Tag:landuse=quarry
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Description |
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An area of land used for surface extraction (open-pit mining). ![]() |
Rendering in OSM Carto |
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Group: landuse |
Used on these elements |
Useful combination |
Status: de facto |
Tools for this tag |
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A quarry is an area of land used for surface extraction (open-pit mining) of mineral or organic resources like rocks, gravel, sand, soil, clay, ore, coal or peat.
How to map
Place a node or draw an area
around the quarry, and tag it as
landuse=quarry
.
When used on areas this tag should only be applied to the area in which actual mining is performed. Connected areas like ore processing facilities or machine maintenance areas should usually be tagged landuse=industrial
.
Additional tags
name=*
- the name of the quarryoperator=*
- the company operating the quarryresource=*
- the resource being extracted
Rendering
-
Commonly used node symbol
-
Commonly used node symbol
-
area symbol in OSM Carto
Inactive and former quarries
Quarries that are out of use but still carry many characteristics of a quarry (e.g., bare earth and prominent quarry debris) may be tagged as landuse=quarry
+ disused=yes
.
Quarries that have not been in use for a longer period of time, and are no longer clearly recognised as a quarry (e.g., with substantial vegetation growth), may be tagged as abandoned:landuse=quarry
.
There are two tagging schemes which tend to be used when mapping inactive and former quarries, namely the prefix and status tagging schemes (see the life cycle page for more info). However, the status tagging scheme (e.g., landuse=quarry
+ disused=yes
) is much more popular than the prefix scheme (e.g., disused:landuse=quarry
). Additionally, quarries are explicitly listed in both the disused:*=*
and abandoned:*=*
pages as an example of when not to use this prefix scheme, since landuse=quarry
is used to describe a landscape feature.
disused:landuse=quarry
and landuse=quarry
+ disused=yes
in theory mean the same, but nearly all data consumers will not process lifecycle prefixes at all, so mappers tend to use for features like abandoned:shop=*
/disused:shop=*
where object no longer fulfils typical expectation of place (you will be unable to buy anything in abandoned:shop=convenience
) and use disused=yes
/abandoned=yes
where usage status is less important - and inactive quarry and active quarry will be very similar as far as reference location, terrain shape and difficult access goes.
The scarps of the abandoned quarry may be mapped with man_made=embankment
if desired. Some mappers may also tag abandoned quarries as historic=quarry
and some also chose to use note=*
, description=*
or the like to provide further information, e.g. that this structure was once a quarry.
Note that "quarry" in English language refers not only to active quarries - see for example "A place, typically a large, deep pit, from which stone or other materials are or have been extracted." at Lexico.
Possible tagging mistakes
See also
man_made=embankment
- an artificial slope often encircling a quarryman_made=spoil_heap
- a pile of waste material removed during miningman_made=tailings_pond
- area used for storing tailings - leftovers of mineral processingman_made=heap
- area used for storing materials- Proposed features/Surface mining
industrial=mine
- For underground mining, see:
man_made=goods_conveyor
- a conveyor system for transporting materials
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