Key:wikidata

wikidata

Description

The ID of the Wikidata item about the feature.

Group: annotations

Website

www.wikidata.org

URL pattern

https://www.wikidata.org/entity/$1

Used on these elements

Semi-automatically finding wikidata IDs

OSM ↔ Wikidata - osm.wikidata.link

Finding a Wikidata ID

In order to add a Wikidata tag, you first have to find the item ID. An ID always begins with Q, followed by numbers. There are several ways to do so.

Wikidata Search

Search on the Wikidata homepage: www.wikidata.org. Now you can copy the id from that page. Alternatively you can extract the ID from a Wikidata URL: http://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9141

Wikipedia search

Find a wikipedia article. If the article has a corresponding Wikidata item, you can click the "Wikidata item" button on the side menu. (See the image)

Link to Wikidata on the side of a wikipedia article

Editor integration

iD

Video guide to easily add Wikidata tags with iD

The default OSM editor on the Web, automatically adds the corresponding wikidata=* key when the wikipedia=* key is updated. Note that you don't need to remove the previous wikipedia=* key.

JOSM

The Wikipedia plugin for JOSM displays geotagged wikidata=* items or wikipedia=* articles in your area, allowing you to conveniently add them without an explicit searching.

Note that you must review every single edited object. Otherwise it is an automated edit and you must follow Automated Edits code of conduct.

Adding missing items to Wikidata

Wikidata is a separate project, and a sister project of Wikipedia, which is freely editable in a similar fashion to OSM and Wikipedia. If an item does not exist in Wikidata itself, you can create it; but please read Wikidata's notability guidelines first.

Display

Wikidata values are clickable on the OSM main site, and they link to the corresponding Wikidata item. Example: 369161987 369161987

OpenStreetMap's River Sherbourne relation,

seen in Wikidata using the 'osm.js' user script

From Wikidata's side, it is possible to automatically visualize whether a Wikidata item is being linked to and from OSM, by installing a script on your common.js page.

Secondary Wikidata links

See also Secondary Wikipedia links and Secondary Wikimedia Commons links

You may tag secondary attributes of a feature by preceding the wikidata=* key with the name of the attribute, separated by a colon (:). The value of such a key would be the same as the normal wikidata=* key but referring to the appropriate Wikidata entry.

For example, brand:wikidata=Q38076 on a McDonald's fast food unit (but don't forget to also tag brand=McDonald's, because the former tag doesn't replace the latter).

Common secondary Wikidata tags:

DESCRIPTION	TAG	EXAMPLE
Operator (not franchise) of a restaurant, shop, bank, or some other customer service or office. Entity type must be organization	`operator:wikidata=*`	`operator:wikidata=Q5703224`
Network of public transit routes.	`network:wikidata=*`	`network:wikidata=Q614819`
Used for various stores or franchise brands. e.g. McDonald's for a fast-food franchise outlet.	`brand:wikidata=*`	`brand:wikidata=Q38076`
The architect (or architectural firm) of a building. It should be an instance of human or company.	`architect:wikidata=*`	`architect:wikidata=Q374276`
The artist/maker of statue or other artwork or memorial. It should be an instance of human (if the artwork was not made by a human, use the appropriate info. e.g elephant).	`artist:wikidata=*`	`artist:wikidata=Q5582`
The species of a plant or an animal. It should be an instance of	`species:wikidata=*`	`species:wikidata=Q15978631`
The genus of a plant or an animal, should be an instance of. sometimes it is not possible to specify exact species.	`genus:wikidata=*`	`genus:wikidata=Q171283`
The taxon of a plant or an animal, may be either species or genus.	`taxon:wikidata=*`	`taxon:wikidata=Q171283`
The subject of a statue, artwork, or memorial (a person, event, geographical feature, ...). In some rare cases where the subject is plural, values will be separated by a semicolon.	`subject:wikidata=*`	`subject:wikidata=Q23`
The person, event, geographical feature or other subject that an entity (e.g. a street, airport, or building) is named after. For an `old_name=`, use `old_name:etymology:wikidata=`	`name:etymology:wikidata=*`	`name:etymology:wikidata=Q1394`
The specific flag hoisted on a `man_made=flagpole`. The value should be an instance of or a subclass of flag	`flag:wikidata=*`	`flag:wikidata=Q172446`
The tomb or burial site of a famous individual. The value should be an instance of ahuman (or possibly an instance of or subclass of an individual animal. In many cases tombs are treated as special type of memorial with `subject:wikidata=*` being used.	`buried:wikidata=*`	`buried:wikidata=Q172446`
The monarch's initials or symbol. Mostly seen on royal mail postal boxes.	`royal_cypher:wikidata=*`	`royal_cypher:wikidata=Q114242600`
The manufacturer of a manufactured object.	`manufacturer:wikidata=*`	`manufacturer:wikidata=Q7992391`
The model designation of a manufactured object.	`model:wikidata=*`	`model:wikidata=Q3993741`
The building itself. Used when a POI is tagged on a building way, but they both have wikidata items. Note that it is violation of One feature, one OSM element and it is preferable to map POI and building as separate objects.	`building:wikidata=*`	`building:wikidata=Q28404263`
!Note: this is not a exhaustive list of all *:wikidata tags. For a list of all secondary attributes currently being tagged with this key, see taginfo

Occasionally, a feature may have one or more secondary links, but no primary link. For example, a memorial depicting a famous event may have only a secondary subject:wikidata=* link. Monuments, memorials, statues and similar features should have wikidata=* only if they have their own Wikidata item. The same applies to chain stores.

What not to tag

Instances of the following Wikidata items (and of any subclasses of the listed items) should be avoided in the wikidata=* tag:

These types normally don't occur as OSM objects and since the main wikidata=* tag is for Wikidata items that are equivalent to OSM objects, Wikidata items of these types are normally tagging errors. However, for secondary wikidata tags these classes are fine.*human (Q5) (typically subject:wikidata=* should be used for artwork depicting humans or buried:wikidata=* for burial sites for the specific individual)

web page (Q36774) (we are not mapping web pages, only specific websites relevant to the tag see website=*.)
person (Q215627) (typically subject:wikidata=* should be used, for artwork depicting humans)
animal (Q729) (typically subject:wikidata=* should be used, for artwork depicting animals and who is commemorated by a tomb/grave/church)
fiction (Q8253) (typically subject:wikidata=* should be used, for artwork depicting fictional characters)
taxon (Q16521) (typically species:wikidata=* should be used)
brand (Q167270) (typically brand:wikidata=* should be used)
chain store (Q507619) (typically brand:wikidata=* should be used)
list (Q12139612) (we are not linking lists, only entries describing this specific feature)
publication (Q732577) (typically subject:wikidata=* should be used, for artwork depicting publications)

It may be better to store certain data only on Wikidata. For example, instead of using name:etymology:wikipedia=* or name:etymology:wikidata=* one may follow the Wikidata link and use Wikidata's named after

Bugs and workarounds

Issue 6789 In the ID editor after adding the Wikidata item, the names will be locked in the fields section with the message: The "Name" field is locked because there is a Wikidata tag. You can delete it or edit the tags in the "Tags" section. However, it is still possible to edit names using the tags section.