Tagging standards for diplomatic missions

General talk
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As the title says, I would like to implement some tagging standards when it comes to diplomatic missions, as I have seen many many different ways of tagging them.

From what I could tell, everyone agrees that the embassy should be tagged as per the wiki standards, i.e. office=diplomatic + diplomatic=embassy + embassy=insert type of mission here. However, from what I could tell, there is no consensus whatsoever on whether they should be mapped as a node or an area. When multiple POIs are located within the same building, a node should be used for obvious purposes, but how about when it is its own completely separate building? I am trying to figure out what the best solution is, and this is what I have come up with

If an embassy is located within a larger apartment block, tag it as a node. Use addr: tags as the local standards do.

If it is a single building, and only ONE building, tag the building itself with all building-related tags, and use addr: tags following the standard of the area. Then, since embassies could move throughout time, whereas buildings are generally staying in place for many many years - tag the embassy as a node in the middle of the building.

If the embassy consists of a larger complex of buildings, draw an area covering the full area of the embassy, including all buildings and any additional areas surrounding the embassy.

Finally, I will be providing some examples of places that are mapped in the ways that I’ve suggested, just to show you how it can be done. All of these are embassies in Sweden:

Embassy of Portugal, node within apartment: Node: ‪Portugals ambassad‬ (‪6582316690‬) | OpenStreetMap

Building hosting the Embassy of North Korea, and no other POIs:

(Due to limitations of number of links, I am unable to post a link to the Embassy node. The node is located on the building)

Grounds of the Embassy of Poland: Relation: ‪Polens ambassad‬ (‪7953261‬) | OpenStreetMap

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I think this comes down to the much larger topic of how to tag amenities and buildings simultaneously, rather than just diplomatic missions.

In some communities (countries), amenities should always be mapped independently of the building. But, in others, it is perfectly fine to map the building footprint (or grounds footprint) and add the amenity tag to that footprint.

It doesn’t seem likely we’ll ever get a consistent worldwide OSM approach to this, so it’s best to go with whatever your local community consensus is.

3 Likes
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Yeah that’s the thing, I am basically the one going around and trying to figure out which system works best. Hence why I shared three separate examples all in Stockholm

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A middle ground is to tag POIs along with their buildings when the building is built for the specified feature, such as a factory, sports centre, standalone hotel, supermarket or restaurant, where it’s unlikely that the building will change purpose anytime soon. Those types of businesses are likely to occupy larger buildings anyway. Some of those (like long-standing factory complexes) are likely to keep their name even if the company goes out of business and the building is repurposed or leased.

For POIs that are just placed in a generic office space, often leased – such as shops, cafes, and crafts – prone to moving or shutting down, it’s less disruptive to map just as a point.

Now, diplomatic missions are somewhere in the middle of that spectrum – they usually occupy an office for a couple of decades, but tend to shut down or move to a larger space depending on the geopolitical situation and changing relations with the host country.