[OSM-talk] Business Building Conventions

[Roy Wallace]

On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 10:29 AM, Andrew Ayre<andy at britishideas.com> wrote:
> If I draw an outline for a freestanding building which is some kind of
> business, then I give the outline a name. Mapnik renders the name.
>
> If I draw the outline of a strip mall (a connected string of shops) this
> represents several businesses together. If I then put nodes on them and
> give the nodes names Mapnik won't render the names unless they are
> amenities. But not all businesses are amenities.
>
> So when handling strip malls should the outline of each business "unit"
> be drawn separately? Or should I just ignore the fact that the names of
> many businesses won't appear on the map?

IMHO, you should map whatever is on the ground.

Mapping the outline of business "units" is not a bad idea - perhaps
you should check out the following proposal:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Relations/Proposed/Buildings

As for "ignoring the fact that the names of many businesses won't
appear on the map", yes, you should ignore this - don't tag for the
renderer.