Tag:amenity=place_of_worship
 amenity = place_of_worship
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A place where religious services are conducted 
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| Rendering in openstreetmap-carto |
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Rendering in openstreetmap-carto 
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| Group: Religion |
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| Useful combination |
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| Status: de facto |
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| Tools for this tag |
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| Wikidata |
| Q1370598 |
How to Map
All places of worship, independently of the religion or denomination, get the tag amenity=place_of_worship. This covers mosques, churches, cathedrals, synagogues, temples, etc. You can use the keys religion=*, denomination=* and service_times=* for more detailed information. Adding access=private is useful if it is available only for small group, for example church in a monastery used solely by monks. There is no established tagging of places of worship with access only for members of matching religion/denomination though access=adherents was proposed for that purpose[1].
landuse=religious may be used to demarcate the grounds surrounding an amenity=place_of_worship.
Buildings and open areas
Buildings
The tag amenity=place_of_worship can be added to the surrounding area where the religious services are conducted, or on the building if the area isn't exactly known (together with the key building=*).
If the place of religious services is located in a part of a multi-purpose building, then the tag amenity=place_of_worship should be placed on a node or area, inside the building outline. Examples are prayer rooms in public buildings or rooms rented for religious purposes in commercial buildings.
If the building contains one or more tower with bells, add one node or area per tower with man_made=tower and tower:type=bell_tower.
If the building contains one or more minaret, add one node or area per minaret with man_made=tower and tower:type=minaret.
Architectural type of buildings for worshipping
The tag building=* should be applied according to the architectural type, often such religious buildings are recognisable landmarks.
Typical tags in this context are
- building=church
- building=cathedral
- building=chapel
- building=mosque
- building=synagogue
- building=temple
- building=shrine
Whereas the previous tags describe the architectural category, the actual style can be described with building:architecture=*.
For example, a catholic church can be tagged on the building outline with amenity=place_of_worship + religion=christian + denomination=catholic + building=church.
Consequently, a building without the particular architectural distinguishment should not be given such a building value, for example a general-purpose shop building in a strip mall that is currently being used for worshipping should not be tagged as a building=church. Instead, the appropriate building=* tag for the major use of the building should be used, building=yes as the default.
Please note that a building retains this architectural building=* tagging even if it is no longer used for religious purposes. For example, a church building that is now used as a concert hall could be tagged as building=church + amenity=theatre.
Open areas
When ceremonies of worshipping are regularly performed on dedicated areas that are not buildings, these areas should be mapped as closed ways (or node if the shape is unknown), and tagged amenity=place_of_worship and the religion details.
Multiple places of worship on the same grounds
When a religious site holds multiple places of worship, the site outline can be tagged with landuse=religious. The places of worship within it (buildings, shrines, open areas) should then each be tagged with landuse=place_of_worship.
Example rendering
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OpenStreetMap Carto renders places of worship at zoom levels:
- >=13 area tagged as amenity=place_of_worship or landuse=religious, gray (#cdccc9)
- >=13 building tagged as amenity=place_of_worship, 20% darker than others
- >=16 includes symbol, depending on religion=* and denomination=*:
- >=17 includes name
See Also
- amenity=grave_yard for burial land that has a relation to the church or place of worship.
- landuse=religious for the area that the place of worship building sits within.
- A draft (still not a proposal) exists for the communities (religious or not).
Possible Tagging Mistakes
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!
- ↑ mailing list discussion, example of explicit sign forbidding access for nonmuslims to a mosque [1], see also note about default access