Talk:Square

Delete or make a page

I dislike having these redirects from a single word. This means that if a mapper searches for "square" they will be directed straight to Tag:place=square rather than getting a list of search results. Is that really helpful? So, let's delete this redirect, or write up an short page that describes the different ways that something called a "square" might be mapped. --Jeisenbe (talk) 13:19, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

I agree it could be useful to have a feature "front page" explaining the general concept, on this page (no page deletion necessary), that later links to tagging, as we have e.g. for Junction. However the previous attempt was just a snippet of tags that were counterproductive. --Polarbear w (talk) 15:19, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

I propose deleting this page an redirecting to place=square. No need to duplicate content. --Dieterdreist (talk) 09:48, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

What's wrong about the suggested text?

A town square, also known as a market square, plaza or piazza can be mapped in several different ways:

• highway=pedestrian + area=yes - a hard-surfaced, open pedestrian area
• leisure=park - an urban park, mostly vegetated with grass, trees, shrubs and flowers, though there may also be significant paved areas.
• place=neighbourhood - a neighborhood surrounding a square, which may share the same name
• junction=yes - a junction of streets or roads
• place=square - "an open public space, generally of architectural significance, which may be surrounded by buildings, in a built-up area, such as a city, town or village." - often used in addition to the above tags.

Also see

• area:highway=pedestrian - an area representation of a linear pedestrian street
• amenity=marketplace - for a public market where goods and services are traded daily or weekly, often held in a "market square"
• landuse=village_green - a distinctive area of grassy common land in a village centre

I believe this description is factual: something called a "square" can be a pedestrian area, a park, a neighborhood, a junction or a place=square (and possibly a marketplace, village green or highway area) --Jeisenbe (talk) 13:19, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

I considered it wrong since it equalised things that are orthogonal to each other. --Polarbear w (talk) 15:19, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

Boundaries section - inconsistent mapping advice

The new "boundaries" section gives conflicting advice. On the one hand it is said that the place=square area must share nodes with surrounding buildings, but on the other hand it is claimed that the tag place=square can be added directly to the leisure=park or highway=pedestrian area. However, those two features should be used to map the actual extent of the park (area with vegetation, used for urban recreation and leisure) or pedestrian area (paved area open to pedestrians walking), and should not include surrounding roads. So first the page is saying "map exactly this way" but then offers "or just add the tag to the park or pedestrian area". Which one is right? I've already seen several place=square in Brussels which were double-mapped, once just on the park/pedestrian area, and once including the surrounding streets up to the buildings, probably because if you double-tag a park/pedestrian area it's not possible to tell. --Jeisenbe (talk) 00:02, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

These are different architectural cases. Square A includes the roads that cross it, in Square B even the addresses of the buildings around the place bear its name, Square C is independent of the adjacent roads, and it might e currently occupied fully with a park. Thus we need different methods for the boundaries, there is no conflict as the cases are different. --Polarbear w (talk) 13:54, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

Square A, Square B and Square C are 3 or 4 different features. I would map Square A as a place=square (if it is mostly an open paved pedestrian area) or junction=yes (if it is mainly crossing roads). I would map Square B as a place=neighborhood, since the name includes the surrounding buildings. Square C is a leisure=park (if it's a mostly vegetated area which is designed and maintained for leisure and recreation). This allows us to define leisure=park, junction=yes, and place=square and place=neighborhood in clear, distinct ways. --Jeisenbe (talk) 15:06, 22 March 2020 (UTC)