Tag:place=suburb
 place = suburb
|
 |
| Description |
|---|
A part of a town or city with a well-known name and often a distinct identity. 
|
| Group: places |
| Used on these elements |
    |
| Useful combination |
|
| See also |
| Status: de facto |
| Tools for this tag |
|
Use place=suburb to identify a major area in a place=town or place=city with a distinct and recognized local name and identity. Suburbs may have uncertain boundaries, may overlap with other suburbs, and are often best mapped using a node.
For areas within a suburb, the tag place=neighbourhood will usually be used. If necessary, place=quarter may be used for an area of a large settlement which is smaller than a suburb and larger than a neighbourhood.
Notes
- OSM's usage of 'suburb' is different than that used by North American English, where a suburb is "an area, often residential, outside of a central city". Often these suburbs are distinct settlements and will be tagged as place=village, place=town, or place=city, depending on factors such as population. In contrast, a district, ward, or borough of an American or Canadian city would best be categorized as place=suburb.
- The classification of an area as a suburb is based on its size and situation rather than by any clues given in its name. For example, the Lake City area in Seattle (150938688
150938688) should be tagged as a 'suburb' and not as a 'city' since it is a large area within a major city.
- In some urban areas in the United States, the TIGER import in late 2007 incorrectly used place=hamlet to identify areas that might otherwise be tagged as place=suburb or place=neighbourhood.
How to map
- As a Node: Place a node at the center of the suburb tagged with place=suburb and identify it with a name=*.
- Alternatively a suburb can be identified with a closed way or relation if the boundary is clearly defined. In this case a type=boundary relation is often used.
Things to avoid
Some mappers are of the view that areas of a town/city should not be tagged with place=town, place=village or place=hamlet, and that these should only be used for distinct settlements. However, this is not universally accepted practice.
In circumstances where two towns run into each other it may be appropriate to tag each as a town if they have distinct and separate administrative structures.
See also
- place=borough - a part in larger city grouped into administrative unit
- place=neighbourhood - for a specific area within a place=suburb
- place=quarter - for areas smaller than a suburb and larger than a neighbourhood
- addr:suburb=* danger of confusion - part of an address: specification that is used to distinguish the street with the same names within the settlement (addr:* are more associated to the admin view, instead of place=suburb which belongs rather to the settlement topology)