Key:routing:entrance
 routing:entrance
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| Description |
|---|
| Preferred access point for an area or building. Provides a hint to routing engines to use this point instead of the center as a start/end point. |
| Group: routes |
| Used on these elements |
    |
| See also |
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| Status: in use |
| Tools for this tag |
Use routing:entrance=* for marking the preferred access point for an area or building complex when the access point is not clear (multiple main entrances or access roads).
This is mostly used on large areas where the center (centroid) as the origin or destination for routing would be unrealistic (e.g. campus, hospital, factory, golf course) and could lead to detours or arbitary selection of entrances.
Additional scenarios are areas with multiple main entrances or when the preferred access road is not the closest road (e.g. customer car park instead of loading ramp).
How to map?
Set routing:entrance=yes or routing:entrance=main on a node marking the preferred access point to the area. The node must lie on the area or building outline (see software support) and can be a physical object (e.g. a gate).
In case the preferred entrance is already defined by means of entrance=*, i.e. when there is only a single entrance or only a single main entrance entrance=main, routing:entrance=* is not needed.
In case of multiple main entrances, routing:entrance=main can be used in addition to specify which one to use as a routing target.
If a relation of type=site is used, an entrance can also be tagged by adding a node with role 
entranceentrance=* node along a routable way.
Software support
In Nominatim, a search result corresponding to a way has an entrances property containing the coordinates of any entrance=* or routing:entrance=* node along the way. [1]
As of 2026-05, multipolygons and site relations are not supported.
Comparison
A common alternative is to add a node to a type=site relation with the role entrance=* node along a routable way.
History
This tag was coined in 2021. As of March 2024, it is almost exclusively used in Québec.
See also
entrance=*to specify the physical entrance to a building.