Greetings OSM community. In the LatAm and Cuba discussion groups on Telegram, there was a debate about the correct tagging for “poncheras” (tire repair shops), “vulcanizadoras” (vulcanizing shops), “gomerias” (tire shops), etc.
These places are responsible for repairing tire punctures and some other repairs, and they usually don’t sell tires, they are just repair workshops. There is still no decision on how to tag these places. They are more common in Cuba and are called “poncheras,” but they also exist throughout LatAm, with a minority in Africa and Asia.
The most accepted tags for these places were combinations of shop=tyres + repair=yes, and there was also consideration for shop=repair + repair=tyres. There was even thought of creating a proposal on the wiki, but this idea failed. If anyone could help us decide which combination of tags is correct for these cases, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Those are actually quite common in various parts of the world, but as you said, tagging is still in flux.
Both approaches (shop=tyres + repair=yes and shop=repair + repair=tyres) are documented on Wiki. A Nominatim search for e.g. “vulkanizer” (the term in Serbo-Croatian and Slovene) shows a mixed bag of tagging.
Pesonally, I’m inclined towards shop=repair + repair=tyres – one goes there primarily for repair or maintenance (such as swapping winter for summer tyres, where applicable), and buying is usually just an option. But that’s just how it’s typically set up in my neck of the woods…
Is there a difference between the two tags that distinguishes them?
In Cuba the “poncheras” usually do everything from simple to more complicated jobs, sometimes repairing vehicles. In general, they fill the tires with air, repair punctures, tie them, patch them and they could also change them as you said. Something peculiar is that in Cuba they repair everything from bicycles and motorcycles to trucks and agricultural tractors. In Cuba it is a bit artisanal and it is not such a professional job, it is just a workshop for, for example, your neighbor, where you ask him to fix the tire on your bicycle.
With all this that I have said, will there be a combination for this type of case?
Can “shop” be understood as a place where things are sold or as a workshop?
In the wiki, according to my colleagues, the Spanish translation is incorrect because “shop” is not necessarily a store, since the translation was done wrong in the wiki. What does specifically mean shop?
To my L2 knowledge of English, shop has a wider meaning than the related terms in most other languages, basically denoting any place where you can purchase goods or services. Don’t know about Spanish, but in my native Serbo-Croatian there are only terms for ‘store’ and ‘workshop’, but not for an all-encompassing ‘shop’. Thus translation can get tricky.