Talk:Tag:boundary=historic
Lifecycle versus history
This article describes boundary=historic as only being used temporarily as a vestige of a defunct boundary to keep it from being restored, but that sounds to me like a job for a lifecycle prefix like disused:boundary=administrative or was:boundary=administrative.
Meanwhile, there are historical boundaries that remain notable and verifiable enough to map in the database. For example, the U.S. state of Ohio consists of a patchwork of former colonial claims, territorial land grants, and (illegally reneged) treaty lines. Even though these boundaries have had no legal force for centuries, the elementary school curriculum gives them given almost as much prominence as present-day administrative boundaries. Many of them continue to be acknowledged in the form of welcome signs, historical markers, survey markers, and specially named boundary roads placed systematically along the boundaries and maintained into the present day.
To me, boundary=historic would be the perfect tag for all these boundaries, except that it's documented to mean something more ephemeral and technical. Can I use this tag without worrying that my work will be deleted in an overzealous spring cleaning?
– Minh Nguyễn 💬 09:44, 18 June 2022 (UTC)
- Given that there are demonstrably many uses of boundary=historic that reflect this meaning - a historic boundary with notability/verifiability to justify long-term presence in the database - I am going to add information to this page documenting this fact at least, and point out that there are other viable ways to mark defunct administrative boundaries. The hundreds of boudnary=historic uses in Northern Ireland would likely cause a fuss if removed as well, so a warning against that type of spring-cleaning seems warranted. --Bgo eiu (talk) 20:38, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
- @Bgo eiu: Unfortunately, the Northern Ireland usage isn't a great argument for this tag. It appears to be an import of electoral districts from the 1911 Census of Ireland. Deep historical research went into these boundaries [1], but they would clearly be a more natural fit for OpenHistoricalMap. I'm not going to argue for their removal, because they might be related to the modern-day townland mapping project somehow. But the boundaries I had in mind are likely better attested on the ground today. – Minh Nguyễn 💬 07:56, 26 June 2022 (UTC)
- This is used in Japan for 5 ki-s + 7 dou-s(9449975
9449975) and ryouseikoku (now only as 
subarea members without eg was:admin_level=*), which lives on as super-regions and sub-regions today. They have the benefit of being multi-layered, and having a more exactly defined type=boundary than an arbitrary place=region area (most concepts of regions sized in between have various definitions). As super-regions, except for Nankaidou, Saikaidou, and Tousandou , the former is part of the everyday lexicon, as well as on railway and road names. The latter is directed adopted as municipality names, or prefixed on toponyms and station names. (A list in 
旧国名) It is used as the basis for some sub-regions. Particularly, it continues to be used in the Hokkaido government for subprefecture (shinkoukyoku) administration (admin_level=5), and some license plate issuing agencies around the country. --- Kovposch (talk) 07:15, 22 June 2022 (UTC)