Talk:Key:military

military=armory

I suggest a new value for the military tag. It's for arsenal of weapons and armament and equipment.

We in Switzerland distinguish between the "Zeughaus" (armory) and the "Armee Fahrzeug Park (AMP)" (army vehicle park). I think this tag can cover both types as they are sometimes the same. --Andy 18:09, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if this is the same suggestion as the one above, but I'd like som kind of tag for supply storages. In Sweden we got lots of small military supply buildings on different places (such as out in the middle of a forest). Averater 11:11, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

There was also an proposal page for military=armory which content is preserved below: --Polarbear w (talk) 09:58, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

Proposed by User:Kstaden on 2009-06-20:

definition=An armory, small reserve military training center, or depot not part of a larger military base

Adding the tag "military = armory" to be used for smaller military installations that can be normally found on a neighborhood or smaller town basis. These buildings tend to be used by reserve components of the military (and the National Guard units in the USA) and usually don't have barracks or significant extended facilities like larger military bases.

Rationale

Note, this is not a recruiting station or something for public relations, but an actual training center for military purposes, and tend to be owned and operated by the national governments on some level, even if used for other community purposes. Yes, a recruiting station can be sometimes found at these places as well, but that isn't its primary purpose.

This can also include facilities like a logistical depot or some other similar military facility... again, usually used by reserve military forces where the equipment is intended to be kept relatively close to part-time military personnel who have other occupations and roles in the community.

There are many equivalents to this world-wide by many nations.

Armory or Armoury?

The Canadian definition is with the 'u' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Armoury but wikipedia has it with no 'u', but the pictures and definition as the 'u' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armory_(military)

military=armoury; (for the point) building=yes; military=armoury; (for the area) A building used by the militia. (Natural Resources Canada - CanVec Map Features Definition Code 2010030 (point) and 2010032 (area)) --acrosscanadatrails 00:18, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

End of proposal content

"please, please do not mark military areas"?

I added a military area some time ago and today when I check it was gone.[1] What was left was a single node with the note "please, please do not mark military areas". Is this a new policy or something? // Liftarn 12:20, 19 August 2010 (BST)

No, it's their opinion. It could be legally wise in some countries not to map them, if it could get the mapper arrested or prosecuted in that country. But it shouldn't be of any concern to other mappers. Alv 12:34, 19 August 2010 (BST)

I did the mapping from Yahoo images so it's obviously not that secret and I'm not in that country either. If so, how can I find out who deleted the mapping I've done? // Liftarn 10:56, 23 August 2010 (BST)

It's re-mapped now, but I guess this is the original way which got deleted by Mr Israel

To find out this kind of thing, I had to use Potlatch version 1 (hover over the edit tab to get the old version), and I had to press 'U' to undelete elements (see Potlatch 1/Primer#Undoing mistakes). Another approach you can try, is to use the Data layer to view the history of objects without needing to enter an editor. That doesn't give access to deleted objects though.

-- Harry Wood 15:34, 4 May 2011 (BST)

Thanks for the tip. It came in handy since it was deleted again. // Liftarn

There is a discussion on the forum 'Military areas in Israel (remove or not remove?)' which would be very relevant to this. I know there have also been discussions about mapping military bases elsewhere too e.g. in Russia (mailing list?) -- Harry Wood 15:37, 4 May 2011 (BST)

I'm also opposed to suppressing all military areas completely. It's perfectly OK to draw and tag the border of these areas (even if there's no details about its name, or role, or about what is built in side and the function of every building or equipement there).

Also because even military areas may have an acess possible for the general public, such as information points, an access for visitors with a possible parking, museums, memorials and cemeteries. The access is controled and secured, but not forbidden in that case (it may be open to the public only within defined hours, even without taking any rendez-vous).

So landuse=military is perfectly admissible. Access restrictions will be tagged on the entry points, where they exist. And we'll be able to tag the public access for visitors, museums, memorials, cemeteries, chapels, points of information, and possibly some caserns. If the name of the army unit stationned there (such as "3e RIMA"), or of the zone (such as "Quartier Foch") is displayed to the public from outside, on a signage, it should be tagged too. This is not a military secret if it is voluntarily displayed by the army, and the army needs to display that to inform visitors, or candidates for recruitments, or for its relations with the bordering civilian public authorities and the local population.

Verdy p 09:20, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Note that Israel may have its own national laws. In that case the Israelian laws should be respected for what is mapped in Israel. This should not affect other countries (and not even the areas occupied by the Israelian army which are not in its civilian juridiction, but just temporary places of military actions). Verdy p 09:23, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

military=mine_field

For tagging mine fields. Rendered as red with scull& bones. See also Talk:Key:barrier#Mine_field--Gorm 01:13, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

If they are in military areas with restricted access, you should just map the administrative border of that area (so that it will appear in the map only as a greyed out zone without details inside, except just topographic details like sea, coasts, and elevated pikes or high antennas and towers visible from very far away out of the zone (and which could be still be used as geodetic points usable when navigating around this area). But most buildings, and roads or paths, or installed equipements should not be mapped at all, not described with extended tags or names showing what they are used for. Just stay outside of the zone, look at the publicly visible signalisation, and stop there: it's much enough to tag landuse=military, possibly with a name covering all that area (but the name is not necessary).

In more restrictive countries, it would be enough to tag access=no without more details for that zone (this tag would include not just military areas, but also other dangerous industrial areas, some internal offices of civilian ministries or institutions, highly polluted/contaminated areas...).

But elsewhere within demilitarized areas or in old fields of war (and probably too within military areas, if they are mappable), mine fields that have not been secured (there are many in Bosnia Herzegovina, in Vietnam, Laos...) are preferably to be tagged with another tag signaling the danger of death for visitors; they are possibly signaled but not always accurately on all accesses in rural areas.

I really suggest not tagging mine fields as military, even if they were initially made by militaries (and most often abandonned there without control). Verdy p 08:36, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Cadet training buildings

Apologies if I've missed some documentation on this. What is the protocol for mapping buildings primarily used by military cadets (i.e. children/young adults not actually in the military, but attending military training provided by active service personnel) that are not within the grounds of a military base? In the UK, I have seen several different methods of mapping cadet buildings, including just "building", "barracks", "youth", and "community center". Perhaps a "cadet" value would be useful here? -- Casey boy 10:56, 7 March 2018 (GMT)

I'm currently looking at options here User:Alux/MOD Sponsored Cadet Forces -- Alux (talk) 23:41, 19 August 2019 (UTC)

Update: cadet=military is now the approved tag for military cadets Casey boy (talk) 15:22, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

Caution / Warning re mapping Military areas

As per the Tagging list https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tagging/2021-January/058627.html, which also references other discussions, should the current "Caution" notice on the page be updated & included on all military pages? --Fizzie41 (talk) 04:52, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

I think so, because tagging military things in some countries, no matter with which kind of facilities, but the tagging itself, will obey local law, and mapper will be accused (Example is China, Chinese mapper usually will not tag a military landuse). So "Caution" is needed, I think. --快乐的老鼠宝宝 (talk) 09:06, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

military academies and schools

I just wanted to draw attention to two new documentation pages: military=academy and military=school and invite comments/discussion/edits. I put these together to help distinguish the difference between these two values (as I think some "academies" were being tagged as "schools") and also because there seemed to be a gap in the military values for these installations. Discussions around military schools and whether it's appropriate for them to fall under the military key are particularly welcome (on that discussion page). Casey boy (talk) 15:28, 8 April 2022 (UTC)