Proposal:Landuse=governmental

landuse=governmental
Proposal status:	Abandoned (inactive)
Proposed by:	SelfishSeahorse
Tagging:	landuse=governmental
Applies to:
Definition:	Land used by government bodies / for governing
Statistics:
Draft started:	2018-10-12
RFC start:	2018-10-14

Proposal

A new tag landuse=governmental is introduced for marking land that is only or mainly used by government bodies, that is, for governing (government sites).

This includes:

• Meeting places of the national, regional or local legislature (assembly, parliament or congress – the law-making authority)
• Buildings of the executive (the authority in charge of putting the laws into effect that the legislature decided)
• Public administration offices (the administrative part of the executive that manages public duties), like the health ministry/department
• Courthouses/buildings of the judiciary (the authority that interprets and applies the law)
• Buildings that include a combination of the above-mentioned governmental institutions, like city/town halls
• Facilities supporting them (e.g. parking lots)

This excludes:

• Public service facilities that aren't directly involved in or responsible for governing or organising a country, state, municipality any other administrative division, but that have other purposes:
  • Law enforcement facilities (e.g. police stations, prisons)
  • Fire protection facilities (e.g. fire stations)
  • Medical facilities (e.g. hospitals, clinics, doctor's practices)
  • Educational facilities (e.g. schools, universities, libraries)
  • Community meeting places (e.g. community centres)
  • Recreational facilities (e.g. parks, zoos, squares, cinemas, theatres, concert halls, night-clubs, museums, art galleries, exhibition halls, sport facilities and grounds)
  • Places of worship (e.g. churches, temples, monasteries) – see landuse=religious (proposed, in use)
• Land used for military purposes – see landuse=military
• Land owned by the government, but not used for governing (e.g. national forests or parks). – Note that land use is about how the land is used, not about who owns the land.

Rationale

Currently there is no tag to map land used for governing. Governmental areas are not as common than for example residential, office, retail or industrial areas, but they are important and distinctive parts of towns, cities and capitals.

Other tags for governmental areas that have been proposed include:

• landuse=institutional (proposal) – has a very broad definition that also includes educational, medical institutions and public facilities such as museums, libraries, community centres, although they have other purposes (education, health care, leisure)
• landuse=public_administration – public administration is only a part of the government; it doesn't include buildings of the legislature, executive, courts and mixed-use governmental buildings like town halls
• landuse=civic_admin (proposal) – the intended meaning is the same as public administration; however civic (which means 'relating to a city or town') implies that the administration of a country, state or other administrative divisions is excluded
• landuse=civil_admin – implies 'administration established by a foreign government'

Current tagging situation

An examination of the meeting place of the national parliament and the supreme court of some countries showed that in the most cases either the enclosing land misses a land use tag or no differentiation has been made from the surrounding land (e.g. residential or commercial land or park), see the following table (dashes mean no land use):

Country	National legislature	Supreme court
Argentinia	–	–
Australia	leisure=park	–
Austria	landuse=commercial	landuse=commercial
Bangladesh	–	landuse=courthouse
Belgium	–	landuse=commercial
Bolivia	–	–
Bosnia and Herzegovina	landuse=residential	landuse=residential
Brazil	–	–
Canada	leisure=park	leisure=park
China	–	–
Danmark	–	–
Egypt	–	–
Finland	landuse=civil	landuse=civil
France	landuse=residential	landuse=residential
Germany	landuse=civic_admin	leisure=park
Iceland	–	landuse=commercial
India	landuse=commercial	–
Israel	–	–
Ireland	–	–
Italy	–	landuse=residential
Japan	–	–
Kenya	landuse=commercial	landuse=commercial
Liberia	landuse=commercial	landuse=commercial
Mexico	–	–
Namibia	landuse=residential	landuse=commercial
Netherlands	–	–
New Zealand	leisure=park	–
Nigeria	–	–
Norway	–	landuse=commercial
Peru	–	–
Poland	landuse=commercial	–
Portugal	–	landuse=retail
Russia	landuse=commercial/–	landuse=commercial
Senegal	landuse=residential	landuse=residential
Sinapore	–	–
South Africa	–	–
South Korea	–	landuse=public_space
Spain	landuse=residential	landuse=residential
Sri Lanka	–	–
Sweden	–	landuse=commercial
Switzerland	landuse=governmental	leisure=park
Turkey	landuse=residential	landuse=residential
UK	landuse=governmental	landuse=governmental
USA	–	–

Examples

Government of the United Kingdom, Westminster

• Government of the United Kingdom, Westminster

Features/Pages affected

• Key:landuse

External discussions

• Tagging mailing list: landuse for government offices ?. September 2018
• Tagging mailing list: landuse for government offices ?. October 2018
• Tagging mailing list: [Tagging] Feature Proposal - RFC - landuse=governmental. October 2018
• Tagging mailing list: [Tagging] Feature Proposal - RFC - landuse=governmental. November 2018

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.