United States/Tags

United States	openstreetmap.us	Projects	Tags	TIGER fixup
OpenStreetMap US	Users	Data Imports	Resources	Category

This page is a supplement to Map Features that describes how to map in the United States. Whereas Map Features and other pages in the Key: and Tag: namespaces of this wiki offer general advice that applies globally, this page describes tagging conventions that are peculiar to the U.S. in OpenStreetMap and offers examples that are familiar to Americans.

General considerations

Names

In all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, names are assumed to be in English by default, but name=* should be set to the most prominent signposted name or most common name, regardless of language. If a road, POI, or other feature is named in a language other than English, also indicate its language using the appropriate language subkey (an ISO 639 code). For example, a Mexican restaurant named "El Picante" would be tagged name=El Picante name:es=El Picante. On the other hand, a city named Clermont can be tagged just name=Clermont without necessarily having name:fr=*, because the name has been borrowed from French rather than the welcome signs being deliberately signposted in French. Similarly, a restaurant named "Kremer’s" can be tagged name=Kremer’s without name:de=* or name:nl=*.

The table below lists ISO 639 codes of languages with some form of official government recognition, which means place=* and other features may be expected to have translations tagged on name:*=* subkeys:

Officially recognized languages

Language	ISO 639 code	Recognized in
English	en	30 states
Hawaiian	haw	Hawaii
Inupiat	ik	Alaska
Central Siberian Yupik	ess
Central Alaskan Yup'ik	esu
Alutiiq	ems
Unangan (Aleut)	ale
Dena'ina	tfn
Deg Xinag	ing
Holikachuk	hoi
Koyukon	koy
Upper Kuskokwim	kuu
Gwich'in	gwi
Lower Tanana	taa
Upper Tanana	tau
Tanacross	tcb
Hän	haa
Ahtna	aht
Eyak	eya
Tlingit	tli
Haida	hai
Coast Tsimshian	tsi
Dakota (Lakota, Nakota)	dak or lkt	South Dakota
Spanish	es	Puerto Rico
Chamorro	ch	Guam, Northern Mariana Islands
Samoan	sm	American Samoa
Carolinian	cal	Northern Mariana Islands
Cherokee	chr	Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma)

The tables below list ISO 639 codes of other commonly spoken languages that may also be tagged on name:*=* subkeys of some features, particularly businesses that focus on non-English-speaking clientele:

Most commonly spoken languages

Language	ISO 639 code
English	en
Spanish	es
Chinese	zh
Tagalog	tl
Vietnamese	vi
Arabic	ar
French	fr
Korean	ko
Russian	ru
German	de
Haitian Creole	ht
Hindi	hi
Portuguese	pt
Italian	it
Polish	pl
Urdu	ur
Yiddish	yi
Japanese	ja
Persian	fa
Gujarati	gu
Telugu	te
Bengali	bn
Thai	th
Lao	lo
Greek	el
Punjabi	pa
Tamil	ta
Armenian	hy
Serbo-Croatian	sh
Hebrew	he
Hmong	hmn
Swahili	sw
Khmer	km
Navajo	nv

Most commonly spoken Native American languages

Language	ISO 639 code
Navajo	nv
Dakota	dak
Yupik	ypk
Apache	apa
Keres	kee or kjq
Cherokee	chr
Choctaw	cho
Zuni	zun
O'odham (Pima)	ood
Ojibwe (Chippewa)	oj
Hopi	hop
Inupiat (Inupik)	ik
Tewa	tew
Muskogee (Creek)	mus
Crow	cro
Shoshoni	shh
Cheyenne	chy
Tiwa	tix or twf
Towa (Jemez)	tow
Inuit (Eskimo)	ik

Austronesian languages

Language	ISO 639 code
Hawaiian	haw
Samoan	sm
Chamorro	ch
Carolinian	cal

Punctuation is valid in street names according to the "on the ground" rule. TIGER has no way to represent any punctuation, even where required, so if you are using the TIGER Roads layer, avoid overriding detail that others have added.

Measurements

OpenStreetMap is an international project, so measurements are in the metric system by default, but customary units are allowed. Category:Keys indicating measurements lists the keys that are set to measurements. Most of them can be measured in customary units as long as the unit is explicitly indicated using a valid abbreviation. If you are tagging a measurement based on a sign, use the same unit as the sign. For example, tag a speed limit as maxspeed=25 mph, not maxspeed=25 or maxspeed=40.2.

Roadways

Road classifications

Main article: United States/Road classification

highway=* tags classify roads based on multiple factors, including route connectivity, build quality, and traffic volume. The high-level goal is for renderers to be able to display a coherent road network at various zoom levels and for routers to be able to prioritize or deprioritize "main" roads when choosing routes. Most data consumers interpret the same set of road classification tags the same way regardless of the country or locality, so we make some effort to keep classifications vaguely consistent, though differences are inevitable from region to region because of varying highway engineering practices.

We have developed our own OpenStreetMap-specific functional classification scheme for highway=* tags. The rules of thumb at United States/Road classification are based on route types, but consult your state's page for more specific criteria and examples. We do not follow the official Highway Functional Classification System (HFCS) published by the Federal Highway Administration or state highway departments. Many of the principles and considerations in HFCS are relevant to OpenStreetMap, but there is no one-to-one correlation between HFCS classifications and highway=* tags. Some mappers indicate the official HFCS classification of a road using the HFCS=* or designation=* key.

Numbered routes

Main article: United States roads tagging

The United States is home to a variety of national, state, county, and local route numbering systems. United States roads tagging describes many of these systems and how to tag them. If you are mapping numbered roads based on street-level imagery, especially along a freeway, consult this picture dictionary for the appropriate tags to use on each way and route relation.

Speed limits

Use maxspeed=* for white legal speed limit signs or pavement markings and minspeed=* for white minimum speed signs. Sometimes these signs are combined; use both tags.

Use the maxspeed:advisory=* tag for yellow advisory speed limit signs on highway on- and off-ramps (highway=motorway_link, highway=trunk_link, etc.), along curved sections of roadway, or near dangerous rural intersections. Highway ramps almost never have legal speed limits.

A school zone's 20 mph speed limit can be tagged if the school's drop-off, recess, and pickup times are known. For example, a high school's school zone might be tagged maxspeed:conditional=20 mph @ (Mo-Fr 07:45-15:30, SH off). See the Conditional restrictions and opening_hours=* documentation for details on the syntax for specifying times. If a sign lights up when the school zone is in effect, as indicated by a "When Flashing" sign, also use maxspeed:variable=school_zone. However, if all the sign says is "During Restricted Hours" and the school's hours are unknown, then use maxspeed:conditional=20 mph @ "restricted hours". Extend the any school zone–related tags up to the sign.

Only tag speed limits based on signs or pavement markings. Do not assume, for instance, that an expressway has a higher speed limit than a two-lane rural road.

Weight restrictions

Posted weight restrictions in the U.S. are exceedingly complex, with signage that varies considerably from state to state. See Key:maxweight#United States, Key:maxaxleload#United States, Key:maxbogieweight#United States, and maxunladenweight=* for tagging examples based on typical signs.

Complex junctions

Examples of complex junctions:

• Single-point urban interchange (SPUI): 1843583 1843583
• Continuous-flow intersection (CFI): 8124175 8124175
• Diverging diamond interchange (DDI): 10384541 10384541
• Superstreet intersection: 10384566 10384566
• Turbo roundabout: 8126820 8126820

Bikeways

Since there are many disparate bicycle route systems in the U.S., bicycle route relations should be tagged with cycle_network=US:* in addition to the usual network=ncn/rcn/lcn. See Key:cycle_network#United States for details.

Road signs

Road signs are tagged with traffic_sign=*; most values start with US:, followed by standard sign code. United States/Road signs#Sign codes links to national- and state-level traffic sign manuals that list the code for each sign.

History

Buildings on the National Register of Historic Places should be tagged:

historic=heritage
heritage=2
heritage:operator=nrhp
heritage:ref=NRIS ID
ref:nrhp=NRIS ID

Places

Main article: United States/Boundaries

place=* POIs identify population centers. Where these population centers happen to correspond to municipal corporations, they are additionally mapped as boundary relations; the place=* POI is added to the boundary=administrative relation with a role of label. Put the place=* POI at the location that is generally considered the center of the place, for example, a town square, a county courthouse, or the intersection that serves as the origin of a city's street grid.

The place=* tag does not necessarily correspond to the place's legal status. For example, each of Louisiana's parishes is tagged place=county, and countless legally incorporated cities throughout the country are tagged place=town or place=village. To indicate the place's legal status, add a border_type=* tag to the corresponding boundary relation.

Here are rules of thumb for choosing a place=* tag:

place=city

Cities at the center of metropolitan areas, generally with a metropolitan population above 100,000. Some boomburbs are also tagged as cities.

place=town

Medium-sized cities, including suburbs, generally with a population between 10,000 and 100,000 within corporation limits. Some cities with a population less than 10,000 are also tagged place=town if they are county seats or otherwise especially important. Some place=town POIs represent population centers within unincorporated areas. These POIs may lie within census-designated places (CDPs) but do not necessarily correspond to them.

place=village

Small cities with a population less than 10,000, as well as villages (with a population less than 5,000). Some place=village POIs represent population centers within unincorporated areas, such as former villages that have disbanded.

place=suburb

Neighborhood districts within cities that are tagged place=city. Often, these districts are historically separate cities that were annexed by the current city. When these districts are well-defined, they are also mapped as boundary relations with admin_level=10.

place=neighbourhood

Neighborhoods (note the British spelling) within cities tagged place=town or within larger neighborhood districts tagged place=suburb. When these neighborhoods are well-defined, they may also be mapped as land use areas.

place=hamlet is for isolated settlements with fewer than 100–200 residents. Most of the place=hamlet features in OpenStreetMap are errors introduced by the TIGER import:

• Residential subdivisions within urban or suburban areas should be remapped as landuse=residential areas.
• Mobile home parks should be remapped as landuse=residential residential=mobile areas.
• Rail stations should be retagged railway=station or deleted if they no longer exist.
• Railway junctions should be retagged railway=junction and moved to the actual junction point if there is still a physical wye junction. Otherwise, if the junction is gone but the area is still named after the junction, another tag such as place=locality may be appropriate.

See also

• Various states have more specific instructions and examples:
  • California
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • Texas
  • Vermont
• United States/Projects for tagging suggestions related to relations