Tag status
The Description templates, including ValueDescription and KeyDescription, provide a description box for describing keys and tags. One of the included parameters is status= which describes the approval or community acceptance status of the key or tag, representing a feature or attribute.
Status values
abandoned
: the approval process for this key or tag has been terminated before completion and usage of this tagging is minimal (1)approved
: the key or tag has successfully completed the approval processde facto
: the tag is in widespread use, it was not approved in a proposal process, it has a widespread acceptance among mappers (2)deprecated
: deprecated tags that are discouraged from being useddiscardable
: tags that are so useless that editors remove them automatically, for example Tag:odbl=cleanimported
is used for a tag which was added from an external databasein use
: the key or tag is in use (2)obsolete
: a key or tag which is no longer found in the databaseproposed
: the key or tag has been proposed to be used and usage of this tagging is minimal (1)rejected
: the key or tag was rejected during the approval process and usage of this tagging is minimal (1)undefined
orvoting
: the key or tag is currently being voted on as part of the approval process
Notes:
- By "usage of this tagging is minimal" it is meant that there is minimal usage world wide, for example a tag that has been used 50 times. Note that depending on the tag low usage may be normal, generally properties will have a much higher usage than specific features.
in use
andde facto
can be used for tags that are in use but have proposal in some stage that was not approved. For example, a heavily used tag with rejected proposal can havede facto
status.inuse
was sometimes applied insteadin use
, the same withdefacto
instead ofde facto
. It is highly preferable to avoid this.
See also: Proposal status values
Current layout in the Wiki: abandoned approved de facto deprecated discardable imported in use obsolete rejected undefined voting
Statuslink
Keys and tags which have been proposed should have a link to the proposal:
- statuslink: name of the proposal page, for linking
This should always be included for tags with status approved or rejected, and should be included for all tags and keys which had a proposal, even if the status is now de facto or in use - approval statuses which do not require a previous proposal.
"Green" values
approved
and de facto
tags have usually been accepted and supported by the community, and the majority of features in the database are tagged with one of these tags. Most are listed at Map Features. The wiki highlights these statuses in green.
Approved
approved
keys or tags have completed the Proposal process and been approved by a majority or supermajority vote. Mappers and database users can expect these tags to usually be well-thought-out and developed. The original proposal should be available as a small link just to the right of the word "approved".
De facto
de facto
is used to describe the keys and tags which have been strongly adopted by mappers, without completing the approval process. Many of these key and tags were developed in the early years of OpenStreetMap, before the approval process developed, but others developed organically more recently. A key or tag that is markedde facto
is used by many mappers and has been used very frequently often for a number of years.- Note that some of them were rejected in proposal process.
"Red" values
deprecated
and discardable
status values are highlighted in red, abandoned
and rejected
are highlighted in dark grey right now. These tags are usually not found on the list of Map Features, except as historical notes, in the case of some deprecated
tags. There may be another tag with the same meaning which is more widely used and supported.
abandoned
tags were proposed, but the proposal process for tag was abandoned before completing it. Note that tag itself may independently have in use or de facto status even if the proposal was abandoned.[1]discardable
tags have no use. Usually they were created by an import or clean-up process, but are no longer needed. Editor applications may automatically discard these tags without requiring human intervention.deprecated
tags should not be used any more. Usually there is anapproved
replacement tag which has been discussed and agreed upon by the community, and is listed in the page deprecated featuresrejected
tags were proposed and discussed, but not approved by the community. Read the linked proposal to see the reasons for rejection. Another tag may be suggested instead
Note that for abandoned
and rejected
proposals, while the initially proposal may have been abandoned, the tag may be in active use and have a different status such as de facto
or in use
. Even some widely used tags began life as an abandoned
proposal.
"In use" status
in use
status has a wide range of meaning. These keys and tags have not been voted on and discussed like approved
ones and are not as widely used as de facto
keys and tags, but may still be the most common existing tag for a feature. Only a small percentage of in use
tags have been added to the list of Map Features.
- All
in use
keys and tags are currently being added to new features by mappers, but have not beenapproved
or used so widely to becomede facto
. - Some feature and attribute tags with
in use
status are fairly widely used, but are too new or not yet common enough to be tagged asde facto
. However, they may change tode facto
after another year or two of frequent use. - Some
in use
tags are very common, but somewhat debated. There may be anotherin use
tag with a similar meaning, or the tag may be used for several different features with a similar name. - Some
in use
tags may be only used in one country or by a small number of mappers. - Some
in use
tags were rejected when proposed, but are still being used but not often enough to qualify as "de facto". - There is some noticeable usage but not high enough to qualify as de facto. Note that tag that is part of established tagging scheme would require far less use to qualify as
in use
orde facto
than some completely new tagging scheme.
Proposal process values
proposed
, and voting
are used for tags that are currently in the proposal stage. These tags may soon be approved, or the proposal may be abandoned or rejected.
If tag has enough uses to qualify for de facto
or in use
this values should be used instead.
proposed
: the key or tag has been formally proposed and discussed on the Tagging mailing list and at the proposal Talk page, but it has not yet reached the voting stage.voting
: the key or tag is currently being voted on as part of the approval process, and will soon be either approved or rejected. Recently rejected keys and tags might be re-written and resubmitted for approval.
Undefined
Status may be not defined at all (
empty) - it means that it waits for someone to specify it.
There may be also explicit unspecified
/undefined
that gives no extra info or benefit.
Other values
Some tags do not qualify for any of the statuses above: the tags below have not been approved or rejected, are not commonly being used by mappers, but do have a wiki page and have some examples in the database.
Values include unknown
obsolete
is used for a tag which is no longer found in the database. It may have been replaced by a new tagging method.
import
orimported
is used for a tag which was added from an external database.
Changelog of approved tags
For a listing of newly approved, added, changed or deprecated tags, see Changelog.
References
- ↑ See for example Proposed features/opening hours:signed=no and Tag:opening_hours:signed=no