On 5/25/2012 5:41 PM, stevea wrote:
I muse whether "Federally Funded Research and Development Centers"
(FFRDCs) are amenable to either "landuse=military" or something like it.
I'm not proposing a vote because this may be peculiarly USA-centric.
(Then again, maybe it isn't, as there may very well be similar entities
in other countries).

Sounds like an office (landuse=commercial), no matter who funds it. CERN is landuse=industrial amenity=science_park: http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/151918731

Thank you NE2: landuse=industrial (rather than commercial) + amenity=science_park sound like a correct combination of tags based on what I know (and is publicly available) about LLNL. I was not aware of amenity=science_park though 'tis true, this tag is "Abandoned (inactive)" according to OSM's wiki. But if it is good enough for CERN, it is good enough for very similar facilities in the USA: the comparison is accurate if not exact. At least landuse=industrial colors mapnik appropriately, an important consideration allowing map users to more-or-less properly visually parse the semiotics OSM does its best to convey.

I estimate that similar (in function, but not location, i.e. not a sprawling 1 square mile complex of buildings bur rather an office in an office park) facilities should get exactly the same set of tags. My reasoning is that such research is often uniquely industrial in nature (usually laboratories in the natural/physical sciences), rather than commercial, which might apply to, perhaps a civilian think tank or something like the Defense Language Institute, the latter IS tagged landuse=military due to it being part of the Presidio in Monterey, California. In short, the more that is known about the activities at the facility (difficult or impossible in some cases, I grant), the closer the tags can be made to apply. Military police at a guarded gate and perimeter fencing do seem to tip landuse into military, one might successfully argue, regardless of zoning or function.

If a (smaller) facility is in an area which (by local zoning ordinances, for example) clearly indicates landuse=industrial, that should guide. Accurate tagging gets difficult in a landuse=commercial office park where a single office building is an FFRDC, as in Greg Troxel's example. I don't think that a "boring 2-story office building" should become a microcosm landuse=military, but whether its activities are compatible with landuse=commercial or landuse=industrial may be a valid question, whose ultimate resolution may be somewhat difficult to ascertain. In that case, local zoning can guide, but again, sans fencing and guards, landuse=military doesn't seem correct.

I appreciate the thoughtful answers and contributions made regarding this topic; thank you.

SteveA
California

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