Key:ref

"ref" stands for "reference" and is used for reference numbers or codes. Common for roads, highway exits, routes, entrances to big buildings etc. It is also used for shops and amenities that are numbered officially as part of a retail brand or network respectively.

This key and variations are frequently used to avoid the use of relations.

Key variations

• ref=*
• int_ref=* – international reference numbers or codes
• nat_ref=* – national reference numbers or codes
• reg_ref=* – regional reference numbers or codes
• loc_ref=* – local reference numbers or codes
• old_ref=* – old or former reference numbers or codes (usually replaced with another)
• unsigned_ref=* – reference number or code that is generally not signed on the route
• highway_authority_ref=* – reference number or code that is generally only used for road administration
• prow_ref=* – Public right of way reference (England and Wales only)
• alt_ref=* – alternative reference number or codes

You can add the tag noref=yes to indicate that an absence of ref=* is intentional.

References

This is used to add reference information for an element.

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This table is a wiki template with a default description in English. Editable here.

Mode-specific

For cycle routes:

• ncn_ref=* – national cycle network reference
• rcn_ref=* – regional cycle network reference
• lcn_ref=* – local cycle network reference

Extensions

There is wide use of ref:* as a namespace prefix, and since 2011 the use of a country code ref:FR:*, etc. where keys are clearly country-specific (see France/Liste des références nationales). A selection of frequently used variations are :

ref:UY:mvdgis:cod_arbol

Key	Used on	Country	Description	Tag usage	See also
ref:bag=*		Netherlands	ID of Dutch buildings	More details at taginfo	BAGimport
ref:bic=*	heritage=*	Spain	Identifiers for (Spain) Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC)	More details at taginfo	Bienes culturales protegidos by the Spanish Government.
ref:BLfD=*	heritage=*	Germany	Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege (Germany, Bavaria)	More details at taginfo
ref:GB:cadw=*	heritage:operator=Cadw	United Kingdom	The ID in Cadw's database of scheduled monuments and listed buildings in Wales, United Kingdom	More details at taginfo
ref:cadw=*	heritage:operator=cadw	United Kingdom	Deprecated please use ref:GB:cadw : The ID in Cadw's database of scheduled monuments and listed buildings in Wales, United Kingdom	More details at taginfo
ref:GB:nhle=*	heritage:operator=Historic England	United Kingdom	The ID in the National Heritage List for England as maintained by Historic England for England, United Kingdom	More details at taginfo	HE_ref=*
ref:GB:hs=*	heritage:operator=Historic Environment Scotland	United Kingdom	The ID in the Historic Environment Scotland database of scheduled monuments and listed buildings in Scotland, United Kingdom	More details at taginfo
ref:GB:niea=*	heritage:operator=Northern Ireland Environment Agency	United Kingdom	The ID in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency database of scheduled monuments and listed buildings in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom	More details at taginfo
ref:GB:decc=*	man_made=petroleum_well	United Kingdom	The ID in the Department of Energy and Climate Change database of oil wells in the United Kingdom.	More details at taginfo	DECC Import
ref:GB:tflcid=*	amenity=bicycle_parking traffic_calming=*	London, United Kingdom	The ID in Transport for London's Cycling Infrastructure Database (TfLCID).	More details at taginfo	TfL Cycling Infrastructure Database
ref:csioz=*	amenity=pharmacy	Poland	An identification number assigned to each pharmacy in Poland that can dispense prescription drugs. (Poland)	More details at taginfo
ref:ctb=*	highway=bus_stop	Hong Kong	Signposted on Citybus bus stops (Hong Kong)	More details at taginfo
ref:De_Lijn=*	bus_stop/platform node, route, route_master	Belgium	Signposted on bus/tram stops in and around Flanders, Belgium	More details at taginfo	WikiProject_Belgium/De_Lijndata
ref:dhis2=*	boundary=health relation and health infrastructures		DHIS2 unique ID, used in +60 countries	More details at taginfo	Congo-Kinshasa/Zones_de_santé/Workflow
ref:doc=*	tourism=wilderness_hut	New Zealand	Shelters/Huts from the Department of Conservation (New Zealand)	More details at taginfo	Department of Conservation
ref:dove=*	amenity=place_of_worship	Mostly UK	Dove’s Guide for Church Bell Ringers
ref:EU:bwid=*	leisure=swimming_area natural=water natural=beach, ...		Identifier for a beach in Europe monitored for swimming/bathing water quality by the European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet).	More details at taginfo	Eionet bathingWaterIdentifier (P9616)
ref:EU:EVSE=*	amenity=charging_station	Europe	European unique codification of electric vehicles charging stations and devices	More details at taginfo
ref:fgkz=*‡	Relation:waterway	Germany	FGKZ reference ID (Germany)	More details at taginfo
ref:GB:uprn=*	building=house, building=commercial, etc.	United Kingdom	Unique Property Reference Number (Great Britain)	More details at taginfo
ref:GB:usrn=*	roads	United Kingdom	Unique Street Reference Number (Great Britain)	More details at taginfo
ref:GE:nachpg=*	heritage:operator=nachpg	Georgia	The ID in the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia database of immovable cultural heritage monuments	More details at taginfo	List of immovable cultural heritage monuments in Georgia
ref:gnbc=*‡	Relation:waterway, Relation:boundary, place=*, others	Canada	GNBC reference ID (Canada)	More details at taginfo	About the Canadian Geographical Names Database
ref:harbour=*	landuse=industrial		Number of company in harbour on road signage, used e.g. in the Nederlands	More details at taginfo
ref:IFOPT=*	highway=bus_stop, public_transport=platform node		International identifier for bus stops and platforms	More details at taginfo
ref:industrial=*	landuse=industrial		Number of company in industrial area on road signage, used e.g. in the Nederlands	More details at taginfo
ref:ine=*	place=*	Spain	identifiers for Spanish population units by the Spanish Statistical Office	More details at taginfo
ref:INSEE=*		France	INSEE code of the French communes	More details at taginfo
ref:ES:ipcclm=*	heritage=*heritage:operator=jccm	Spain	Inventory of the Cultural Heritage of Castilla-La Mancha identifier, historic monuments and sites of this Spanish region.	More details at taginfo
ref:isil=*	amenity=library		International Standard Identifier for Libraries	More details at taginfo
ref:IUCN=*	boundary=protected_area		International Union for the Conservation of Nature protected area category	More details at taginfo
ref:kmb=*	highway=bus_stop	Hong Kong	Signposted on KMB & LW bus stops (Hong Kong)	More details at taginfo
ref:kons=*	heritage=* heritage:operator=kons heritage=2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Identifiers for the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (KONS) (state level);	More details at taginfo	aplikacija.kons.gov.ba searchable register of heritage records and documentation; old.kons – old website is turned into online archive for indexes, records and documentation
ref:linz:address_id=*	addr:street=*	New Zealand	New Zealand street addresses	More details at taginfo	LINZ
ref:linz:building_id=*	building=yes	New Zealand	Imported buildings in New Zealand	More details at taginfo	LINZ
ref:linz:pastoral_lease_id=*	landuse=meadow	New Zealand	Agricultural stations in New Zealand	More details at taginfo	LINZ
ref:linz:place_id=*	*	New Zealand	Named features in New Zealand/Antarctica/Polynesia	More details at taginfo	LINZ
ref:linz:road_id=*	highway=*	New Zealand	Roads in New Zealand (ref tag not maintained)	More details at taginfo	LINZ
ref:linz:topo50_id=*	*	New Zealand	Many different imported features in New Zealand/Antarctica/Polynesia	More details at taginfo	LINZ
ref:linz:hydrographic_id=*	seamark:type=*	New Zealand	Hydrographic/maritime features in New Zealand/Antarctica/Polynesia	More details at taginfo	LINZ
ref:linz:napalis_id=*	boundary=protected_area	New Zealand	Conservation land in Aotearoa/New Zealand	More details at taginfo	LINZ and DOC
ref:LV:addr=*	addr=*	Latvia	ID (classifier code) of an address in the State Address Register of the State Land Service of LatviaF	More details at taginfo
ref:mhs=*	heritage=*	France	ID in the French database Mérimée of historic monuments	More details at taginfo
ref:MMM=*	highway=* or emergency=defibrillator or attraction=animal	France	Object ID used by Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, a french local authority	More details at taginfo	Montpellier#Utilisation_du_tag_ref:MMM
ref:natura2000=*	boundary=protected_area	European Union	Identifier for protected areas within the Natura 2000 network	More details at taginfo	protect_class=97
ref:NBd=*	junction=yes or traffic_sign=*	Netherlands	Reference number of the Dutch Nationale Bewegwijzeringsdienst (NBd)	More details at taginfo
ref:nid=*	heritage=*	Poland	ID in Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa historic monuments	More details at taginfo
ref:nrhp=*	heritage=* heritage:operator=nrhp heritage=2	United States	Identifiers for (United States) National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) records	More details at taginfo	NRHP advanced search
ref:rce=*	heritage=*	Netherlands	ID in Dutch Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed	More details at taginfo
ref:regine=*‡	Relation:waterway	Norway	REGINE reference ID (Norway)	More details at taginfo
ref:RS:nkd=* heritage:RS:criteria=*	heritage=*	Serbia	Immovable cultural property of Serbia	More details at taginfo More details at taginfo	Key:heritage#Serbia http://editor.osmsrbija.iz.rs/nkd/ https://openstreetmap.rs/unos-nepokretnih-kulturnih-dobara-na-mapu-srbije/
ref:RS:naselje=* ref:RS:opstina=* ref:RS:grad=* ref:RS:okrug=* ref:RS:pokrajina=*	boundary=administrative admin_level=*	Serbia	Official designations for administrative regions in Serbia	More details at taginfo More details at taginfo More details at taginfo More details at taginfo More details at taginfo	https://openstreetmap.rs/kartografisanje-administrativnih-granica-na-mapi-srbije/
ref:RS:ulica=*	highway=*	Serbia	Official designations for streets in Serbia	More details at taginfo
ref:RS:kucni_broj=*	addr:housenumber=*	Serbia	Official designations for house numbers in Serbia	More details at taginfo
ref:ruian=* ref:ruian:addr=* ref:ruian:building=*	building=*, addr=*	Czech	RUIAN building or address reference ID (Czech republic)	More details at taginfo More details at taginfo More details at taginfo
ref:sandre=*	river	France	Reference of the French Sandre agency	More details at taginfo	WikiProject France/Cours d'eau
ref:svhl=*		Germany	Station-keys of Lübecker Stadtverkehr (Germany)	More details at taginfo	Lübeck/Importe
ref:whc=*	heritage=*		Unesco World Heritage ID	More details at taginfo
ref:TECB=*	bus_stop platform node, route, route_master	Belgium	Signposted on bus stops in and around Brabant-Wallon, Wallonia, Belgium	More details at taginfo	TEC data import
ref:TECC=*	bus_stop platform node, route, route_master	Belgium	Signposted on bus stops in and around Charleroi, Wallonia, Belgium	More details at taginfo	TEC data import
ref:TECH=*	bus_stop platform node, route, route_master	Belgium	Signposted on bus stops in and around Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium	More details at taginfo	TEC data import
ref:TECL=*	bus_stop platform node, route, route_master	Belgium	Signposted on bus stops in and around Liège-Verviers, Wallonia, Belgium	More details at taginfo	TEC data import
ref:TECN=*	bus_stop platform node, route, route_master	Belgium	Signposted on bus stops in and around Namur, Wallonia, Belgium	More details at taginfo	TEC data import
ref:TECX=*	bus_stop platform node, route, route_master	Belgium	Signposted on bus stops in and around Luxembourg (province), Wallonia, Belgium	More details at taginfo	TEC data import
ref:UrbIS=*	building=* addr=*	Belgium	Reference Key of Urbis Database for addresses in Brussels	More details at taginfo	Brussels#CIRB UrbIS
ref:usrn=*		United Kingdom	Unique Street Reference Number – a primary key use by the National Address Gazeteer in the UK	More details at taginfo	National Address Gazeteer
ref:VHAG=*	waterway=*	Belgium	Reference code number of waterways in Flanders, Belgium	More details at taginfo	Vlaamse Hydrografische Atlas
ref:hmdb=*	historic=memorial memorial=plaque		International reference ID for a historical marker registered in the Historical Markers Database (HMdb)	More details at taginfo	HMdb.org
ref:US-OR:hunter_fiber=*	power=pole	United States	A reference ID for a power pole that is labelled with a Hunter Fiber identifier. This network is limited to the state of Oregon, United States.	More details at taginfo
ref:US-MA:mhc=*		United States	The MHC ID for a historic property or area from the Massachusetts Historical Commission	More details at taginfo	Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS) by the Massachusetts Historical Commission
ref:US-TX:thc=*	historic=memorial memorial=plaque	United States	A reference ID for a memorial plaque registered in the Texas Historical Commission Database. This network is limited to the state of Texas, United States.	More details at taginfo	THC database (aka Atlas)
ref:US-TN:thc=*	historic=memorial memorial=plaque	United States	A reference ID for a memorial plaque registered in the Tennessee Historical Commission Database. This network is limited to the state of Tennessee, United States.	More details at taginfo	The Tennessee Historical Commission has erected over 2,000 markers
ref:UY:mvdgis:cod_arbol=*	natural=tree	Uruguay	A unique identifier for trees in public spaces in Montevideo, Uruguay	More details at taginfo
ref:UY:ruee=*	amenity=school or amenity=kindergarten	Uruguay	A unique identifier for educational establishments in Uruguay (RUEE, in spanish, Registro Único de Establecimientos Educativos)	More details at taginfo
ref:UY:snapid=*	boundary=protected_area	Uruguay	A unique identifier for protected areas in Uruguay (SNAP, in spanish, Sistema Nacional de Areas Protegidas)	More details at taginfo
ref:pmmcr=*	*	Brazil	Identifiers used by Municipio de Marechal Cândido Rondon, a local government from Parana – Brazil.	More details at taginfo
ref:temples.ru=*	amenity=place_of_worship religion=christian	Russia	Reference for Russian Christian churches in temples.ru catalog.	More details at taginfo	http://temples.ru/ website
ref:at:bda=*	heritage=2 heritage:operator=bda	Austria	Identifier for austrian national monuments as designated by the Bundesdenkmalamt	More details at taginfo	heritage#Austria
ref:WDPA=*	boundary=protected_area boundary=national_park		Reference number of protected areas / national parks	More details at taginfo	identifier in World Database on Protected Areas https://www.protectedplanet.net/
ref:wigos=*	man_made=monitoring_station monitoring:weather=yes			More details at taginfo	Property:P4136

‡ These keys are specifically encouraged for use by JOSM Waterway relation presets. Depending on the scope of the reference system, they may have uses in other key/tag schemas as well.

Core values

None

User defined values

Any valid syntax value

Examples on relations

place=* nodes and boundary=administrative relations for states and provinces are often tagged with a postal abbreviation in ref. For example:

• Administrative boundary relation for the U.S. state of California: ref=CA (165475 165475)

On route=road relations, the ref is a bare "route number", relying on network=* to convey information about the road network:

• Interstate 35W in the United States, conventionally abbreviated I-35W: network=US:I ref=35W on the relation, ref=I 35W on the member ways
• Japan National Route 282, conventionally abbreviated 国道282号: network=JP:national ref=282 on the relation, ref=282 on the member ways

Similarly, on cycle and walking routes, the ref is a bare number and cycle_network=* indicates the route network:

• United States Bicycle Route 76: cycle_network=US:US ref=76

Bus routes use ref to label the bus route. For example:

• Bus route 23: ref=23 (type=route, route=bus, name=Shanklin>Newchurch>Newport – currently 312207 312207)

Examples on ways

• ref=A 1 Default reference (German and French references with a space; e.g. A 1)
• int_ref=E 15 Internationally referenced as
• nat_ref=A 1 Nationally referenced as (German and French references with a space; e.g., A 1)
• reg_ref=A 1 Regionally referenced as (German and French references with a space; e.g., A 1)
• ncn_ref=54 The number reference for a National Cycle Network. See Cycle routes
• ref=A 3;A 7 Default for more than one reference (German and French references with a space; e.g., A 1)
• alt_ref=* In South Africa certain roads share a primary and secondary reference numbers. The primary reference number is attributed in ref=* and the alt_ref=* is used for the continuation of the secondary reference number.

There are no global standards as to whether refs should include spaces, hyphens or other characters. At least when nationally consistent, tag what's on the ground. Some countries use spaces on the signs, others don't. In some countries the usage on the signs varies and guidelines are under discussion. Special cases:

• In the United States, some of the most popular ref formats do not correspond to what's on the ground, due to historical technical reasons. For example, Interstate highways are tagged e.g. ref=I 75 instead of ref=I-75, and some states use postal abbreviations instead of more ambiguous, human-readable prefixes such as "SR". However, this Sophox query demonstrates how a data consumer can automatically generate human-readable refs using the network=* tag on route relations.
• In e.g. the Netherlands there is a visual space on signs for readability, yet overwhelming usage in writing in both official and unofficial documents/websites/newspapers etc. is without spaces, hence the tagging is also without spaces.

It may seem redundant to tag route refs on both ways and relations, but do not remove a ref=* tag from a way just because the way is a member of corresponding route relations:

• Mainstream renderers and routers are still unable to infer refs from parent relations, so the way refs are needed for backwards compatibility.
• In some localities, one cannot predict the order that concurrent routes are listed on a sign based on the route relations alone. A regional route may be listed before a national route if the national route only briefly joins the road before diverging. In these cases, ref=* on the way is the only way to indicate the signposted order along that way, since a way does not indicate an intrinsic order to the routes of which it is a member.
• It is possible that not all ways with the ref are also part of the route for the ref. For example, it is possible that side roads and link roads are not a logical part of the road route, yet they may still belong to the same road reference (sometimes with a distinct carriageway_ref=*).
• The ref-value on the route may sometimes differ from the ref-value on the way. The ref-value on the way might need to be more verbose because it lacks the context of other tags on the route relation, such as network=*.

In runways of airports (aeroway=runway) this tag is used for the runway designator (for example "ref=02/20" or "ref=09L/27R").

Unsigned reference numbers (e.g. New York State Reference Route Numbers) that are neither readily visible on the ground nor well-known by the public, should be placed in unsigned_ref=* rather than ref=*. If the numbering system is specifically intended for internal use by the highway authority only, highway_authority_ref=* may be used.

Examples on nodes

A ref on a node generally means a highway exit when combined with highway=motorway_junction:

• ref=23 US Highway exits are often just a number
• ref=23B Sometimes exits have been split into A and B exits.

These refs can also be tagged on the adjoining highway=motorway_link way (or highway=trunk_link, highway=secondary_link, etc.) using junction:ref=*. In general, renderers understand ref=* on nodes, while routers understand junction:ref=* on ways.

ref is sometimes used on bus stops:

• ref=107309

ref is sometimes used to label an entrance into a large building or parking area. (If the label is used in addresses, consider using addr:unit=* instead.) For example a shopping mall may have entrances A – L:

• ref=A

Special uses

• ref=* – Used to mark official company store number assigned to a place. Example (ref=7872) CVS (You'll see a reference tag added to the building)
• ref:svhl=* – station-keys of Lübecker Stadtverkehr (Germany) – details look at Lübeck/Importe
• ref:luebeck=* – internal reference for objects in the area of Lübeck
• ref:bufa=* – 4-digit key of the local German tax and revenue offices (Bundesfinanzamtnummer)
• ref:vatin=CC12345678 – VAT identification number of companies, use CountryCode (e.g. IT for Italy) and the number
• official_ref=* – Used in cases where the official administrative reference for a road (or other feature) is not identical with the road signs (or other feature ref), e.g. because they are old, or because the administration doesn't have the money to install/update the signage.
• ref:penndot=* – Used for internal state route designations of the Location Referencing System in Pennsylvania.
• The approval of the boundary=forest_compartment clarified the meaning of the ref key when applied to forest compartments: in such cases, ref's value must be the one displayed on the ground and the unique ref of the compartment within the encompassing delimited forest, not a ref which is valid in, or applies to, a broader area. See boundary=forest_compartment for more details.

Authority control

Taking a page from Wikipedia, "in information science, authority control is a process that organizes information, for example in library catalogs, by using a single, distinct spelling of a name (heading) or a numeric identifier for each topic".. In OpenStreetMap, authority control is currently implemented by specifying the ID for map elements from a reference catalog as values for tags, using keys such as:

• ref=*: Generic ID of an unspecified catalog to be inferred by the map user based on the element type and circumstances
• *_ref=* and ref:*=* (like the keys listed above): ID to a specific catalog
• wikidata=*: Wikidata
• wikipedia=*: Wikipedia
• ISO3166-1=* and ISO3166-1:*=*: ISO country codes
• ISO3166-2=*: ISO province/state/region codes
• other domain-specific tags

Notes

• For highways shared by more than one route see Relations/Routes or Faq#What shall I do for roads that have multiple values for a tag?. Relations seem to be the preferred method for tagging this.
• If more than one reference is given, you are recommended to separate them with a semicolon and without a space character, because this is the widely established syntax in Germany and maybe other countries. But note, this syntax is being heavily discussed in Germany. A better approach might be to have a namespace and add the entity that has issued the ref; e.g. ref:foo=x ref:bar=y.
• Do not confuse this issue with the space that is present in some countries between the letter and the number in a reference itself.
• When a road has no number, leave this key unused; this makes sure that routing programs do not try to describe the road by a number.

Possible tagging mistakes

refer=*

More details at taginfo

• refer=*

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!

reference=*

More details at taginfo

• reference=*

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!

ref:=*

More details at taginfo

• ref:=* ‒ A colon (:) was added redundantly to the end of the key without text after it.

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!

See also

• route_ref=* – route reference (number/code) cognizable on public transport stop signs
• local_ref=* – local reference/local platform
• junction:ref=* – motorway exit number
• ref:FR:*=* – WikiProject France/Liste des références nationales
• bridge:ref=*
• ref:US:EPA=* – United States EPA facilities registration codes
• For United States road tagging
• addr:unit=* – used in cases where the label of a building entrance is used in addresses
• heritage=* – refer here when referencing a protected geographical site/object
• unsigned_ref=* – used in cases where reference is not officially signed by governing authority
• noref=yes – When there really isn't a reference, though one expects there to be one. Talk:Key:ref#Tag for no reference number