I certainly recall reading about this in the wiki, but I agree that in common use, the building=* tag appears to be used mostly for the current function, rather than specifying a certain form.
The most common values of building= are: 0) yes (non-specific) 1) =house - both a structural form and a function (residential) 2) =residential - function, not really a specific form of building 3) =garage - function and form 4) =apartments - function (multi-family residential) 5) =detacted - synonym for house but more specific 6) =hut - form of construction (crude/simple) 7) =industrial - function 8) =shed - form but also function ("used as storage or workshop") 9) =roof - form 10) =terrace - form but also function (residential) 11) =school - function mainly 12) =garages - form and function 13) =construction - lifecycle state 14) =retail - mainly function, because the form of retail buildings varies 15) =greenhouse - form = function here 16) =barn - form=function 17) =farm_auxiliary - function (no particular form, and this is only the general function) 18) =church - claimed to be a form? 19) =warehouse - function (but usually has the same general form) 20) =service - function Often the "form follows function" as they say, but it looks like tagging the function of a building is as common as tagging the form. - Joseph On 9/13/19, Dave F via Tagging <tagging@openstreetmap.org> wrote: > On 11/09/2019 14:50, Paul Allen wrote: >> >> I said that if it was a church and looks like a church then tag the >> building as a church even if it now functions as something else. > > Buildings don't have a 'type'. There's no 'class', no standard > architectural style or size. A quick image search proves that. > > OSM "is a place for mapping things that are both real and current" > > 'building=*' is to indicate its current usage. > > /If/ there's an insistence on recording it's original usage, if actually > *known*,not just observed, then an appropriate *clearly defined* tag > should be used. Something along the lines of 'original building use". > > Frederik suggests "Everyone may be confused about this.". It's been > evident for years that those who are perplexed are the ones who imagined > a 'typology'. I believe they've based their assumptions on anecdotal > observations around their own neighbourhoods. OSM is global. > > DaveF > > _______________________________________________ > Tagging mailing list > Tagging@openstreetmap.org > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging > _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging