Key:roof:shape
 roof:shape
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| Description |
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Roof shape type.  
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| Group: Buildings |
| Used on these elements |
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| Documented values: 21 |
| Requires |
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| Useful combination |
| Status: de facto |
| Tools for this tag |
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The key roof:shape=* is used to describe the shape of a building's roof, or the shape of the roof of a building part.
Tagging
These tags require an area feature tagged with building=* or building:part=*.
See Simple 3D buildings for more tags used to describe the shape and appearance of buildings.
Common values are shown below, with example diagrams:
Roof shape
You can characterize the roof shape of a building using a catalogue of well-known roof types.
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| roof:shape | gabled | flat | hipped | pyramidal | skillion | half-hipped | hipped-and-gabled | butterfly |
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| roof:shape | round | gambrel | mansard | dome | onion | sawtooth |
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| roof:shape | cone | crosspitched | side_hipped | side_half-hipped | gabled_height_moved |
Other common values
| Value | Comment |
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| many | Marks that building has multiple different roof shapes at once. Such building may have building:part=* carrying own roof:shape values. History described in detail in roof:shape=many |
Other roof tags
| Key | Comment |
|---|---|
| roof:height=* | Height of the roof, from the top of the facades to the top of the roof.
See the section below for a good understanding of this tag and the usage of height, building:levels and roof:levels. |
| roof:levels=* | Number of specific floors within the roof only.
See the section below for a good understanding of this tag and the usage of height, roof:height and building:levels. |
| roof:orientation=along/across | For roofs with a ridge the ridge is assumed to be parallel to the longest side of the building (roof:orientation=along). But it can be tagged explicitly with this tag. |
| roof:angle=* | Alternatively to roof:height=*, roof height can be indicated implicitly by providing the inclination of the sides (in degrees). |
| roof:direction=* | Direction from back side of roof to front, i.e. the direction towards which the main face of the roof is looking. |
| roof:material=* | The outermost material of the roof. Useful in conjunction with roof:colour=*. |
| roof:colour=* | The (dominant) colour of the roof. Useful in conjunction with roof:material=*. |
Usage of height, roof:height, building:levels, roof:levels
There is currently an incompatibility between the meaning of the tags *:levels in 2D and 3D representations.
In 2D, they designate the number of floors of the part: 1 floor, 2 floors... 5 floors, etc.
In 3D, when height tags are not used, the tags *:levels, in the 3D rendering, are converted to simulated heights. Each floor is converted into a 3 meters high rendering.
For example, building:levels=3, roof:levels=1, no tag height=*, no tag roof:height=* will be converted in the 3D rendering into a 12 meters height building with 9 meters under the roof and 3 meters for the roof.
Therefore users can used decimal numbers for levels to have a good height. For example, in taginfo, you can find building:levels=1.5, roof:levels=0.5 or roof:levels=0.2! But what does "0.2 floor" mean in a 2D description of the building?
Rather than using decimal values, add the building heights. You will thus have compatibility between 2D and 3D information.
Example:
- rather than building:levels=1.5, roof:levels=0.7, no tag height=*, no tag roof:height=*,
- use building:levels=1, roof:levels=0, height=6.6, roof:height=2.1
Explanations:
- 1.5 building levels and 0.7 roof levels probably mean 1 useful floor for the building facades and no useful floors for the roof
- 1.5 + 0.7 = 2.2 floors in total = a height of 6.6 meters for the entire building (using 3 meters for each floor)
- 0.7 roof floor = a height of 2.1 meters for the roof
Notes:
- actual building heights are likely unknown for 99% of buildings in OSM. The value 3 meters for a floor is a default value, probably very close to reality for most of these buildings, and will display a good 3D rendering consistent with buildings without height tags. But of course if you know the real heights, use them!
- in some cases both are clearly necessary. For example for a sports hall, the building levels value is usually one (one floor and one ceiling) but the height is higher than the default 3 meters, so you need to add the actual height (for example building:levels=1, height=6). Please do not use a false 2 levels value to simulate a 6 meters high building if the building only has 1 ceiling!
This section is a wiki template, editable here.
