User:Lkw/healthcare amenity

deprecate amenity=doctors
Proposal status:	Draft (under way)
Proposed by:	Lkw
Applies to:	type
Definition:	amenity=doctors is a duplicate of healthcare=doctor
Draft started:	2022-09-15

Proposal

Deprecate amenity=doctors

What will change

Set amenity=doctors to deprecated status: This means that it should not be added to the database anymore. Editors should drop support for this tag and support healthcare=doctor instead if they have not switched yet. Wiki pages that encourage duplicate tagging (amenity=doctors and healthcare=doctor) will be edited to encourage using healthcare=doctor only on newly tagged object. Warnings discouraging automatic edits will be added.

What will not change

Data users should continue to use amenity=doctors because it is still in widespread use. This situation will continue until nearly all amenity=doctors have also a healthcare=doctor tag. Usage amenity=doctors without healthcare=doctor has been declining since 2019 (see data section). This trend will continue for years but deprecation will accelerate this process and some time in the future (several years) data users can drop support for amenity=doctors.

Rationale

healthcare=doctor has been approved in ????? Only using one tag makes it easier for mappers and reduces the confusion about the s in doctors. At some point in the future data users can drop support for amenity=doctors which is simplification for them as well.

Data analysis

After approval of healthcare=doctor its usage was low until 2018. But since 2018 the usage of healthcare=doctor is growing fast. The most important finding is that the usage of amenity=doctors without healthcare=doctor is declining since 2018. Usage healthcare=doctor only is increasing at a low level.

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.