Today, I’ve stumbled upon a node that was previously tagged as highway=wheelwaash [sic!]. When I investigated it on aerial imagery and did an internet search, I found out it was one of these:
In my changeset, I deleted the above node and drew an area instead, using amenity=car_wash with newly-invented subtag car_wash=wheel_wash and other tags like opening_hours=24/7 and fee=no which are unusual for car wash facilities. I also tagged the highway=service that goes through it with service=drive-through.
Is there a better, more correct way to tag this? Should we launch a proposal?
highway=wheelwash was coined informally at some point. If this is typically just a machine, rather than a point of interest in its own right, then it might qualify as an amenity=* but not a car wash per se. I’m reminded of amenity=weighbridge for a truck scale, which is also an undercarriage system that can be an amenity of the surrounding point of interest.
Many of these have no mechanical parts. They are simply a ‘bath’ (not unlike the ones they have for disinfecting farm animals, but much wider) where the wheels of the truck get wet and this washes the worst of the debris off the wheels at the vehicle moves through. As you can see from the Ecobath link, the surface can be ribbed for grip and to shake some of the material off the wheels. Some will have rollers for the wheels to sit on, so that the wheels can meaningfully churn the water. Some do come with water sprays / power hoses, but that is an enhancement, not the basic arrangement.
None of the rest of the vehicle is cleaned by these. See here for a (primitively) tagged truck wash Node: 12387348059 | OpenStreetMap Truck washes are probably unsuited for cars and probably shouldn’t be considered a type of car wash.
From the product info, I would first ask whether it will exist for short-term only. Won’t bother drawing an area for on-site construction works facilities.
(Vehicle) decontamination facilities can be considered different features, whether dirt and dust, or biological control. They prevent the outside from getting dirty or infected, not only for cleaniness aesthetically. =car_wash should be able to to wash a vehicle body. This can only be an extra facility to the basic requirement.
When I made my edit yesterday, I did indeed check newer and older aerial imagery (newest from 2023 if I remember correctly [iirc], oldest probably 7–10 years older). On all of them, I could see the Wheelwash system.
I’d also be hesitant to use amenity=car_wash, since that implies washing the body of the car to me as well
wheelwash or wheel_wash is a reasonable value for this I think, leaning towards amenity. tho wheel_decontamination is another potential option, following the boot cleaning station example