[OSM-talk] Several map features at the same place

Andy Robinson Andy_J_Robinson at blueyonder.co.uk
Thu Sep 27 08:48:06 BST 2007


Sascha

>[How to tag a building containing several different shops etc. at
>different levels]

Try to consider the problem logically.

First and foremost the physical object is presumably a building, so it needs
to be tagged as such and it needs to be an area (closed way) rather than a
node. Secondly it presumably has a number of floors so this number should be
there in the tags too. On each floor there is a different function(s),
whether it be parking, retail outlets, police station or whatever so tags
can be used/created to represent these. Finally if you want to tag a
particular floor with more than one retail outlet or other facility then you
need to think about sub dividing the floor with additional areas. This is
where it starts to get a little trickier because subdividing one floor is
easy enough but it gets somewhat complex if you try and do several all
stacked on top of each other. But that doesn't mean it can't be done. For
example you could draw the internals on different layers in JOSM and then
merge them. If subdivision is difficult because you do not really know where
the subdivisions go then it's always possible to drop back to nodes. Just
remember to reference the node(s) to the relevant floor of the building.

In this way you have represented the physical and descriptive information as
it is seen on the ground. As for how it should be rendered, well that
depends upon what type of map you are producing.

Have a go and devise some tags that seem to fit where you don't find
something that fits from Map Features. As long as they are logical it will
make sense to others, though a note tag thrown in here and there might help
explain things at a later date.

And let us know how you get on :-)

Cheers

Andy

Andy Robinson
Andy_J_Robinson at blueyonder.co.uk 







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