I have reviewed all the features tagged as place=locality in 2 places in the USA and 2 in Europe, and found that 3 out of 4, place=locality is usually used for features that could be tagged with a more specific tag.
Summary: 1) Hawaii: less than 12 out of 143 place=locality features in Hawaii are correct uses; most are also type=boundary relations, and most of the nodes could be tagged as another feature like natural=beach, natural=cape 2) Delaware: all 15 closed ways and relations in Delaware are boundary=*, and 2 out of the 3 nodes can be tagged with more specific feature tags. 3) Liechtenstein: 39 nodes. 8 have a word or suffix that defines a specific feature like "wald" = wood, "berg" = hill/mountain. I don't know German well enough to guess any of the others, or they appear to be just a name. 4) Andorra: 2/3rds (39 of 58 features) can be tagged with a more specific tag by translating the name. The other 19 features cannot be clearly translated. All are nodes except one small square. Details: I selected small states or countries so that I could open the whole data file in JOSM. The data was downloaded between October 2018 and January 2019. Hawaii: - 143 place=locality - 72 nodes - 26 closed ways (all tagged boundary=census) - which are also usually members of: - 70 relations (all are tagged with boundary=census or boundary=administrative) All the closed ways and relations are also tagged “type=boundary” Of the 72 nodes: - 22 are also tagged natural=cape - 3 are tagged tourism=attraction (one of these is also historic=yes) Out of the remaining 47 nodes, several have names that suggest they should have other tags: - 8 are named “* Beach” (=> natural=beach) - 2 are named Business Park or Business Center (landuse=commercial) - 2 “* Point” (natural=cape or natural=peninsula) - 2 road junctions: “Four Corners” and “Old Saddle Road Junction” (highway=junction) - 1 may be a lake (“Green Lake”) (natural=water water=lake) - 1 Paiko Peninsula (natural=peninsula) - 1 Haleakalā Observatories (man_made=observatory) - 1 Honokanai'a Base Camp (tourism=camp_site) - 1 Kauhakō Crater (geological=caldera or natural=caldera and natural=cliff) - 1 “Keālia Boardwalk Entrance” (tourism=attraction and highway=footpath) - 1 Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel Resort (tourism=hotel or =resort) - 1 Maui Swap Meet (=> landuse=retail or amenity=marketplace) - 1 Ka‘ū Desert (natural=desert or natural=grassland/heath/scrub etc) - 1 Pepeekeo Mill (abandoned:man_made=works?) - 1 “Split Rock” (natural=rock or =cliff or =peak) - 1 Lehua Landing - 1 likely beach or bay - Punalu’u is also a bay and a beach (mapped separately) This leaves 20 objects, all nodes with a Hawaiian-based name which I cannot interpret. 15 are on the Big Island, mostly the south-east quadrant. Half (12) have GNIS tags from an import, 13 have ele=* (most low, but 3 are above 600 meters and might be peaks or ridges?). 8 of these are on the coast, and likely represent beaches, bays or capes. Actually 2 of these have a bay with is similar name right next to them. So less than 12 out of 143 place=locality features in Hawaii are correct uses of the tag for an “unpopulated places that is not another more specific feature”; less than 9%, and it’s possible that even the features might have better tags if reviewed by a local mapper. Delaware: There are 18 features tagged place=locality 4 are relations tagged type=boundary 11 are closed ways tagged boundary=administrative (9) or =census (2) 3 are nodes: - “Ragan” - next to a the Northeast corridor, a busy railway, and an unnamed industrial area. This may be the name of the industrial area, or may be the name of a historic railway station now closed. - “Russell Complex” - on the University of Delaware campus, next to “Russell Hall A”, B, C, D, and E - probably landuse=residential - “Tower Circle” - in a cemetery, next to a building with description “this is a block tower burial monument with a capacity of at least 80 people” and a circular highway=service, and a highway=path that circles the tower. I suspect the name should either be on the service highway or the footway. It appears that all of the closed ways and relations in Delaware are incorrectly tagged place=locality, and 2 out of the 3 nodes can be tagged with more specific feature tags. Liechtenstein: - Use of place=locality is better here. There are 39 nodes tagged place=locality; there are no ways or relations - 1 is tagged natural=saddle - 1 is tagged natural=cave_entrance - 2 are “* Wiesen” which probably should be natural=grassland or landuse=meadow if I’ve translated correctly - 1 is - 1 is Lawena Obersäss - not sure how to translate this? - 2 have ele=1200 and ele=1273; one is “Mitätsch” and the other “Gerawald” => natural=wood or landuse=forest? - 1 is *berg => hill, peak or ridge? - The other 31 have a name in German without a suffix that I recognize, so would need a local mapper to review. Andorra: 58 features are tagged place=locality 1 is a closed way named “Placeta de zol” which is a small square (=> place=square) The other 57 are nodes. Almost all of these have a name that suggests another feature. I’ve used the Catalan dictionary on wordreference.com (I can read Spanish, but I translated the definitions with Google) - 2 “Bosc del *” means forest => forest or wood - 2 “Canal de *” either a waterway=canal or “Long and narrow valley between two mountains or two mountain ranges. Inclined valley that is on a slope or in a cliff.” => natural=valley - 1 “Camp *” => tourism=camp_site or a historic camp site - 1 “Cap dels Agols” means head or promontory => natural=promontory or peak? - 1 “Circ de Pessons” I think his means an arrete or ridge formed by the head of a glacier - 1 “Clot Sord” - hole or sinkhole; natural=sinkhole or natural=cave_entrance or natural=valley - 1 “Coll de colts” => natural=saddle - 3 “Crête(s)” means “crest” or “ridge” => natural=ridge, or =arete - 1 “estret de l”estanyo” means “narrows”; this appears to be a canyon or or gorge or gully - 1 “Jardí de Riba” - garden - 5 “Obac de *” - means “Part of a mountain or a valley that is humid and where the sun does not touch.” Valley or wetland (bog/marsh?) - 1 “Pas del Monjo” => natural=saddle or mountain pass - 6 “Pleta de *” - “portion of enclosed land where livestock is pastured. Landuse=meadow - 2 “Pla de *” - flat land; a plateau, plain or possibly a valley. - 3 “Planell(s) *” - “Land not very extensive, flat and elevated:” also a plateau ? - 1 Plaça del Poble - place=square - 1 Port Dret - place=saddle (there is a natural=saddle node with the same name 10m away) - 1 Pont de la Baladosa - bridge - 1 Prat dels Orris - meadow or grassland - 1 Roc d'Aïll - natural=rock or =stone - 1 saleres de l'Estanyò - salt pool or spring? - 1 Torrent de la Font del' Altar - an intermittent stream That’s 38/57 that I’ve been able to define; the others only have a name without a descriptive term or cannot be clearly translated as a place, eg “La Vaca Morta” = “The Dead Cow”, and “Aixás” = “Tool of carpenter used to cut wood or make it thinner.” So at least 2/3 of place=locality in Andorra could be tagged as a specific natural geography or human geography feature with an existing tag. On 4/16/19, Joseph Eisenberg <[email protected]> wrote: > We recently discussed place=locality, and I now believe this tag > should be avoided. > > To summarize, most of these features were added in North America from > GNIS imports; almost 20% are in Alaska alone (>200,000!), and they > were used for all sorts of features that are not populated places: > abandoned hamlets, former mining camps, construction sites, railroad > and highway junctions, former locations of Native Alaskan villages, > etc. > > Martin and Warin suggested to use abandoned:place=* for those which > were former place=hamlet, =village, isolated_dwelling, etc. > > Several people mentioned ways they have used this tag for a "place > without population that has a name:" for example, to tag crossroads, > hills, a wood, a field, a pair islands, a group of a few lakes, an > informal landmark / route mark, an abandoned airstrip, a proposed > airstrip, etc. > > However, most of these suggested uses have other tags that could be > more specific > crossroads: highway=junction > railway junction: railway=junction > hill: natural=peak or natural=ridge or natural=hill > wood: natural=wood > field: landuse=farmland or =meadow > islands: place=archipelago > airstrip: proposed:aerodrome=airstrip + abandoned=yes; > abandoned:aerodome=airstrip > > Two of the examples need new tags created: > 3 lakes with a name: needs a new tag, perhaps natural=lake_group as a > multipolygon relation? > An informal landmark (eg an old car wheel up on a tree) - perhaps > there is something for this already. > > I believe that place=locality was a reasonable idea when it was > proposed in 2007, and few tags had been developed. But now, over 11 > years later, we have more specific tags for almost everything that is > currently tagged this way. > > My suggestion: check out all the features tagged with place=locality > in your area. If they have a more specific tag or a more precise tag > can be added, please remove the place=locality tag. > > (If this results in the name no longer rendering in the > Openstreetmap-carto, please check the list of issues and add a comment > if you think that the feature should have a name label rendered on a > general map: http://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/issues > ) > > Joseph > _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
