Hi, there’s an untagged motel in my area that I’d like to add to the map. However, there’s a slight snag.
This building is the one with the main entrance / signage / etc, but it’s immediately obvious when you visit the location that this adjacent building is part of it–it’s where the rooms are.
These two buildings are physically disconnected, but they’re both part of the same ‘thing’… they’re not really separate locations, so I think it would be blatantly incorrect to duplicate the motel-related tags on each. So what is the best practice in cases like this: Should I just tag the main building? Use a multipolygon? Make an area representing the motel that covers the entire grounds? Or something else?
This is the usual way, with the motel name & various tags attached to it, while the individual buildings are either just building=yes or building=motel.
Personally, this kind of case is why I like to use POIs for businesses. Drop a node over the main office with all the business tags on it. Then just map out the individual objects as buildings, etc.
it depends on the situation. If there are motel grounds which can be identified as belonging to the motel (e.g. parking, garden, etc.) drawing an area around the whole “motel” (including outside areas) is the common way to go. If there are other things mixed in (i.e. the outdoor space is not reserved to the motel but shared among different users, or is public space, etc.), then the multipolygon approach seems better: you would create a (multi-)polygon which contains all the motel space, regardless of it being in the same or different buildings.