Talk:Tag:barrier=wall

noise barriers?

Walls like these: image --Erde12 14:07, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Suggestions: barrier=noise_barrier, barrier=soundwall, barrier=sound_berm, barrier=sound_barrier, barrier=acoustical_barrier

• I use barrier=wall + wall=noise_barrier Bulwersator (talk) 14:17, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

Sea barrier

How do I tag an underwater wall, below the sea level, and next to the beach? I mean, you can't see the wall from above, but there it is, in Roquetas de Mar beach, in the Mediterranean. --Schumi4ever 15:08, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

In INT-1 there are a suggestion, see groyne - underwater or similar in the Port section --Skippern 13:04, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Wall vs. fence

What is the difference between a wall and a fence?

One possible definition is that you can see through (or over) a fence but you can't see through a wall.

That would be a viable definition. It's accurate and easy to evaluate on the field. However, there are types of barriers commonly called a "fence" where you can't see through. Particularly, you can't see a fence made of panels of wood planks, placed very close together. Except that you can see a little through the gaps, especially as the fence gets older and the timber shrinks. Perhaps this is enough to call it a fence.

-- T99 (talk) 05:53, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia states that "A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length." This seems like a good distinction to me. A fence is normally only has solid foundations for supporting posts. Casey boy (talk) 20:31, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Key "wall =" not clear: purpose, or building method ????

Not goodː "The value should indicate the principal feature of the wall, which could be the type, the purpose, or the building method"

A Key shold set a clear aspect of the objectǃ

Purpose or building method are very different thingsǃ In my opinion the key "wall" shold only set the purpose. The building methode can be additionally specified with key "material". Please rethink thisǃ

--Is-zUser (talk) 09:54, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

I agree about this. I think the barrier=wall tag should be for the types of walls just like fence_type=*. For example, wall=dry_stone, wall=brick, and wall=flint should be removed from this tag as they better fit as material=* values. Wall=yes and wall=no are perfectly fine as it can also describe details of building walls. Although I think we need a better wall type for regular brick or concrete barrier walls. Wall=yes or wall=solid either in conjunction with a material could be a solution but I feel like wall=solid instead of wall=yes could be the best option for a generic type of barrier wall. --Mxdanger (talk) 21:59, 15 January 2018 (UTC)

I agree. We have a material=* key and we should use it. Wall=yes sounds like an acceptable default. Wall=solid is going to run into problems with those walls that are built to contain gaps... --Matej Lieskovský (talk) 15:48, 17 February 2018 (UTC)

I know this conversation is a few years old now but is still relevant. The one outlier to swapping to material=* is wall=dry_stone. The material there is material=stone but dry stone walls are different from normal stone walls, in that they don't use mortar to bind the stones. Casey boy (talk) 14:19, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Wall topped with glass shards

Many walls are topped with glass shards,

• https://www.google.com/search?q=wall+topped+with+glass+shards&tbm=isch

It would be good to know before setting off with map in hand to climb it. Jidanni (talk) 15:50, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

Mapping as an area?

Is there a need to map walls as areas, rather than using other tags like building=*? As a barrier, a wall is a linear feature like a fence, which can only be mapped as a linear way, not an area. I've checked the current mapping, and it's quite hard to find any wall features intentionally mapped as areas where rendering or routing would be improved. Many are accidentally mapped as areas by combining barrier=wall with another feature tag which implies an area on a closed way, or on a multipolygon. This means that attempting to interpret walls as areas leads to more mistakes being found that real data. --Jeisenbe (talk) 04:19, 10 October 2019 (UTC)

I would still suggest changing this page to remove the the hint of mapping as an area. Any objections? --Jeisenbe (talk) 05:22, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

This affects almost all barriers. I can understand your wish. It would keep things simple. On the other hand I think that both renderers and routers should be able to find a technical solution to understand barriers as areas as well. There are walls that are several meters thick. --Chris2map (talk) 09:05, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Re: "there are walls that are several meters thick." Can you provide an example in OpenStreetMap? Is this perhaps a city wall, usually mapped as barrier=city_wall or historic=citywalls? --Jeisenbe (talk) 00:53, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

Point to you! So I tried to make it a little too easy for myself. – In fact, most thicker walls are mapped as city walls (e.g. city wall 4m: 287969921 287969921). Even the Great Wall of China. I was not aware of that. At least I could find these "walls":

wall + width = 2.5m: 248627288 248627288, = 2m: 327722572 327722572, 263043336 263043336, 656556125 656556125 – Unfortunately no thicker ones. Seawalls and castle walls would be candidates. But most of them do not have a width entered yet. – So maybe could be. But it is not mandatory, and I wouldn't be against a restriction for now. --Chris2map (talk) 14:30, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

Combination with colour=*

@Jeisenbe:, you removed the recommendation of colour=* because it's not used, but I'm counting about 5400 uses. Isn't that sufficient for inclusion? --Tordanik 17:57, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Sorry, perhaps I searched for "color" instead of "colour"? Your link shows that current usage is about 0.2% of features, which isn't very much, but it's something. However, I do wonder what use this information would add to the database. OAre there any 3D rendering systems that will show walls differently based on the colour=*? I would think that material=* would be more useful to show in most cases. --Jeisenbe (talk) 10:02, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

F4 Map supports colour=*, I believe, as does my own 3D renderer OSM2World :). And although the material is of course more useful for many applications, 3D rendering allows showing material and colour at the same time. --Tordanik 21:30, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

Change in description

EinKonstanzer, it seems you would like to change the description from "A freestanding structure, designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary, typically made from solid brick, concrete or rocks, and almost always built so that it is opaque to vision" to "Freestanding structure made for restriction or protection". However, that description does not explain when to use barrier=wall instead of barrier=fence: a fence is also a "freestanding structure made for restriction or protection", and also a barrier=retaining_wall and barrier=city_wall might fit under that definition. --Jeisenbe (talk) 23:47, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

Sharing Nodes with Buildings or Areas

Is it recommended to connect the wall to the landuse or area/closed ways that the wall borders? I think adding this kind of mapping nuance to the main page would be useful as well.--IanVG (talk) 00:57, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

I would say that sharing nodes (or ways, possible when mapping by creating multipolygons) is recommended if that is an exact border of landuse area Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 07:13, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Terrace wall

Sometimes the walls are located next to an outdoor staircase that serves as fall protection. In the town of Havířov in the Czech Republic, next to the cultural house of Leoš Janáček, there is a four-meter wall that serves as a terrace and there are stairs next to it. The wall serves as a barrier against falling, but at the same time it holds the earth's mass through the slide. The terrace offers a view of the park. You might consider adding this option as barrier=terrace. Bounding box of the Terrace in Havířov: 49.775065, 18.4523789, 49.7751704, 18.452016

If I understand the description well, a barrier=retaining_wall may be appropriate for this structure. --Zstadler (talk) 09:00, 8 October 2024 (UTC)

Stone wall

I just created a page for wall=stone_wall as it was a red link in the table here. However, I note that the wall=stone tag is far more popular (12,000 uses versus 500 or so). I have made a note of this on wall=stone_wall but wonder if we should consider swapping them around on this page. Casey boy (talk) 13:59, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Good point, I changed it. Note also that material=stone + barrier=wall seems even more popular: https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/?key=material&value=stone#combinations Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 16:51, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll just copy the wall=stone_wall page for a new wall=stone page. Yep, I had seen that material=* is even more popular. I actually think that scheme makes more sense, leaving wall=* for the wall purpose rather than material. but that's too much of a change for just a Wiki edit! Casey boy (talk) 20:21, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Though "consider using material=stone instead" can be placed relatively early (and here question about balance of Wiki role in documenting/advisory/deciding role begins...) Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 05:29, 17 April 2021 (UTC)