Tag:building=government

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Public-images-osm logo.svg building = government
Ministerio de Defensa Argentina Edificio Libertador.jpg
Description
Building built to house government offices. Edit this description in the wiki page. Edit this description in the data item.
Rendering in OSM Carto
Area building=yes.png
Group: buildings
Used on these elements
may be used on nodesshould not be used on waysmay be used on areas (and multipolygon relations)should not be used on relations (except multipolygon relations)
Status: in use

This tag is currently mostly used to indicate government buildings in general, including municipal, provincial and divisional secretaries, government agencies and departments, town halls, (regional) parliaments and court houses.

Values of the building=* key should reflect the construction of the building, not its function. Therefore, uses of this tag should probably be replaced with building values depending on the situation:

  • building=office should be used for office buildings, regardless of who uses them. Government offices within the building can be tagged with office=government.
  • Some police stations, post offices, libraries and schools have also been tagged with this tag. These should be tagged as building=civic or even more precisely with tags such as building=school.

Note that given how building=* is defined it should be used to building built to house government offices. Buildings not built with intention to house government-related things should not use it.