Chinese tagging guidelines

This is a recommended tagging guide for those who want to map in mainland China.

Legality

According to the Surveying and Mapping Law of the People's Republic of China and The Map Management Regulations, if you decide to map in China, YOU MUST OBEY THE FOLLOWING RULES STRICTLY!!! :

• DO NOT USE ANY HIGH-ACCURACY SURVEYING EQUIPMENT IN CHINA!
• DO NOT MAP MILITARY AND ANY OTHER FORBIDDEN AREA WHICH MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO NATIONAL SECURITY!
• DO NOT MAP DISPUTED OR SENSITIVE AREAS!

Names

• Default name tag uses local script, which is simplified Chinese for mainland China area. Names in other languages including those in ethic minority languages should be mentioned as the name:lang=* field.
• Name in English name:en=* should follow official naming. For other currently widely-used transliteration, use separate tag int_name=*.
• The name tag should use the name convention used by locals in daily life. Full names can be added under secondary tags. For example:
  • “积石山 ‛保安族东乡族撒拉族自治’ 县”
  • 安洛苗族彝族满族乡 > name=安洛乡+name:en=Anluo+official_name=安洛苗族彝族满族乡+official_name:en=Anluo Miao, Yi and Manchu Ethnic Township.

Administration

• place=* node should be placed at a location which is widely known to all locals， e.g. Location of government (committee in Economic and Technology Development Zone), Central Square or any other central statues.
• Total population instead of urban population should be written in population=*, add population:date=yyyy-mm-dd if possible.

Admin level	Admin boundary type	Corresponding place tag	Comment
2	Nation		China
3	SAR/Disputed Area		SARs: Hong Kong/Macau Disputed areas on Wikipedia
4	Province		22 Provinces 5 Autonomous Regions 4 Province-level Municipalities
5	Prefecture	Prefecture-level Cities: place=city+population=* (write total population of the whole city) Autonomous Prefectures, Prefectures and Leagues: place=region (write the population of the county-level city on the place=city node, where the seat of the Prefecture is located)	293 Prefecture-level Cities 30 Autonomous Prefectures 8 Prefectures 3 Leagues
6	County 县级行政区	place=city DO NOT add population=*! (in view of huge-population counties will shade more significant cities)	1,360 Counties 954 Districts 366 County-level Cities 117 Autonomous Counties 49 Banners 3 Autonomous Banners 1 Special District 1 Forestry Area
7	Economic and Technology Development Zone (proposed)	place=suburb	219 National Economic and Technology Development Zone 820+ Provincial Economic and Technology Development Zone (as of 2013) 17 Boundary Economic Cooperation Zone
8	Township	place=town	20,942 Towns 10,798 Townships 8,122 Sub-districts 985 Ethnic Townships 152 Sums 2 District Public Offices 1 Ethnic Sum
9	Quasi-Township Units (proposed)	place=quarter	e.g. Community Affair Committee
10	Village/Neighborhood community	place=village (admin) place=hamlet (natural) place=neighbourhood	≈558,000 Village Committees(as of Q2 2017) ≈104,000 Neighborhood Committees(as of Q2 2017)

Transport

Highways

• This table provides editors a recommended tagging guide. For those special circumstances which may not be included, please refer to highway=* for conventional usage.
• When mapping National/Regional route system, editors should follow their administrative level instead of their physical conditions, from G (National) class to C (Village) class in a descending order (from trunk to unclassified)
• For ex/old-National/Regional Routes, consider them in common circumstances instead of using the road type of their former level.
• To describe the quality of the surface. See surface=* for more information.
• As for urban roads, editors should tag based on a principle that the distinction between different roads is clear. Thus, road tagging should depend on its importance in the whole network (elucidated in the underlined parts) instead of numbers of lanes or quality of surface.
• The residential areas, commercial areas and industrial areas mentioned in this table are referred to landuse=* or amenity=* areas divided into minimum units (e.g. XX community, XX commerce center/plaza, XX factory/corporation), instead of broadly speaking large functional areas.

Key	Value	Element	Possible circumstance	Comment
Roads
highway	motorway		National Expressways with prefix G, whose number contains 1, 2 or 4 digits. Provincial Expressways with prefix S, whose number contains 1, 2 or 4 digits. Expressways connecting to an airport, whose name includes 'Expressway'.	See the list Expressways of China#NTHS Expressways on Wikipedia Add oneway=yes and ref=* Add toll=yes for toll expressways
highway	trunk		National highways with prefix G, whose number contains 3 digits. (add ref=*) Elevated Roads or city expressways, which often contain the following words in their names (X环路, XX快速路, XX大道, XX高架), fully or partly elevated Elevated roads connecting to a large public transport facility（e.g. airport or railway station）	For 1), see the list China National Highways#List of all China National Highways on Wikipedia Add oneway=yes
highway	primary		Provincial highways with prefix S,whose number contains 3 digits. (add ref=*) Roads connecting several city/districts/towns, collecting most of the inter-city traffic or long-distance traffic inside a city. Roads connecting to a large public transport facility.(e.g. airport or railway station) Roads connecting cities and counties.	Only used to tag a few of the most important major roads in a city.
highway	secondary		County-level highways with prefix X. (addref=*) Roads connecting numerous residential, commercial, industrial areas,collecting most of the local traffic between urban areas. Roads connecting to a public transport facility（e.g. airport or railway station） Roads connecting counties and towns.	Note that in large cities, X-routes may have important function in suburbs, some X-routes may have already been a part of urban road network or may perform as feeders between more important highways. In conditions similar to those mentioned above, you may tag them wholly or partly as highway=primary.
highway	tertiary		Township-level highways with prefix Y. (add ref=*) Accommodation Highway with prefix Z. (add ref=*) Roads connecting several local residential, commercial, industrial areas,collecting most of the local traffic among these areas. Roads directly connect to a major building, providing people with access to the building, diverged from a motorway, trunk, primary or secondary (e.g. airport terminal, railway station main building, commercial complex) Roads connecting towns and villages.
highway	unclassified		Other highways with prefix Q. (add ref=*) Roads connecting numerous buildings, farmlands or parking areas, collecting most of the local traffic among these facilities/buildings Frontage roads on a secondary major road Main roads inside industrial areas and commercial areas with connection to outside roads. Roads connecting villages and residential groups.
highway	residential		Main roads inside a residential area with connection to outside roads.
highway	service		Roads connecting several buildings, farmlands or parking areas, collecting most of the local traffic among these facilities/buildings. Small roads providing access to a building, parking lots, driveway, alley, etc. Small roads in towns and villages that are not really suitable cars due to width or curvature, but cars are permitted. (add service=parking alley) Roads inside a parking area, providing access to rows of parking lots. (add service=parking aisle)
Link roads
highway	motorway_link		The link roads (sliproads/ramps) leading to/from a motorway from/to a motorway or lower class highway. Found at exits, junctions and some service areas.	Add oneway=yes or oneway=no
highway	trunk_link		The link roads (sliproads/ramps) leading to/from a trunk from/to a trunk or lower class highway.
highway	primary_link		The link roads (sliproads/ramps) leading to/from a primary road from/to a primary road or lower class highway.
highway	secondary_link		The link roads (sliproads/ramps) leading to/from a secondary road from/to a secondary road or lower class highway.
highway	tertiary_link		The link roads (sliproads/ramps) leading to/from a tertiary road from/to a tertiary road or lower class highway.
highway	motorway_junction		Exit node of an interchange Exit node of an overpass hub Exit node of a service/rest area	highway=motorway_junction name=昆山 (name of the exit instead of destinations, usually the same as toll booth name) ref=172 destination=昆山;张浦;锦溪 (name of destinations, add at the following highway=motorway_link) destination:ref=S224 (add at the following highway=motorway_link)
Special roads
highway	pedestrian		Streets only used for pedestrians in commercial and some residential areas. Squares and plazas (add tagarea=yes)
highway	track		Roads for mostly agricultural or forestry uses.	This tag is not describing the quality of a road but its use.
highway	raceway		Courses or tracks for (motor) racing in regular F1, bumper cars or other racing games.	Do not use it for sport courses other than racing.
Paths
highway	footway		Designated footpaths mainly for pedestrians or walkers. Moving sidewalk Paths for pedestrians as well as cyclists (add bicycle=yes)
highway	bridleway		Designated paths mainly for horses.
highway	steps		Steps Escalator
highway	cycleway		Designated paths mainly for cyclists.
highway	path		Trails not applicable for footway/bridleway/cycleway

Railways

Key	Value	Element	Possible Circumstance	Comment
railway	rail		Full sized passenger or freight train tracks in the standard gauge (in China: gauge=1435) for the country or state. Tracks running parallel to (and connected to) a main route, which is common in stations or maintenance depots( add service=siding or service=yard or service=spur)	* Add a service=* for the classification (service=spur, service=main, service=siding, service=yard).
railway	subway		Mass underground transit tracks/routes in major cities(e.g. subway, metro)	Do not mistake routes with a minority of elevated tracks for railway=monorail
railway	tram		Tracks/routes for tram vehicles, usually share roads with automobiles
railway	monorail		Tracks/routes for monorail vehicles, usually elevated above a road. Maglev tracks/routes	Do not mistake routes with a minority of tunneled tracks for railway=subway
railway	construction		Railways under construction railway=construction + construction=rail

Aviation and navigation

Type	Tag	Comments
Aviation
Civil Airport	aeroway=aerodrome	Depicts the figure by following the gate fence around the airport.
Taxiway	aeroway=taxiway	Depicts the way by following the taxiway centerline. Do not use this tag on parking guidance way
Runway	aeroway=runway	Include overrun and threshold segment.
Apron	aeroway=apron
Parking Position	aeroway=parking_position	Use as a way element when mapping parking guidance line;use as a node element when mapping parking position
Navigation

Natural environment

Reservoirs

China has a large number of reservoirs, formed by man-made dams. Use natural=water with water=reservoir.