Synonymous tags
This is a list of tags which have the same or almost the same meaning, but there is no consensus to use only one of them. Both tags describe the same object/concept and neither of them is deprecated. Ideally, this table should be eventually empty.
Some mappers choose to to apply both synonymous tags to the same element, to be on the "safe side" if one of the tags is not recognized by some data consumers, or eventually gets deprecated. This is also implemented in some presets, to avoid favouring one of the synonyms. This is sometimes referred to as "double tagging".
Land use and areas
Woodland
One attempted distinction is that natural=wood describes pristine, untouched woodland, while landuse=forest refers to those managed for timber harvesting. In practice natural=wood and landuse=forest are used interchangeably for both types since mappers can't tell the difference from aerial imagery, and there is a large gray area between "pristine" and "managed". Additionally, people invented, proposed and used other distinction between these tags and many woodland areas do not fit neatly in such simple distinctions (there is pristine ancient woodland managed to be cut down, woodland that are neither managed nor untouched, woodland that used to be harvested and are nowadays protected and many other cases...). Additionally, landcover=trees was invented to describe any kind of tree-covered area, but is far less common.
| Tag 1 | Tag 2 | Tag 3 | Graph |
|---|---|---|---|
natural=wood
|
landuse=forest
|
landcover=trees
|
History |
There is also duality for clear-cut forest areas:
| Tag 1 | Tag 2 | Graph |
|---|---|---|
landuse=logging
|
man_made=clearcut
|
History |
Grass
As with woodland, natural=grassland is supposed to describe wild, uncultivated grasslands such as steppes, while landuse=meadow refers to those used for animal grazing and hay. Additionally, (much-criticised) landuse=grass is used to tag grass areas regularly sown and managed for landscaping purposes, chiefly in urban environments. In practice, there are significant gray areas, and all three are rendered identical in OSM carto, so those tags end up used somewhat haphazardly. Of course, there is also landcover=grass to boot.
natural=grassland
|
landuse=meadow
|
landuse=grass
|
landcover=grass
|
History |
Water areas
Water areas of large rivers were originally tagged as waterway=riverbank, but it was supplanted by the natural=water scheme, more consistent with other water areas. Use of waterway=riverbank has been declining but (as of 2022) it is not officially deprecated.
waterway=riverbank
|
natural=water+water=river
|
History |
Similarly, artificial water bodies such as reservoirs and basins, originally tagged with landuse=*, now preferably use natural=water with an appropriate subkey. landuse=reservoir has been officially deprecated since January 2022.
landuse=reservoir
|
natural=water+water=reservoir
|
History |
landuse=basin
|
natural=water+water=basin
|
History |
Recreation grounds
landuse=recreation_ground
|
leisure=recreation_ground
|
History |
landuse=recreation_ground+sport=skiing
|
landuse=winter_sports
|
Harbours
landuse=harbour
|
landuse=industrial+industrial=port
|
History |
Nature reserves
leisure=nature_reserve has been superseded by boundary=protected_area with a more detailed protect_class=* (values 1–7), but is still in widespread use. After all, nature reserves are not intended for human leisure, and some have highly restrictive entrance policies. Some areas have been tagged with both tags.
leisure=nature_reserve
|
boundary=protected_area+protect_class=*
|
History |
Aboriginal areas
boundary=aboriginal_lands
|
boundary=protected_area+protect_class=24
|
History |
Amenities, attractions or other points of interest
Health care
For a number of health care facilities, there was a competition between amenity=* and healthcare=* tags. healthcare=* is attempting to deprecate some amenity=* tags, currently typically either just amenity is used or together with healthcare tag.
Other health-care related synonyms include:
amenity=nursing_home
|
amenity=social_facility+social_facility=nursing_home
|
History |
healthcare=hospice
|
amenity=social_facility+social_facility=hospice
|
History |
Bus stops
In the beginning, there were only highway=bus_stop and railway=tram_stop tags. But there was a need to map the stops of other means of transport as well: trolleybus, metro, light rail etc. Additionally, some of these stops are combined, such as a bus+tram stop. So, instead of creating other tags like highway=subway_stop, highway=bus_tram_stop, a new tagging was proposed: public_transport=platform + means_of_transport=yes.
As the PTv2 tagging is more complex for simplest case and there are bus stops without any platform, the simple highway=bus_stop remains in active use.
Currently iD tags a bus stop as a combination of these three tags: highway=bus_stop+public_transport=platform+bus=yes.
highway=bus_stop
|
public_transport=platform+bus=yes
|
Copy shops
shop=copyshop, for any kind of reproductive services provided in a shop, where service:press=yes can be used as additional tag, is used more often than shop=printing and has an icon in OSM Carto. In most copy-shops one can print in large format (small number of pages) besides from making photo copies and some also provide pre-press and press services in addition, at least here in Germany.
shop=copyshop |
shop=printing
|
History |
Travel agencies
shop=travel_agency has more uses and is rendered in OSM Carto, but there is also office=travel_agent. Some claim that shop=travel_agency is a poor fit for places selling services, while others point out that office=travel_agent is not making clear whether it is open for walk-in customers.
shop=travel_agency
|
office=travel_agent
|
History |
Memorials
To describe a particular type of a memorial, memorial=* is the standard subkey, but memorial:type=* has many uses as well.
Lifeboat stations
amenity=lifeboat_station
|
emergency=lifeboat_station
|
History |
Avalanche barriers
barrier=avalanche_protection
|
man_made=avalanche_protection
|
History |
Tombs
tomb=tumulus
|
archaeological_site=tumulus
|
History |
Animal feeding
amenity=feeding_place
|
amenity=game_feeding
|
History |
Highways
Cycling
For cycle paths, there is a competition between specialized highway=cycleway and a subtype of highway=path:
highway=cycleway
|
highway=path+bicycle=designated
|
Pedestrian
Similarly, for pedestrian paths, specialized highway=footway competes with a type of highway=path:
highway=footway
|
highway=path+foot=designated
|
These are not entirely avoidable as a path might be both bicycle=designated and foot=designated.
Horse-riding
...as well as for designated horse-riding paths (bridleways). See also: Bridleway not equivalent to highway=path+horse=designated.
highway=bridleway
|
highway=path+horse=designated
|
Emergency access points
highway=emergency_access_point
|
emergency=access_point
|
History |
Buildings
Public buildings
Buildings for public/governmental use has been tagged with similar tags without clear differences between them. An older tag, amenity=public_building has been deprecated because it can cause conflicts with tags such as amenity=townhall.
building=civic
|
building=public
|
building=government
|
amenity=public_building
|
History |
Ancillary tags
Contact information
There is no consensus whether to use bare tags or the contact=*: prefix for various contact information. There are people who prefer "contact:". Some believe that e.g. "website" and "contact:website" do not mean the same.
See also comparison of these tags with pros and cons.
Tags without "contact:" prefix which are more frequently used:
email
|
contact:email
|
History |
fax
|
contact:fax
|
History |
phone
|
contact:phone
|
History |
website
|
contact:website
|
History |
Tags with "contact:" prefix which are more frequently used:
facebook
|
contact:facebook
|
History |
instagram
|
contact:instagram
|
History |
mobile > phone:mobile
|
contact:mobile
|
History |
telegram
|
contact:telegram
|
History |
twitter
|
contact:twitter
|
History |
Lifecycle prefixes
prefix demolished:
|
prefix removed:prefix razed:prefix destroyed:
|
prefix proposed:
|
prefix planned:
|
Survey date
check_date=*
|
survey:date=* and other tags
|
Sides of a clock or advertising feature
faces=* for amenity=clock is older.
faces=*
|
sides=*
|
Recycling
recycling:plastic_caps=* has wider meaning but almost always it is not intentional
recycling:plastic_bottle_caps=*
|
recycling:plastic_bottle_tops=*
|
recycling:plastic_caps=*
|
link |
Surfaces
surface=bricks is documented on the wiki, but surface=brick is in use as well.
surface=bricks
|
surface=brick
|
See also
External links
- How standards proliferate at xkcd