I'm not going into etymologic discussions, but fountain, be it in British English or any other language with Latin origins is a source of drinkable water (a spring). Maybe, just guessing, there were fountains in Britain and they're not used anymore or were simply abandoned because they were not needed in the modern age, thus the evolution of the word to simply mean "ornamental fountain", but that's not the case in Mediterranean and Eastern countries. That was the main purpose of this thread, to discuss the "restrictions" that the wiki imposed on that main feature.
If, in Britain, a fountain is normally a ornamental fountain, that shouldn't restrict the possibility of widening its meaning to encompass the reality in other countries, where fountains are, in fact, a potable source of water and an ornamental fountain (which doesn't allow to drink water due to the absence of a tap or a pipe) is just an extension of that or a subtype. I think that was fairly accomplished with the recent changes in the wiki and the use of drinking_water=yes on such features. Drinking fountain could be a good alternative, but it seems reserved to "a man-made device providing a small jet of water for drinking", which doesn't include at all the type of fountain I started this thread with. I just commented that I agreed that amenity=drinking_water should be abandoned, because you can use drinking_water=yes on all existing features that provide water (fountains, springs, wells, taps, drinking fountains, etc.) Regards. Às 11:40 de 06/02/2020, Paul Allen escreveu:
On Thu, 6 Feb 2020 at 14:15, António Madeira via Tagging <tagging@openstreetmap.org <mailto:tagging@openstreetmap.org>> wrote: A fountain should be first and foremost a place where there's water served to the public. That may be the meaning of the word in some languages, but OSM uses British English. In British English the word "fountain," by itself, usually means an ornamental fountain. In British English, a fountain which supplies drinking water is known as a "drinking fountain." The concept of "sculptural and/or decorational" should be just a component of the fountain, depending on the country/culture. Nope. The concept should be that "fountain" in OSM reflects its meaning in British English and not its meaning in another language. Decorational fountains without the use of drinking water are just a subtype of fountain, because the main use/purpose of the vast majority is to serve water. This is just plain wrong. There can be ornamental fountains which do not supply drinking water (because there are issues which mean it's not potable). There can be utilitarian, ugly drinking fountains such as those in schools. And there can be ornamental fountains that also supply drinking water. And all come under the generic term "fountain" in British English. That's why there is a subtag drinking_water=yes which can be applied to an amenity=fountain (which means a decorative fountain) that also supplies drinking water. If it's an ugly fountain there is amenity=drinking_water. -- Paul
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