Key:building

building
Description
To mark the outline of a building.
Rendering in openstreetmap-carto
Group: Buildings
Used on these elements
Documented values: 89
Implies
area=yes
Useful combination
addr=* name=* height=* building:levels=* entrance=* shop=* amenity=* office=* craft=* building:architecture=* building:use=*
Wikidata
Q41176
Status: approved
Tools for this tag
taginfo · CH · CZ · FR · GB · HU · IE · IN · JP · PL overpass-turbo

The building tag is used to mark a given object as a building. The most basic use is building=yes, but the value may be used to classify the type of building. Note that it may be not the same as the building's current use (tagged using building:use=*). For example, a hospital building that is abandoned or repurposed to be a marketplace is still a building=hospital, and to mark active hospitals amenity=hospital is used.

How to map

Set a node or draw as an area along the building outline. Tag it with building=*.

Usage

See Buildings

The building key is used to mark areas as a building. For further details of how buildings are tagged and rendered: Buildings
Note about using this tag on nodes : although buildings are better represented with their footprints (a closed way or a multipolygon relation), OSM is working by iteration and some areas in the world don't have good aerial imagery or public datasets offering building footprints. Therefore, buildings on nodes should be tolerated until better sources are available.

Values

Key	Value	Element	Comment	Photo
Accommodation
building	apartments		A building arranged into individual dwellings, often on separate floors. May also have retail outlets on the ground floor.
building	bungalow		A single-storey detached small house, Dacha.
building	cabin		A cabin is a small, roughly built house usually with a wood exterior and typically found in rural areas.
building	detached		A single dwelling unit inhabited by family or small group sharing facilities such as a kitchen.
building	dormitory		For a shared building, as used by college/university students (not a share room for multiple occupants as implied by the term in British English). Alternatively, use building=residential plus residential=university.
building	farm		A residential building on a farm (farmhouse). For other buildings see below building=farm_auxiliary, building=barn, … If in your country farmhouse looks same as general residential house then you can tag as building=house as well. See also landuse=farmyard for the surrounding area
building	hotel		A building designed with separate rooms available for overnight accommodation. Normally used in conjunction with tourism=hotel for the hotel grounds including recreation areas and parking.
building	house		A dwelling unit inhabited by a single household (a family or small group sharing facilities such as a kitchen). Houses forming half of a semi-detached pair, or one of a row of terraced houses, should share at least two nodes with joined neighbours, thereby defining the party wall between the properties.
building	houseboat		A boat used primarily as a home
building	residential		A general tag for a building used primarily for residential purposes. Where additional detail is available consider using 'apartments', 'terrace', 'house' or 'detached'.
building	static_caravan		A mobile home (semi)permanently left on a single site
building	terrace		A single way used to define the outline of a linear row of residential dwellings, each of which normally has its own entrance, which form a terrace (row-house in North American English). Consider defining each dwelling separately using 'house'.
Commercial
building	commercial		A building where non-specific commercial activities take place, not necessarily an office building. Consider tagging the surrounding area using landuse=commercial. Use 'retail' if the building consists primarily of shops.
building	industrial		A building where some industrial process takes place. Use warehouse if the purpose is known to be primarily for storage/distribution. Consider using landuse=industrial for the surrounding area and the proposed industrial=* tag to describe the industrial activity.
building	kiosk		Small retail building.
building	office		An office building. Use building=office with office=* to describe the type of office. Consider tagging the surrounding area using landuse=commercial. Use 'retail' if the building consists primarily of shops.
building	retail		A building primarily used for selling goods that are sold to the public; use shop=* to identify the sort of goods sold or an appropriate amenity=* (pub, cafe, restaurant, etc.). Consider use landuse=retail for the surrounding area.
building	supermarket		A building constructed to house a self-service large-area store.
building	warehouse		A building primarily used for the storage or goods or as part of a distribution system.
Religious
building	cathedral		A building that was built as a cathedral. Used in conjunction with amenity=place_of_worship, religion=*, denomination=* and landuse=religious for the cathedral grounds where it is in current use.
building	chapel		A building that was built as a chapel. Used in conjunction with amenity=place_of_worship, religion=*, denomination=* and landuse=religious for the chapel grounds where it is in current use.
building	church		A building that was built as a church. Used in conjunction with amenity=place_of_worship, religion=* , denomination=* and landuse=religious for the church grounds where it is in current use.
building	mosque		A mosque. Used in conjunction with amenity=place_of_worship, religion=*, denomination=* and landuse=religious for the grounds where it is in current use.
building	religious		Unspecific religious building. Prefer more specific values if possible.
building	shrine		A building that was built as a shrine. Used in conjunction with amenity=place_of_worship, religion=*, denomination=* and landuse=religious for the grounds where it is in current use. Small buildings should consider historic=wayside_shrine.
building	synagogue		A building that was built as a synagogue. Used in conjunction with amenity=place_of_worship, religion=*, denomination=* and landuse=religious for the grounds where it is in current use.
building	temple		A building that was built as a temple. Used in conjunction with amenity=place_of_worship, religion=*, denomination=* and landuse=religious for the grounds where it is in current use.
Civic/Amenity
building	bakehouse		A building that was built as a bakehouse (i.e. for baking bread). Often used in conjunction with another node amenity=baking_oven and oven=wood_fired.
building	civic		For any civic amenity, for example amenity=community_centre, amenity=library, amenity=toilets, leisure=sports_centre, leisure=swimming_pool, amenity=townhall etc. Use amenity=* or leisure=* etc. to provide further details. See building=public as well.
building	government		For government buildings in general, including municipal, provincial and divisional secretaries, government agencies and departments, town halls, (regional) parliaments and court houses.
building	hospital		A building which forms part of a hospital. Use amenity=hospital for the hospital grounds.
building	kindergarten		For any generic kindergarten buildings. Buildings for specific uses (sports halls etc.) should be tagged for their purpose. Use amenity=kindergarten for the perimeter of the kindergarten grounds.
building	public		A public building. Don't use amenity=public_building.
building	school		For any generic school buildings. Buildings for specific uses (sports halls etc.) should be tagged for their purpose. Use amenity=school for the perimeter of the school grounds.
building	toilets		A toilet block.
building	train_station		A building constructed to be a train station building, including buildings that are abandoned and used nowadays for a different purpose.
building	transportation		A building related to public transport. You will probably want to tag it with proper transport related tag as well, such as public_transport=station. Note that there is a special tag for train station buildings - building=train_station.
building	university		A university building. Use amenity=university for the whole university area.
Agricultural/Plant production
building	barn		An agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace.
building	conservatory		A conservatory is a building or room having glass or tarpaulin roofing and walls with comfortable inventory and exotic plants.
building	cowshed		A cowshed (cow barn, cow house) is a building for housing cows, usually found on farms.
building	farm_auxiliary		A building on a farm that is not a dwelling (use 'farm' or 'house' for the farm house).
building	greenhouse		A greenhouse is a glass or plastic covered building used to grow plants. Use landuse=greenhouse_horticulture for an area containing multiple greenhouses
building	stable		A stable is a building where horses are kept.
building	sty		A sty (pigsty, pig ark, pig-shed) is a building for raising domestic pigs, usually found on farms.
Sports
building	grandstand		The main stand, usually roofed, commanding the best view for spectators at racecourses or sports grounds.
building	pavilion		A sports pavilion usually with changing rooms, storage areas and possibly an space for functions & events. Avoid using this term for other structures called pavilions by architects (see Pavilion)
building	riding_hall		A building that was built as a riding hall.
building	sports_hall		A building that was built as a sports hall.
building	stadium		A building constructed to be a stadium building, including buildings that are abandoned and used nowadays for a different purpose.
Storage
building	hangar		A hangar is a building used for the storage of airplanes, helicopters or space-craft. Consider adding aeroway=hangar, when appropriate.
building	hut		A hut is a small and crude shelter. Note that this word has two meanings - it may be synonym of building=shed, it may be a residential building of low quality.
building	shed		A shed is a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop.
Cars
building	carport		A carport is a covered structure used to offer limited protection to vehicles, primarily cars, from the elements. Unlike most structures a carport does not have four walls, and usually has one or two.
building	garage		A garage is a building suitable for the storage of one or possibly more motor vehicle or similar. See building=garages for larger shared buildings. For an aircraft garage, see building=hangar.
building	garages		A building that consists of a number of discrete storage spaces for different owners/tenants. See also building=garage.
building	parking		Structure purpose-built for parking cars.
Power/Technical buildings
building	digester		A digester is a bioreactor for the production of inflatable biogas from biomass.
building	service		Service building usually is a small unmanned building with certain machinery (like pumps or transformers).
building	transformer_tower		A transformer tower is a characteristic tall building comprising a distribution transformer and constructed to connect directly to a medium voltage overhead power line. Quite often the power line has since been undergrounded but the building may still serve as a substation. If the building is still in use as a substation it should additionally be tagged as power=substation + substation=minor_distribution.
building	water_tower		A water tower
Other Buildings
building	bunker		A hardened military building. Also use military=bunker.
building	bridge		A building used as a bridge. Can also represent a gatehouse for drawbridges. See also bridge=yes for highway=*. Don't use this tag just for marking bridges (their outlines). For such purposes use man_made=bridge.
building	construction		Used for buildings under construction. Use construction=* to hold the value for the completed building.
building	roof		A structure that consists of a roof with open sides, such as a rain shelter, and also gas stations
building	ruins		According to meaning of building=* should be used for building constructed as ruins (for example sham ruins in an English landscape garden). Frequently used incorrectly, for house, a village or other building abandoned (despite that abandoned house is still building=house).
building	yes		Use this value where it is not possible to determine a more specific value.
building	user defined		All commonly used values according to Taginfo, generally building types
Additional Attributes
entrance	yes / main / exit / service / emergency		An entrance in a building. Replaces the deprecated tag building=entrance.
height	number		The height of the building in meters.
building:flats	number		The number of residential units (flats, apartments) in an apartment building (building=apartments), residential building (building=residential), house (building=house), detached house (building=detached) or similar buidling.
building:levels	number		The number of visible levels (floors) in the building as used in the Simple 3D buildings scheme
building:fireproof	yes/no		Fire-resistance information.
building:min_level	number		minimum indoor level (floors) in the building as used in the Simple Indoor Tagging scheme
building:max_level	number		maximum indoor level (floors) in the building as used in the Simple Indoor Tagging scheme
non_existent_levels	number		list of indoor levels (floors) that do not exists in the building as used in the Simple Indoor Tagging scheme
start_date	date		The (approximated) date when the building was finished.
soft_storey	yes/no/reinforced		A building where any one level is significantly more flexible (less stiff) than those above and below it

This table is a wiki template with a default description in English. Editable here.

Possible Tagging Mistakes

• amenity=building

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!

See also

• addr=*
• building:architecture=* - How to tag the architecture of a building
• Simple 3D Buildings - How to map a building in 3D
• building:material=* - How to tag the material of a building

Related terms: ‹ construction › ‹ edifice › ‹ home › ‹ domicile › ‹ house › ‹ building ›