[OSM-talk] Representing places with no housenumber

[Gregory Marler]

My personal perspective from the UK...


In suburbs, people often don't have a visual house address. I guess the
postman remembers or figures it out. I can usually guess too, and add a
note to other mappers soo they can change it if I'm wrong:
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/Byc

In rural areas it would be harder to guess. They may "not have an address",
whatever that means, so I would map building=yes and move on without other
tagging.
Despite looking like a residence, it might be an outhouse (shed, barn,
annex for visitors, etc) that only has existence in relation to a building
that has an "address".

Oh, but how would people refer to that without the address? Maybe...
* It's the cottage behind Bill's house which is number 7.
* Can you pop over to the red shed.
* This is my woodland, up until the blue posts when the wood has the same
name but is owned by someone else.
* We're going to do some work on the old house, it's 1/2 a mile out of the
village, I'll meet you there.
* Type "some.pointless.words" into your phone and drive in a straight line
over the roads and rivers.
* Here's a link to it on osm.org.

Maybe the building is in use. Maybe it gets post, and billed for
electricity, local tax, etc. Most places it would need an address for that,
but the average mapper wouldn't know what it was and might not even know if
it does/doesn't use such services.

Sometimes the address doesn't relate to the physical location (particularly
with UK postcodes). For post and visiting you might get the name/department
plus the address of the site sorting office or security/reception. The post
sorting office might be a mile or more away, and the postal service might
even give them letters that have thee real address/location on.

Can we not leave it blank?
A little dash of local knowledge or looking at the surrounding map should
make it clear whether it's been surveyed (and lack-of number/name signs
observed) or whether the area needs addresses mapped. Anyone who goes "oh
that place is missing the address" can either edit the map or at least put
in a map note with their knowledge.


-- 
Gregory
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