Proposal:Clarify deprecation reasons

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clarify deprecation reasons
Proposal status: Proposed (under way)
Proposed by: Overflorian
Applies to:
Definition: Clarify the reasons behind a deprecation
Draft started: 2022-01-21
RFC start: 2022-01-24

Proposal

Define more clearly the reasons why a tag is deprecated.

The goal is toː

  1. replace the current reasons listed in the table with a more consistent list
  2. identify and separate the recommended from the not-recommended reasons of deprecation
  3. create a new standard and useful data item
  4. better understand the deprecation processes of the past and in the future


Here is the new list I proposeː

List of reasons

Recommended reasons

Type of reason Reason
Replaced replaced by an approved new tag / tagging system
replaced by a de facto used new tag / tagging system
Inconsistent same meaning as another tag, confusing, inferior, synonymous, lead to mistakes
Not relevant useless, discardable
Out of the scope of the project (too subjective, un-checkable, temporary...)
implemented for another wrong reason by an editor / render / routing engine / other tool
Error created by a software bug
implemented for a bad reason by an editor / render / routing engine / other tool
orthography correction
British English is preferred

Not-recommended reasons

Type of reason Reason Recommendation
Not recommended poorly or not documented The documentation should be created
wrong or poor definition of the tag The definition should be changed
abandoned It's a good reason but not precise enough
low or very low use Not sufficient as itself
never used by the community
only used by a local / small part of the community
never implemented by any editor / render / routing engine / other tool

It is very frequent that a deprecation happens because of multiple reasons. This should remain.

Stop using code numbers

In the deprecated features table, codes are used to identify the reasons. It's unclear and the user needs to refer to another page.

I propose to replace the code column by the reason itself (limited to the proposed reasons of this proposal), and to replace the "reason column" by "additional explanation" as a free text to provide more details.

Rationale

The deprecated features table lists the deprecated tags and displays the reasons of deprecation.

All these reasons are listed in a dedicated template. The reasons of this table are messy, inconsistent and misleading.

This proposal aims toː

  • quickly, easily understand the reason behind a tag's deprecation
  • identify the complementary tasks needed (write documentation, create a new tag...)
  • keep track of the past deprecation reasons to better understand the deprecation process. It should help the community to better prioritize its efforts regarding tag recommendations.

Examples

Here are some example of current reasons listed in the table.

Current reason Recommended reason Not recommended reason
Introduction of "shop" replaced by an approved new tag / tagging system
No description, usage completely unknown useless, discardable not or poorly documented

very low use

better fits into toplevel tags replaced by an approved new tag / tagging system
Abandoned feature. replaced by an approved new tag / tagging system abandoned
This tag has never been approved, nor had wide usage. Take one of the replacements to correctly tag the education place. replaced by an approved new tag / tagging system not or poorly documented

never used by the community

Tag historic=* should be used for historic items (and therefore not a museum). same meaning as another tag, confusing, inferior, synonymous, lead to mistakes not or poorly documented

wrong or poor definition of the tag

This tag is confusing. A furnace is a big oven used for melting metals; some people also applied this tag for shops selling cooking stoves. same meaning as another tag, confusing, inferior, synonymous, lead to mistakes wrong or poor definition of the tag
The difference between a condominium and an apartment is purely legal, difficult to verify, and unimportant to OSM. Out of the scope of the project (too subjective, un-checkable, temporary...)

As you can see, these reasons are often confusing because they mix-up different concepts.

Features/Pages affected

  • The table of reasons would be replaced by the proposed list of reasons (and possibly with translations)
  • The reasons in the deprecated table would be updated accordingly
  • An additional free text would remain as it is for the community to be able to provide more details
  • The data item of each deprecated tag would have a new "reason of deprecation" parameter added. This parameter will be created and allow multiple values.

External discussions

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.