Proposal:Key:branch

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branch
Proposal status: Obsoleted (inactive)
Proposed by: Geochang Scribe
Tagging: branch=Name of this branch
Applies to: node,area
Definition: A key to record which branch (of a local, national or international group) this object represents.
Statistics:

Rendered as: text
Draft started: 2012-09-13
RFC start: 2012-09-13
Vote start: 2012-10-15
Vote end: 2012-10-29


Proposal

A key to record which branch (of a local, national or international group) this object represents.

Rationale

Many buildings we see in a town are branches of a larger organisation, but their names are just the name of the parent organisation. A search for such a name, for example, a bank, a convenience store, or a restaurant might bring up many results, all with the same name. I suggest that it would be a good idea to include the branch name, where known, to differentiate between them. There is also some inconsistency with mappers sometimes including the branch in name=*. If there was somewhere defined to put this information then it might also encourage mappers to capture the data.

The reason for starting this proposal was that I saw many branches of convenience stores here in Korea, all with the same name, but with clear (but small) signage indicating the branch name. The branch name is usually the name of the suburb or neighbourhood where the store is located.

Tagging

branch=* (similar to name=*)

Applies to

Nodes and areas. It is an additional tag that might be considered when mapping an office, shop or restaurant etc.

Features/pages affected

This tag adds useful information, but it is not in any way critical. I see it as complementary to brand=*. If it is to be used then search providers, such as Nominatim, may need to be altered to include the branch=* tag to make it searchable, or to print it in the results list. Renderers may also include this tag when labelling the map. This tag may also be redundant with name=* or some part of the addr=* scheme. If this proposal is accepted it should probably be referenced on most pages that use name=* (e.g. restaurants, banks, convenience stores, shops).

Rendered As

Text in parentheses after the name, although this might clutter the map. It may only be of interest to search providers or navigation programs.

Comments

Please use the Discussion page for discussion.