Talk:Tag:leisure=swimming pool

It is a sport, not a pool

The key 'sport' is about completion. The water is physically mapped in OSM using other tags. This tag specifies that the particular feature is equipped and used for competitive swimming... eg races. Most private swimming pools do not have the marked lanes and lane separators for this sport so they should not be tagged sport=swimming, but as a leisure=swimming_pool. Warin61 (talk) 23:47, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

How to map. Area of the pool

We should maybe have a "how to map" section on this page. One question for that is... do we draw the way around the edge of the watery area of a swimming pool, or around the wider building (when mapping a swimming pool facility) ? I'm sure that's been discussed somewhere before -- Harry Wood (talk) 12:49, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

Personally, I am marking with a single node. I am thinking very roughly of the density of swimming pools in a residential area as a co-variate with affluence; to this end, I'm tagging with a node every swimming pool I find while editing (I don't focus on finding these, but if I see one, I tag it). At some point in the future, one might do a density-vs.-demographics study ... something which only OSM could be used for (no other mapping resource in widespread use support consistent tagging of private swimming pools that I know of). --Ceyockey (talk) 00:13, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Yeah clearly it's fine to start with node, and someone might refine it to an area later. but...

The question is where should the area be drawn, during such a refinement?

User:SelfishSeahorse has recently answered the question with this edit creating a "how to map" section. Thanks!

-- Harry Wood (talk) 13:21, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

What if kids only swimming pool ?

How should we label swimming pools dedicated for small children ?

--User:Kupsztal 21:22, 5 July 2017‎

They can also be tagged leisure=swimming_pool, but without sport=swimming, because they are not suitable for swimming. In addition, you could add a description like description=paddling pool. --SelfishSeahorse (talk) 17:35, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

You can use max_age like for playgrounds. I encourage you to also tag max_depth= 0.5m or similar. --Lulu-Ann (talk) 19:16, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Unconsistent Mapping

I feel the mapping rules are inconsistent:

• If I have a facility with pools intended for sports only, I mark the area as sports=swimming, and the water area as leisure=swimming_pool.
• If I have a facility with slides and pools, I mark the area as leisure=water_park, and the water as leisure=swimming_pool.
• But if I have a outdoors facility with pools intended for recreation, I mark the actual water areas only, despite of the entire area being limited to customers only. (Marking the pools as access=customers would be false, since the access is restricted to the whole facility, not only the actual pools).

How do I mark that the pools are in a "customer access only" garden??? --Josemoya (talk) 15:19, 4 August 2017 (UTC)

Same question here. Invidious (talk) 15:06, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

"customer access only" - is it in some area where anyone may pay for entrance and use it? Or "VIP club with limited access"? In the first case I would add no extra tags, in the second it would be access=private. Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 13:17, 28 October 2021 (UTC)

"outdoors facility with pools intended for recreation" - it can and should be mapped. Hard to say how without more specific descriptionMateusz Konieczny (talk) 13:18, 28 October 2021 (UTC)

The latter question is more what I am interested in. In my area I have community pools that aren't primarily used for swimming as a sport. (Think HOA owned pools that aren't big enough for laps but are big enough for frolicking in the water.) I can tag the actual pools with leisure=swimming_pool, but how should I tag the surrounding area? The closest standard tag is leisure=sports_centre + sport=swimming, but this seems inappropriate for this situation. Some kind of "pool_area" tag seems needed. Invidious (talk) 15:09, 30 October 2021 (UTC)

leisure=resort may be suitable in this case. Something B (talk) 09:14, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

I have seen leisure=sports_centre used, e.g. https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/2426559 —Dieterdreist (talk) 11:46, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

iD has a preset of "Swimming pool facility" which tags as leisure=sports_centre + sport=swimming --Fizzie41 (talk) 23:07, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

For recreational swimming establishments the leisure=recreation_centre tag potentially may be used. -- Something B (talk) 23:19, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

I've been wondering about this myself. I don't really think leisure=sports_centre is appropriate because community pools often aren't used for sports swimming. Same goes for leisure=resort since it's way to general and at least in the United States people don't refer to community pools as resorts. --Adamant1 (talk) 23:35, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Maybe amenity=public_bath & bath:type=pool? -- Something B (talk) 22:24, 26 November 2022 (UTC)

access=yes

access=yes is not very meaningful. It should be the opposite of access=private. Then you could use access=public. As a rule, however, it is assumed that the public has access and you should not add anything like this.--geozeisig (talk) 06:36, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

Hi! access=yes means public access (see Key:access), access=public is just an undocumented duplicate that isn't understood by the standard layer (and likely by other applications using OSM data). I would also prefer not using access=yes, however, there are many private swimming pools not tagged access=private, therefore if a swimming pool has no access tag, you can't tell if it is public or not. Recently, there was a similar discussion about private car parks not tagged access=private and apparently I was the only one assuming that no access tag implies public access (see discussion). --SelfishSeahorse (talk) 07:22, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

Private swimming pools

Creating private swimming pools should be avoided : - there is no interest for the general public - complicates the task of coders - adds huge amount of unnecessary data. - may mislead if the swimming pool is big enough.

It's the same for leisure=garden, which hides the residential area as a valuable information for general public and even misleads people by thinking they might be in a public park. --SHARCRASH (talk) 17:04, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

• I see nothing wrong in mapping private swimming pools. Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 21:15, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

Private swimming pools are used to fight bush fires here. They should be mapped where they are of community benefit - particularly for an emergency. Warin61 (talk) 00:11, 18 April 2019 (UTC)

Mateusz, i had given some solid arguments, except for the 1st, counter argumented thanks to Warin61. I didn't realise this, seems like it depends of issues of drought in a certain region.

--SHARCRASH (talk) 10:48, 20 April 2019 (UTC)

"complicates the task of coders" - what kind of coders? In general we are not tagging for the renderer Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 13:55, 20 April 2019 (UTC)

"adds huge amount of unnecessary data" - is not a way to prove that this is an unwanted data. I also suspect that "huge amount" is a hyperbole (though I would be convinced by some real data). Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 13:55, 20 April 2019 (UTC)

"may mislead if the swimming pool is big enough." - this is completely unclear for me. What would be misleading? Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 13:55, 20 April 2019 (UTC)

Though maybe there may be a better way to tag private swimming pools than leisure=swimming_pool with access=* Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 13:57, 20 April 2019 (UTC)

It is not issues of drought in a certain region, but climate and physical conditions of certain regions where it becomes hot, dry, windy and there is a lack of access to water. Spain, Greece, the USA and Australia have these conditions in certain areas. Use of a swimming pool can save property if not lives. Warin61 (talk) 00:03, 21 April 2019 (UTC)

Lanes in a pool ?

If there are multiple lanes in a pool how should they be tagged.

I take those of indications of the sport swimming, so I add the tag sport=swimming. No one will, at this stage, use any tag that indicates the number of lanes, but if you must then possibly swimming_lanes=* would do. (PS it is usually to indicate who made the above entry and when.) Warin61 (talk) 21:52, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

There are already several hundred pools with a 'lanes' tag while 'swimming_lanes' is not used at all. 'lanes' are also used on running tracks, so it shouldn't be a problem to use it for swimming as well. Mueschel (talk) 19:36, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

I've asked this question on the Tagging list but no final resolution came yet. Exactly 90% of those 'lanes' tags on swimming pools were put there by me. ;-) ITineris (talk) 19:45, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

Wave pool?

Some swimming pools have a wave generator which is turned on regurlarly, e.g. every 30 minutes. Those "wave pools" are also mentioned in the general description of water parks but I couldn't find a way of tagging them. Is there one? If not I would suggest swimming_pool=wave or swimming_pool:wave=yes (or intervall like every 30 min instead of yes). Flukx (talk) 13:14 2021-03-01 (UTC)

Above-Ground Pools

Some pools are in-ground while others are above-ground. Typical above ground pools are either a circle or a oval shape.

I feel like above-ground pools should not be mapped because they are "temporary" features. The pool should be disassembled in the winter and then reassembled in the spring to prevent damage. This means its location can change each year. If you have kids horsing around, they can destroy the pool (I did this once as a kid). If a homeowner sells their property, they might take the pool with them.

I do feel like above-ground pools should be mapped if they are level-ground pools. If there is an above-ground pool with a deck constructed to surround the entire structure, I feel that makes it permanent enough to deserve being mapped. If there is just a free-standing pool set up in someone's backyard, then it is temporary enough that it shouldn't be mapped.

access=no for private swimming pools in the backyard?

I feel like access=private should be used for swimming pools for a small group of people with access (ID, permit) and the pools are in the public access area.

access=no should be used for pools in private houses, yes they are never meant to be public for everyone but the family members.

-- CBRS (talk) 15:30, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

How about a new tag ?=residential to indicate it's a residential pool? You could have a public pool that's going through extended redevelopment / construction but still exists so would be access=no, then you still can't distingush residential pools from public ones. --Aharvey (talk) 10:45, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

??? That is exactly the definition of access=private. It can be used by the owner only, or with the permission of the owner. On the other hand, access=no means something that is physically unreachable. access=customers may mark a pool that is open only for guests of a hotel, for example. Please check the values and descriptions of the access=* key.

Besides access=*, one may use the fee=yes tag for public pools. One wanting to swim (as a sport) the simple physical size of a pool eliminates residential pools. ITineris (talk) 11:40, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

Heated pools

Some pools are artificially heated for comfort of swimmers and others have no heating. How could we tag this? heated=yes/no --Aharvey (talk) 00:18, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

heating=yes same with buildings, similar to air_conditioning=*. heated=* looks like showing when it is switched on. ---- Kovposch (talk) 04:28, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Perfect thanks,

Resolved: Aharvey (talk) 05:03, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Shallow end / deep end

Swimming pools often have a shallow end and a deep end (often indicated by a diving board (not always a tower:type=diving) (how to map?)). How to indicate? (Stepping into the wrong one by accident could mean the difference between life and ... Sure, OSM isn't supposed to be a warning system, but it would still be good to map if one has nothing better to do.)

Jidanni (talk) 15:04, 23 November 2022 (UTC)

For your comparison, it has been argued aeroway=runway and leisure=track + area=yes should have been area:aeroway=runway and area:leisure=track as they are linear non-omnidirectional areas. This preserves navigation, and allow for other linear-based information.
Something leisure=swimming_pool has in common with the latter is the possible use of lanes=*, as with Talk:Tag:leisure=swimming_pool#Lanes_in_a_pool_? above. This is ill-defined on an area, and not usable on non-rectangular areas. Furthermore length=* has been listed in Tag:leisure=swimming_pool#Tags_to_use_in_combination. Tthat's not a perfect match for areas either. If a linear feature can be made for swimming, one will be able to split them for different depth=*, even possibly depth:start=* + depth:end=*.
Of course, one may ask how can pool subareas be represented. aside from shallow and deep parts on a standard rectangular part for lanes, there are often shallower areas of different shapes area for fun, including jaccuzi / massage pools. Yes, they can be connected as an integral part of the pool basin. More usefully, there are wide and long steps used to enter a pool, instead of climbing a ladder or the edges.
However, unless they are flat, depth=* won't be rigorously compatible with it. An analogy could be found in roof:*=*.
--- Kovposch (talk) 19:40, 23 November 2022 (UTC)

Tagging concrete area around inground pools?

For outdoor, inground pools, it's common to have a wood- or concrete-surfaced area around the pool. Beyond that there's often a barrier=fence surrounding "the pool area". The instructions for leisure=swimming_pool are that it should be the bounds of the water of the pool itself. And surface=concrete exists to indicate a floor of concrete, but I can't find a designation for "the area around a pool for walking around it" (In the US I've heard it referred to as the pool "deck"). In public pools this area could be combined with leisure=outdoor_seating (amenity=lounger) or outdoor eating areas, but if there's not, what should the concrete area itself be declared as? --Midnightlightning (talk) 22:36, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

I don't know existed tags for this, but hypothetical man_made=pool_deck may be solution. Something B (talk) 07:42, 6 July 2023 (UTC)

---

In the example that was recently added in, the area around the pool was tagged with highway=pedestrian as a multipolygon with the pool removed out of it. That seems to fit the "Squares and plazas" use-case that use of highway=pedestrian talks about, though should probably also have surface=concrete for completeness. Tagging it as area=yes (suggested by the highway=pedestrian page for "squares and plazas") is not needed as all concrete zones that go around a pool would need to be created as a multipolygon to cut out the pool shape in the middle, and all multipolygons are areas, so that tag would be redundant. --Midnightlightning (talk) 13:10, 4 February 2024 (UTC)

It's not a highway=pedestrian if vehicles can't physically fit in. At least use highway=footway .
—— Kovposch (talk) 06:38, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

The definition of highway=pedestrian (from its wiki page) is "a road or an area mainly or exclusively for pedestrians in which some vehicle traffic may be authorized" (emphasis mine). So while the connotation of "highway" does bring to mind a singular track, that summary doesn't imply a restriction that the area be big enough to potentially have vehicles in it. But I perused more conversations on the `pedestrian` and `footway` pages (notably, the highway=footway page section on how to map areas with that tag notes there's a lack of consensus with it, and people wanting the difference to be a `pedestrian` area is one that used to be a road (or could be a road, big enough for some vehicles), but for the use-case of mapping open zones in amusement parks that encourage non-linear, multidirectional travel, the tag highway=pedestrian is currently more-commonly used). Following the hint of looking at amusement parks, I looked up a few large water parks, and found they do currently have the concrete zones around the pool areas tagged as highway=pedestrian, which seems to me to continue that tag as precedent for this sort of feature. --Midnightlightning (talk) 15:18, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

This doesn't mean they are correct. Many highway=pedestrian + area=yes should be highway=footway + area=yes , or even area:highway=* . highway=footway + area=yes is rendered and used by applications.
In one country, I see highway=pedestrian + area=yes being used for many sidewalks. Doesn't automatically support the conclusion they should continued to be used.
You misunderstand the arguement. This has nothing to do with some interpretation of highway=* for semantics. It is that the highway=* combination with area=yes should be consistent with what it is. The reason is on highway=pedestrian being defined for pedestrianized (vehicular) roads. The "area" is contrasting it against linear "roads". "May be authorized" is the legal restriction concerning access=* . It's not worded as some of them may not fit vehicles physically. Physical accessibility is already defined for highway=pedestrian , This should be the same for all of them. Compare highway=track vs highway=path .
—— Kovposch (talk) 19:11, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

Noah's Ark

Mt. Olympus