Proposal:Alternate addresses
| Alternate addresses | |
|---|---|
| Proposal status: | Draft (under way) |
| Proposed by: | Joel Koen |
| Draft started: | 2026-06-29 |
Problem Statement
An object may have multiple addresses that should all be searchable in the database. For example, a house on a corner may have a house number along both streets, or a land plot may be merged and keep both previously separate addresses.
Currently, the only way to add multiple addresses and have them be indexed in geocoders such as Nominatim is by creating multiple separate address nodes. However, this approach has a few issues:
- this does not follow one of OSM's key principles: "One feature, one OSM element" - an address is not a feature on its own, and instead usually refers to an entrance, POI, building or land plot.
- by separating the address from a feature, it's not always clear what an address node refers to.
- it's not clear where multiple address nodes with the exact same location should be mapped.
For example, houses on corners may have a house number for both nearby streets.
Proposal
This proposal extends the addr:*=* namespace to support tagging additional addresses on the same object in the form of addr:#:*=*, for example addr:2:street=Maple Street
Rationale
Tagging
No inheritance
Additional addresses are completely separate from the tagged primary address, and do not inherit any attributes.
It is assumed that the main need for inheritance would be reducing the need for duplicate tags such as addr:suburb=*, addr:city=* and addr:postcode=*, but these tags can already be inherited from place, administrative and postal code boundaries. Nominatim already makes use of these boundaries, and can be viewed under the address section of an object's details page on Nominatim.
Examples
Impact on Data Consumers
By continuing to use the exact same addr:*=* namespace for primary addresses, data consumers can use and display the primary address of objects without any changes.
In areas where alternate addresses are not already included in the database, adding new addresses will have no impact on existing data, but will not be searchable until software adds support.
In areas that are already mapped with multiple addresses as separate nodes, mappers should avoid merging large amounts of data until popular software has support.
Features/Pages affected
External discussions
Comments
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