Proposed features

This page is for newly proposed features to be added to the map features page.

The proposal proccess is designed to let the OSM comunity discuss and vote on a standard way to tag map features. OpenStreetMap does not have any content restrictions on tags that can be assigned to Nodes, Ways or Areas. You can use any tags you like. However, there is benefit in agreeing on a recommended set of features and corresponding tags in order to create, interpret and display a common basemap.

Please note: OpenStreetMap software is designed and maintained by individuals. They may or may not follow or like new feature proposals. Do not expect that just because something passes a vote, it will automatically show up in map renderings or influence routing. This is true especially if you intend to change a hitherto working tag schema into something else; the makers of maps and software will not necessarily view this as an improvement, and unless you get their buy-in beforehand, your change might actually worsen the OpenStreetMap user experience. A majority of 5 or 10 or 50 votes out of tens of thousands of contributors does not put you in a position to demand something from software makers. If the success of your proposal depends on changes to software, either find people who will do it for you or do it yourself.

For proposal and status help, refer to Proposed Features Status Guidelines.

Proposed icons for existing features are on the Proposed Icons page.

Proposed Features that have been voted on:

• are found on the Approved features page, if the vote had been successful.
• are found on the Rejected features page, if the vote had failed.

See also

See also Relations for proposed Relations grouping together Ways and Nodes, with their own tags and values.

Proposal creation guidelines

There have been a large number of proposals created, that are seriously lacking in detail. This page details a 'suggested' process to go through when creating a proposal; it is by no means exhaustive, or meant to be blindly followed without consideration.

Creating a proposal

Proposal Status Process

Draft

List of Drafts

• Use the Template to create your proposal. Set the status to "Draft" and set the draftStartDate=* value. (YYYY-MM-DD).
• Place your proposal in the correct category.
• Create the proposal Page. Creating a proposal
• Once the feature is fully described on its page, move on to "Proposed" Status.

Proposed

List of Proposed

• Send out an RFC (Request For Comments) to talk@openstreetmap.org mailing list[1].

• Subject Line: "[tagging] Feature Proposal - RFC - (Feature Name)"

• Set the status to "Proposed" and set the rfcStartDate=* value. (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Spend time with others discussing and modifying the proposal.

• Please discuss each proposed feature on its own discussion page.

Voting

List of Voting

• At least two weeks after discussing, and once problems brought up in discussion have been resolved by modifying the proposal, send out a (Request for Voting) to talk@openstreetmap.org mailing list[2].

• Subject Line: "[tagging] Feature Proposal - Voting - (Feature Name)"

• Set the status to "Voting", and set the voteStartDate=* value. (YYYY-MM-DD)
• At this point there must be only one proposal on the page, so it's clear what is being voted on, and the proposal should be formalized to the standard set by Key:highway
• Set the voteEndDate=* when voting is complete. (YYYY-MM-DD)

Approved

• At the end of the voting period, if the proposal has found enough support, the status can be set to "Approved" and the feature may be promoted to Post-vote clean-up.

A rule of thumb for "enough support" is 8 unanimous approval votes or 15 total votes with a majority approval, but other factors may also be considered (such as whether a feature is already in use).

Before you decide to reject a proposal because of lack of support, it may be worthwile to send out a new vote request to the mailing list[3].

Rejected

• If the vote fails, the proposal will be moved to the Rejected features page. From there it may be resubmitted, modified, and moved back to the RFC process.

Any proposals that have a 3 month inactive history should be move to the Abandoned feature suggestions list or moved to a vote if ready.

Post-vote clean-up

• If you have no time to do the cleanup

• Mark the proposal status as "Post-Vote"
• See Category:Post-vote_clean-up for additional features needing clean-up.

• Approved features: (ex. Approved features/bridge)

• Proposal page and discussion should be moved to Approved features/
• Add link to the Feature page using the Template:Approved_feature_link: {{Approved_feature_link|link=*|name=*}}
• Feature Page should be created and the relevant map features template should be applied.
• Link back to Proposal in "See Also" section.
• Move entry to the Approved features page.
• Remove entry from Proposed features page.
• Add entry to Map_Features page.

• Do not remove entries from Map Features even if your new feature that has been voted on is intended to replace them. It is not considered good style to remove things from Map Features while they are still in use. You can remove things from Map Features if they are not in use.

• Rejected features:

• Note any reasons why rejected.
• Move to the Rejected features page

Proposal list

Proposal Template

Go here to learn how to use this template: How to Use

Example:

{{Proposed_feature|name=Tag:highway=trunk|category=Highway|user=you|key=highway|value=trunk|type=way|
definition=Important roads that aren't motorways|appearance=Big green line|
status=Draft|draftStartDate=2000-12-31|rfcStartDate=*|voteStartDate=*|voteEndDate=*}}

Physical

Proposed Features - Highway

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
Traffic enforcement	highway, enforcement_type, enforcement_direction, enforcement_installation = *	note, way, area	traffic enforcement devices and places	standard sign with different colors?	Voting	2008-09-24	2008-09-24	2008-10-08	*
maxspeed walk	maxspeed = walk	way	highways with speed limit 'walking speed'	not rendered by default	Proposed	2008-08-15	2008-08-16	*	*
highway:quaternary	highway = quaternary	linear	Proposal to replace the sometimes confusing highway=unclassified tag	as highway=unclassified	Proposed	2008-08-28	2008-08-28	*	*
recommended_speed	recommended_speed = int	way	Richtgeschwindigkeit ("reference"/"suggested"/"recommended" speed)	not rendered by default	Draft	2008-08-20	*	*	*

Proposed Features - Cycleway

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Tracktype

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Waterway

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
Lock	lock = yes	linear	*	see discussion; tag to replace waterway=lock_gate on a node:File:Lock gate1.png or File:Lock gate2.png	Voting	2006-12-13	(2006-12-13, 2008-02-03) 2008-08-10	(2008-03-05) 2008-08-28	(2008-03-19, 2008-07-26, 2008-07-26, 2008-08-02) *
lakeshore	natural = lakeshore	way	Proposal to distinguish big lakes and reservoirs from small lakes (natural=water) and sea (natural=coastline)	blue area	Draft	2008-09-07	*	*	*
Pumping Station	waterway = pumping_station	node/area	facility for pumping water between places	?	Draft	2008-09-23	*	*	*
River Difficulty	river_difficulty = 1-6, may be followed by + -	way/area	Adding the International Scale of River Difficulty to Waterways	free text like "WW III+“	Draft	2008-11-02	*	*	*

Proposed Features - Railway

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
Railway	railway = *	*	Differentiation between railway-types and enhanced tagging-keys	*	Proposed	2008-10-05	*	*	*

Proposed Features - Aeroway

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
aeroway_obstacle	aeroway = obstacle	node,linear	Air traffic obstacle	File:Aeroway obstacle low strobe.gif	Draft	2008-10-31	*	*	*

Proposed Features - Aerialway

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Power

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Man_made

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Leisure

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
Ice rink	leisure = ice_rink	node/area	*	*	Voting	2008-08-28	*	2008-10-02	*
dog zone	leisure = dog_zone	node/area	a fenced area usually in a park where dogs can run free	*	Draft	2008-08-31	*	*	*

Proposed Features - Amenities

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
Orphanage	amenity = orphanage	node/area	Home for parentless children or in some Countries for children protected by the government against their parents	*	Draft	2008-08-26	*	*	*
Hospice	amenity = hospice	node/area	A place for palliative medical care	*	Draft	2008-09-06	*	*	*
Comedy Club	amenity = comedy_club	node	*	*	Proposed	2008-10-11	*	*	*
research_institution	amenity = research_institution	node/area	non-university research institutions	*	Draft	2008-10-31	*	*	*

Proposed Features - Shop

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Tourism

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Historic

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
stocks	historic = stocks	node	A device used in medieval times for public humiliation and corporal punishment.	*	Proposed	2008-09-22	2008-09-22	*	*
historic site	historic = heritage	node/way/area	*	*	Draft	2008-10-24	*	*	*

Proposed Features - Landuse

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
Historic center	landuse = historic_center	area	Area typically in the center of cities with historic buildings. Usually with shops/amenities at street level and residential use upstairs	*	Proposed	2008-08-24	2008-08-24	*	*
farmland	landuse = farmland	area	Area used for farming (arable land, growing crops, tillage)	light brown	Proposed	2008-09-29	2008-09-20	*	*

Proposed Features - Military

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Natural

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
contour	contour = int (representing height above sea level)	way, area	wikipedia:Contour_line	thin brown line	Undefined	2008-10-14	*	*	*
Wetland areas	natural = wetland	area	The wetland tag is used for natural areas subject to inundation or with waterlogged ground	undecided	Proposed	2008-10-31	2008-10-04	2008-11-04	*
Grassland	natural = grassland	area	Area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous (non-woody) plants	undecided	Draft	2008-10-31	*	*	*
Nature reserve	natural = reserve	area	Protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna,...	undecided	Draft	2008-11-02	*	*	*

Non Physical

Proposed Features - Route

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Boundary

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Sport

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Abutters

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Accessories

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Properties

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Restrictions

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Naming

Proposed Features - Name

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - References

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end

Proposed Features - Place

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
Geographical Places	place = land/water	node	To improve labeling of geographical features	*	Draft	2008-11-01	*	*	*

Annotation

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
no_robot	no_robot = all, list of key as semicolon seperated values	node, way, area	keys no to be touched by robot scripts	none	Proposed	2008-08-29	2008-09-29	*	*
internal informations between mappers	internal = *	node, way, area, relation	A set of code to ease controls on existing data	?	Proposed	2008-10-13	2008-10-13	*	*

Keys

Name	Tagging	Used on	Definition	Rendered as	Status	Draft start	RFC start	Vote start	Vote end
Guidepost	information = guidepost	node	Guideposts on the hiking trails	or or	Proposed	2008-08-06	2008-08-06	*	*
Clothing	max_clothing, min_clothing = (list)	all objects	expected minimum or maximum clothing in a place	icon with clothing and "!" or crossed out	Draft	2008-10-31	*	*	*
School levels	level = primary,secondary,tertiary	node,area	Level for a school	dependaing of the level	Draft	2008-08-26	*	*	*