OSM Tagging
Determining the Proper Tag Lesson
The OSM Data Role folks help determine the tagging scheme to be used for the Activation.
Official Tagging
Hopefully it is well understood the Open Source nature of everything in OpenStreetMap, so 'official' tags become what the Activation Team decides.
Use the OSM Wiki tag documentation as guidance for determining the proper tag, since not all tags are documented, you might also search TagInfo to see if there is a tag in use related to the feature needing mapped.
Localized Tagging Schemes
The 'standard' language of OpenStreetMap is British English, so often the terminology and description of the map feature does not exactly match what the feature is called or described in other parts of the world, especially in the developing world.
A great example that HOT often encounters is quite a different application of the highway tags in areas where there may not be any paved roads between two neighboring cities with millions of residents; the Highway Tag Africa wiki-page is an example of where HOT supports a local variation of tags.
Activation Tagging Schemes
HOT expects that the Activation Team guided by the Data role do their due diligence when determining the appropriate tagging scheme to fulfill the Activation objectives. The only requirement is that any tagging used must be documented somewhere in the wiki, this could be on a country/region/language specific page, the Activation wiki, or a proposal page (more on that in the next Unit).
Review
The HOT Activation Team must use a documented tag.
- True
- False
People reading this material for credit on the HOT Courses website should share their answer in the #courses slack channel on HOT's Slack ( Request Invite ) If anyone has any question about the correct answer to a Review question, please ask in the #courses channel of HOT's Slack.
New Tags
When to Propose
Sometimes due to urgency, the Activation Team will just need to decide the best way to quickly document, with time, HOT requests the Data Activator(s) to go through the suggested tag proposal. Other times, when urgency prevents the full proposal process, the tags used should be proposed in the local/country/region specific wiki-page or if Activation specific, document the tags used on the Activation wiki-page.
Proposing a Tag
When there is enough time and the map feature is significant and expected to be useful to OpenStreetMap globally, it needs to go through the proposal process as outlined on the OSM Wiki. The procedure takes several weeks at minimum and HOT expects Activators who propose a new tag to complete the process, whether the tag is eventually approved or not.
Review
Choose the scenario that is most appropriate for Data Activators to engage in the proposal process.
- A new feature is identified by remote mappers, the feature is not unique to the region and it is expected that millions of them exist across the globe and are easily identifiable from both imagery and field survey.
- A feature is identify that is similar to another, a single mapper suggest it be tagged as something different.
- A new feature is identified by local contributors, it is only found in the region and not very widely known about
People reading this material for credit on the HOT Courses website should share their answer in the #courses slack channel on HOT's Slack ( Request Invite ) If anyone has any question about the correct answer to a Review question, please ask in the #courses channel of HOT's Slack.