How would you tag a big duty free shop at an airport that sells expensive toiletries, spirits, travel accessories, confectionery, local specialties, souvenirs, …?
I’m not talking about smaller ones that only sell a single type of item such as clothes.
The Wiki has a page for a key duty_free= but it doesn’t answer the question.
Just looking for a single chain I found the following in use:
For the shop=* tag, use something that fits. The tag shop=general sounds good to me, just take a look at the tagging page for the shop key. It explains quite well that shop=convenience doesn’t fit here, because it rather tags a small supermarket and your description doesn’t sound like a small supermarket. Food in general (like fresh vegetables) is missing, for example.
Also use duty_free=yes, as @PHerison mentioned already, just as the tagging page of the duty-free shops describes.
Do not use shop=duty_free, which is also mentioned on the shop tagging-page.
The poll gives a rather mixed picture! The most voted is shop=duty_free but it has been deprecated and listed as a tagging mistake without a clear alternative for the kind of shop I am talking about (big, sells lots of different products).
So you would go for shop=yes?
On the other hand, the Wiki page for shop=general says:
an old type of shop that covered all, or nearly all, of the needs of the entire settlement. They were popular and continue to exist mostly in rural or remote locations.
That doesn’t really fit…
To be honest I’m not really happy with any of the options. I would have quite liked shop=duty_free for this type of shop but it’s not important enough to me to challenge the tag deprecation!
I have since realised that the Name Suggestion Index contains the following tagging suggestion for the chain World Duty Free:
(This suggestion is probably missing duty_free=yes.)
Therefore I suggest documenting the following in the Wiki:
As of 2023, a big duty-free shop with many different types of items (such as confectionery, expensive toiletries and beauty products, spirits and souvenirs), often with sections for different brands, should be tagged as shop=department_storeaccording to the Name Suggestion Index.
Well, choose the best fitting tag. All tags will have reasons not to use them (shop=department_store for example because the wiki says it’s large and often multi-storey). You know the specific store and only you (and other locals) will be able to choose the best tag.
I don’t think shop=department_store fits well and therefore I don’t think such statement should be documented. It’s generally not the case that these stores have different departments or even multiple storeys. Most such airport shops I know (even with sections for specific brands) aren’t even as large as a normal sized supermarket. Therefore, other tags are IMHO - depending on the store - better, such as gift, convenience or general or any specific ones such as alcohol or so.
For those wondering why shop=duty_free is deprecated: It doesn’t indicate anything about what this shop offers. Therefore, the tag doesn’t make sense and the duty_free=* tags specify whether or not such situation applies.
Yeah, I started this thread to find out what the best fitting tag is!
I was trying to tag one and typed the name of the chain into Every Door. It’s not in the NSI so it didn’t show up. Then I typed “duty free shop” into the editor and no preset showed up. Then I searched the Wiki for duty free shop and it only told me how not to tag it (shop=duty_free). Then I searched on osm.org for the name of the chain and found that people have used a dozen or so different tags, even though I’m fairly sure the shops are all very similar. And judging by the shop=yes and shop=fixmes others have also wondered what the best tag is. I was at the airport and had nothing better to do, so I opened this thread
They’re duty free shops: If you stood in the terminal and asked someone “where’s the duty free shop” they would probably point you there and not to the Starbucks (amenity=cafe), the WH Smith (shop=newsagent) or the Prada (shop=clothes) shop even if those are technically also duty free. But I understand the argument against shop=duty_free. It could be ambiguous.
For chains, it makes sense for them to be in the NSI and have a consistent tagging, but with what shop= value? If there is some sort of consensus, we can document it in the Wiki and make a pull request for the NSI.
I don’t want the next mapper to have to find and read this discussion, so I propose to create a Wiki page with the following content:
shop=duty_free
A duty-free shop. This tag was deprecated in favour of {{Tag|duty_free|yes}} because it does not give any information about what the shop sells. Consider using a more specific {{Key|shop}} tag. For example, a duty-free shop that only sells tobacco products could be tagged as {{Tag|shop|tobacco}} {{Tag|duty_free|yes}}.
The term “duty-free shop” could also refer to a big shop that sell a variety of products, such as wines and spirits, perfumes, cosmetics and local products to travellers, for example in an airport. As of 2024 there is no consensus in the community about how such shops should be tagged, and they are tagged inconsistently (e.g. {{Tag|shop|duty_free}}, {{Tag|shop|alcohol}}, {{Tag|shop|gift}}, or {{Tag|shop|yes}}). The Name Suggestion Index uses {{Tag|shop|department_store}} for the chains World Duty Free, Hellenic Duty Free and Lotte Duty Free.
I hope this is acceptable - focusing on documenting how things are currently tagged, not making any particular tagging recommendation, apart from what has been voted on as part of the proposal.
Some are much bigger: There is a huge one in Gatwick with separate desks and tills for different companies, and walking through it feels a bit like walking through IKEA. On the other hand, the smallest one I’ve seen is just two aisles and only sells liquor and perfumes.
