You are absolutely correct that “language=xx” would be the simplest tag. And it was proposed back in 2009 (though never progressed to a vote): https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/Language_of_this_element
But “language=*” is now being used for the language spoken or taught at a school, eg language=Korean or language:en=main, so we can’t use that tag without confusion. See: https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/language#values https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/language%3Aen#values The best viable solution is to use the same tag on administration boundaries and POIs, even though it is not perfect. Do you think we should change the name of the tag to remove the word default; eg language_format=* instead, for both boundaries and POIs? Joseph On Fri, Sep 28, 2018 at 1:06 AM Wolfgang Zenker <wolfg...@lyxys.ka.sub.org> wrote: > > Hi, > > * Joseph Eisenberg <joseph.eisenb...@gmail.com> [180927 13:10]: > > Re: do “the current > > proposals would mean that any POI (not referring to a government > > building) in Brussels needs to be retagged to name:XX or add > > default:language:XX (?) > > > There are no mandatory tags in OSM, nothing needs to be retagged. But there > > would be the option to add > > default:language=fr to a shop in Flanders which has a name in French. This > > would help database users know that this shop name is in French rather than > > Flemish. I believe this will be very useful, and I think mappers will enjoy > > the chance to add the extra tags where necessary. Mapping is a bit > > addictive, right? > > [..] > > this is one of the points where I have the impression that we are not > all talking about the same problem. For me a "default value" is a value > that is to be assumed if no specific value is available. So for me a > tag containing the word "default" would imply that it does NOT apply to > the object with that tag itself. If there is a default:language=XX tag > on an admin boundary, I would - by looking at the name of that key - > assume this is the language for things inside that admin boundary unless > these "things inside" specify a different language for themself. But I > would expext e.g. a POI within that area that uses a different language > to have a language=XX tag, not a default:language=XX tag. > > Wolfgang > > _______________________________________________ > Tagging mailing list > Tagging@openstreetmap.org > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging