There is one thing I do not understand about this key:
When does one needs to use its “yes” value (“building=yes”)?
The article clearly explains a lot of different values which can be used with the “building” key: like “residential”, “house”, “industrial”…
Here is an explanation about the “yes” value:
What does this mean?
What would be the kind of building which is not specific?
Can a rain shelter be tagged as a “building=yes”:
Thank you for the reply, and I apologize for my lack of understanding.
Because you didn’t know what was the purpose of the building, or because you didn’t know the correct tag and didn’t want to invent yet another new tag.
In particular, if people are mapping without surveying on the ground, it may be impossible to decide what a building is.
OSM allows you to provide as much or as little detail as you like.
Further to the above answer, if the building is multi purpose, with no one purpose predominant then one could use building=yes, with other tags (or POI nodes strategically positioned), to describe the various building purposes.
The structure you depict I would suggest is better described as a bus shelter (rather than a rain shelter) and could be tagged as :- amenity=shelter with shelter_type=public_transport, (if there is a node for the bus stop then the descriptive tags could be added to that node). More descriptive tags can be added, bench for instance.
For an actual rain shelter might I suggest tags :- amenity=shelter with shelter_type=weather_shelter. Again more descriptive tags can be added, bench for instance.
This is something I am also confused with. Maybe I need to open a new topic, but I will try to exploit this one:
When one needs to label a certain type of object, there is always one specific tag which defines what that object is?
Like in this case: “amenity=shelter”. And then additionally other tags can be added to describe this object further (like: “shelter_type=public_transport”).
Is this always valid?
Is it also valid that the value of the specific defining tag (“shelter” in this case) is always the name of the key for the additional tags (“shelter_type” in this case)?
Here is another example: the tag that defines toilets is: “amenity=toilets”. Additional tags can begin with the name: ‘toilet’, like: “toilets:position=seated”.
?
This structured tagging is not always available. The tags were added upon need. So there are different systems in place: structured tagging (like the shelter one), but also duck tagging (where the special case has a dedicated tag). I have the impression that nowadays the tagging proposals are more towards the structured tagging (sometimes going completely overboard e.g. education 2.0).
So you will have to consult the wiki, taginfo or use a preset each time to find out which method was used.
Compare the shelter example with information: tourism=information, information=board (and not information_type or information:type). It all depends on the moment the tag was introduced, who was involved, and what their preference was. There is no global committee overlooking new tags, although the tagging mailing list tries to fulfil that role. But not all new tagging methods pass via that mailing list.
And no, there is not always a specific tag available. Especially for features that are unknown in the western world (or in the English language). I remember a case of Japanese shop selling religious ornaments. There was no English word to describe it. I don’t remember who the mapper solved the problem.
The tags are mess for people that like a neat structure, but it works. Don’t think too much about it. Just search and use the tags.
Do you mind if I ask one more question: what are “presets”?
Are they a group of tags which can be used for particular type of object (POI)?
Just that? Group of tags for particular object?
A preset is a group of tags that are typically used to map a particular feature.
Although it is also used for a collection of presets, e.g. I manage the BENELUX-preset for JOSM. This “preset” contains presets for heritage, mailboxes, speedlimits, etc.
A JOSM-preset cannot create objects or move them. It can only add, change or delete tags from an existing node, way, relation.
