagged but should one go to the level of outside
exhibits ? 
I modified the description of the Amberley Fire Station in the museum
to try to clarify it is a museum exhibit not an operational fire
station. It may be Ok adding tags to items to show they are not
operational but a lot of people will not consult the tags before
rushing to the fire station to report a fire !

> Dan
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