According to an article by the BBC, there’s a new type of pillar box being introduced with a built in barcode scanner and “drop-down door” for parcels. Power is presumably supplied by the built-in solar panel.
Assuming we do actually start seeing these around, how should they be tagged? The current documentation’s reservation about the difference between pillar and meter seems particularly relevant for these:
Since this classification is distinct from, and in some sense orthogonal to, the other post_box:type=* values, it has been suggested that a different key should be used for this attribute, leaving post_box:type=* to tag the box with the best fit from pillar, lamp, and wall.
There’s one of these in my manor now. I took some photos in Panaramix. The ref number has not changed (compared with the plain old box that was there before).
But is there any definitive name of these boxes, or any consensus emerging on what to use for post_box:design ?
I’ve inspected one and looked at the Royal Mail website. RM refer to them as parcel postboxes.
Noticeable features - Solar panel atop the pillar box, stainless drawer for parcel, optical scanner for proof of posting, collection times plate to the side of the parcel drawer.
The original pillar box remains, the door has been re-engineered for the parcel drawer and the top has been re-engineered to add a solar panel.
For tagging I agree with
I think that any reference to the solar power generating is a red herring until there is a tagging sceme for independantly powered devices.
I noted that there were no groundworks to connect the boxes to mains power.
When the box has been converted and the parcel_mail_in=yes tag is added, is it the intention to remove the post_box:design tag or should it be left as is?
For the few that I’ve re-tagged so far, I have kept the post_box:design tag in place.
Currently there are two boxes that have been converted and tagged with post_box:design=solar_parcel (they had no post_box:design tag previously). That seems like a good approach to me, but I think it is worth retaining the Type A / Type B designation if that is known at the time of the conversion.
So, I propose that, if it is known that a converted box is a Type A box then the tagging should be:
I’d disagree with this. It’s still Type A even when converted, as it primarily refers to the size of the postbox (the main body), and if you add the “_parcel” suffix to it, a search for “post_box:design=type_a” could omit the parcel postboxes in the results.
Aren’t parcel_mail_in=yes and electricity=solar sufficient tags to differentiate these converted postboxes from others?
This makes sense to me. It also allows for other postbox types to have parcel intake bodged onto them in future. I don’t like the “post_box:design=type_b_parcel” idea.
Thanks for clarifying. I was under the impression that we were only adding parcel_mail_in=yes. I had missed that we should also be adding electricity=solar to the converted boxes. If we do that then yes, it is sufficient to differentiate these converted boxes from others. So, I’m happy to only add parcel_mail_in=yes and electricity=solar as the only changes required to confirm the conversion. We can, as you say, leave the post_box:design tag unchanged. I have only spotted 4 boxes that have been converted so far, so I’ll add electricity=solar to them, to make them compliant.
I’ve added my own image of one (finally sunny enough this morning for a photo!), and linked to both the talk-gb and the parallel Discourse discussions on suggested tagging:
I’d appreciate your comments, and especially edits to the OSM Wiki to improve the content.
My intent is to fill a tagging hole, and signpost to the ongoing discussions on the best way to tag these modifications to existing amenity=post_box. Where to add the information is a challenge, as the region-specific content is at the Key:post_box:type, which in all the examples I’ve seem is actually unchanged!
I mentioned post_box:design=solar_panel in this discussion, because I had seen it already used on a couple of converted boxes. But I have since been persuaded that post_box:design should remain as it was before the conversion.
For a conversion, the fewer new tags needed the better, in my opinion. So, I suggest that the only tags that need to be added for a conversion are:
I have run into such a post box recently too, in N12 (here). I believe that a solar panel can potentially be installed on other designs too, therefore it should be tagged separately. The tagging scheme proposed by @eastender looks intuitive to me.
The second scheme does not alter post_box:design (it will typically already be set to type_a or type_b) and to only set two tags:
parcel_mail_in=yes
electricity=solar
Currently there are 10 boxes mapped using the first scheme and 34 boxes mapped using the second scheme.
How do we reach a consensus on which scheme should be used in the future? Should we set out both schemes in the wiki and let mappers choose for themselves?
Personally, my vote is for the second scheme. That scheme has the benefit of not loosing the post_box:design=type_a or post_box:design=type_b tags. It also has the advantage that the second scheme boxes could be automatically converted to first scheme boxes in the future, if required. Whereas it isn’t possible to automatically convert in the other direction.
Royal Mail has now adopted a naming convention for A Type and B Type boxes that have been converted to solar parcel by pre-pending “Digital” to the description in Services Near You, i.e.:
Given that Royal Mail is still maintaining the distinction between Type A and Type B boxes after conversion, I think that reinforces the idea that we shouldn’t lose that distinction by using post_box:design=solar_parcel in OSM.
With regard to the other four proposed tags, mappers are using some (different varieties), all or none (instead using note) to signify the conversion in a relatively inconsistent manner.
Unless anyone objects, I propose to consolidate the wiki guidance to try to improve the consistency of tagging by consolidating the guidance into a single tagging scheme:
post_box:design=* should remain unchanged.
electricity=solar and parcel_mail_in=yes should always be set.
post_box:app=yes and post_box:parcel=yes should optionally be set.