[OSM-talk] Tagging best practices

[Andrew Chadwick (email lists)]

PAA wrote:
> What is the preferred way to design tags:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Any_tags_you_like#Syntactic_conventions_for_new_tags
or in short,
http://tinyurl.com/crphdw#Syntactic_conventions_for_new_tags

Although there's no "preferred" here, those are merely some observed
conventions.

> First scenario
> * One key, multiple values
> * Multiple keys, single values
> 
> Using the proposed shop=pet as an example:
> * grooming=yes: The shop offers pet grooming services
> * kennel=yes: The shop offers kennel (pet keeping or tending) services
> * training=yes: The shop offers obedience training services

Semicolons in tag values are much less widespread than some of the wiki
pages would have you believe. I prefer the style above to the other.
It's easier to program too, since no value-interpretation is involved.

Because there's a lot of possibilities here, and words like "training"
shouldn't be limited by definition to pet training and nor should they
be purely contextual in interpretation, I would suggest using a
namespace prefix; something along the lines of

  shop=pet
  pet:grooming=yes
  pet:kennel=yes
  pet:training=yes

This is patterned along the lines of the way payment types are done for
amenity=telephone  in presets.xml and the way recycling materials are
done for amenity=recycling : see
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:amenity%3Drecycling . Lots of
established practice to draw from here.

You also have the opportunity to expand on what sorts of kennels are
available, the styles of training available, whatever (...don't know the
problem space that well here...).


-- 
Andrew Chadwick