Tag:place=city_block

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Public-images-osm logo.svg place = city_block
City block.PNG
Description
A named city block, usually surrounded by streets. Show/edit corresponding data item.
Group: places
Used on these elements
may be used on nodesshould not be used on waysmay be used on areas (and multipolygon relations)should not be used on relations (except multipolygon relations)
Useful combination
Status: in use

Use the tag place=city_block to identify city (or urban) blocks, possibly with a corresponding name=*.

They should be mapped as a polygon drawn around a group of contiguous building plots, on the line where they meet the street. They are equivalent to 'manzanas' in Spanish (e.g. Barcelona and Buenos Aires), 'îlots' in French, 'bouwblokken' in Dutch (e.g. Amsterdam), and 'kvarter' ('fastigheter' sharing the same name) in Swedish.

At a simple level they can be thought of as islands of private developable plots surrounded by public highway - as such, they should not include pavements or sidewalks. However, it should be noted that city blocks can contain public amenity space (e.g. parks and playgrounds) and so the distinction is primarily between land used for buildings or amenity space, and land used for streets/highways.

In some cities they are given identifying code numbers or names which, where no boundary polygon has been drawn, can be mapped by placing a node in the middle of the block.

Tag usage examples

See also