Talk:Counterintuitive keys and values

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Key-value pairs are definitions

We should keep in mind that our key-value pairs are definitions for OSM purposes. They are derived from British English vocabulary, but more in a sense of a programming language, where a particular key word triggers a particular action, and values are chosen to make the code a bit more readable for humans... --Polarbear w (talk) 23:06, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

@Jeisenbe - why did you remove "absence of Ontology_(information_science)" from the general explanation? This is exactly the reason I observe. --Polarbear w (talk) 10:45, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

I'm a native speaker of English, and I have a post-graduate degree, yet I don't understand how the term "ontology" is being used here. (Ontology: "the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being"?) I suspect that this word is not commonly understood. Perhaps it can be re-phrased using simpler terminology? --Jeisenbe (talk) 13:50, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
Probably I should not have hidden the brackets in the wikipedia link above, relating to the usage of the term in computing. Removed hiding. For computer science it is defined: "In computer science and information science, an ontology encompasses a representation, formal naming and definition of the categories, properties and relations between the concepts, data and entities that substantiate one, many or all domains of discourse." This is what every other computing project that tries to model the reality starts with, an what not happened in OSM.--Polarbear w (talk) 15:00, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
Re: "a representation, formal naming and definition of the categories, properties and relations between the concepts, data and entities that substantiate one, many or all domains of discourse". Perhaps I'm not a computer scientist, but I find that definition hard to understand. My understanding is that this wiki needs to use terminology that can be clearly understood by most mappers, and which can be easily translated into other languages.
Re: "This is what every other computing project that tries to model the reality starts with." And yet OpenStreetMap has been amazingly successful. Perhaps it is a benefit that we map and tag "real and current features" that we see "on the ground", using common language, rather than working out theoretical classification systems in advance? --Jeisenbe (talk) 15:47, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

Another suited example?

Would it worth adding amenity=prison to the list. A prison is usually not really an amenity for the majority of humans. Or is the list Counterintuitive key names only/mainly intended for keys which are not good matching for native English speakers? --MalgiK (talk) 19:58, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Well certainly the estate agent would not include this in his meaning of "this house is close to all amenities", and the inmate would wish that it did not exist. However the society might apparently see it as an amenity to have a place where individuals with dangerous behaviour can be controlled. --Polarbear w (talk) 23:00, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Page title

The page has been moved from Counterintuitive key names to Counterintuitive keys and values.

Why don't we just name it Counterintuitive tags?

--Push-f (talk) 17:14, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

I am fine with that Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 21:34, 26 June 2022 (UTC)
"...keys and tags" would be better. maro21 21:52, 26 June 2022 (UTC)
A tag consists of a key and a value so "keys and tags" would be redundant as far as I am concerned. --Push-f (talk) 05:48, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

landuse=meadow more generic than expected from tag value

How about adding landuse=meadow here because its description is more about grassland in general, including pasture which is not meadow. Compare recent comment in community forum. --Hufkratzer (talk) 17:33, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

From my understanding, the current description is quite apt to tell the matter: There is grass, used fro agriculture, be it harvesting for later feeding or for immediate feeding. Such quite in line with how tags evolve - getting more general, leaving the details for sub-tags. There is an elephant hiding in full sight though, that is natural=meadow. It seems not used a lot. But for me, natively speaking German, there is something to it. --Hungerburg (talk) 21:50, 30 April 2023 (UTC)