[Talk-us] shop=chemist as "Drugstore" for Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, etc.

[Minh Nguyen]

On 2016-07-05 10:08, Peter Dobratz wrote:
> After arriving at a local drugstore chain with a prescription in hand,
> walking past the shampoo aisle, only to find that the pharmacy counter
> is closed for the day, I've been updating tagging of drugstores and
> pharmacies as described here.
>
> For example, there is a Walgreens:
>
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/266495943
>
> The building outline has shop=chemist.
>
> Inside the building, there are 2 Nodes, one for the pharmacy and one for
> a clinic:
>
> amenity=pharmacy
> dispensing=yes
> drive_through=yes
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4064469934
>
> amenity=doctors
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4064469933
>
> In this case, all of these entities have different opening hours.  Other
> contact info like phone and website may be different as well.

This is the approach that's been proposed informally, and iD's change 
would be a part of it. But I don't see how this practice becomes 
commonplace with the shop=chemist preset being labeled "Drugstore" and 
no other UI changes. Where's the reminder to also map the pharmacy 
counter or clinic if the store has one?

There's certainly something to be said for micromapping a drugstore as a 
collection of counters with different opening hours, just as one might 
micromap a supermarket with its florist and bakery, or a department 
store with its café and photography studio. At the same time, the 
pharmacy counter is the defining characteristic of an American 
drugstore. That's why the largest U.S. chain signs each of its stores 
with the name "CVS Pharmacy" (except for the handful that lack pharmacy 
counters). A renderer or search engine that conflates a drugstore with 
its pharmacy counter isn't doing as much a disservice as one that omits 
the pharmacy counter because the mapper didn't know to add one.

-- 
minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us