Key:place of worship
| place_of_worship |
| Description |
|---|
| Describes the type of place where religious services are conducted. |
| Group: Religion |
| Used on these elements |
| Documented values: 3 |
| Requires |
| Useful combination |
| Status: in use |
| Tools for this tag |
|
This tag further describes the type of amenity=place_of_worship.
How to map
Use the tag place_of_worship=* on a closed way (area) drawn around the perimeter of a site (preferred), or on a node placed at the centre point of a site. If place of worship is not already enclosed inside an amenity=place_of_worship area, then add amenity=place_of_worship to the feature.
Values
Some of the most commonly used values for this tag are given below.
Notes on usage
The use of building types as a value for this tag (e.g. "church", "chapel", "mosque") is not currently approved or widely used. These values are generally associated with the buildings themselves, rather than the amenity. For example, a church building still being used as a church is generally tagged as amenity=place_of_worship, building=church and a church building now turned into apartments is tagged as building=church, building:use=apartments.
However, this does leave open the question of how to tag a "church" located inside a non-church building. The amenity=place_of_worship documentation currently recommends using the keys religion=*, denomination=* and service_times=* to add more detailed information about the amenity. This place_of_worship=* tag allows one to specify that usage.
For places of worship that are in a building type that matches the amenity, e.g. amenity=place_of_worship, building=church, it is unclear if there is any benefit adding place_of_worship=church.
Note on creation
This key has not been formally approved. However, the place_of_worship=holy_well tag was approved in March 2021 followed by the approval of place_of_worship=mass_rock in April 2021.
An alternative tagging scheme place_of_worship:type=* also exists but is not as widely used.