OpenStreetMap
(Portuguese below)
There are a few places I’ve come across that are basically centers for the practice and teaching of alternative/holistic medicine and esoteric philosophies like astrology, numerology, dowsing, etc. The best key I’ve found to describe them was healthcare=alternative but I’m not sure it would fit them correctly since those spaces are not exclusively for the practice of alternative medicine - many of these places actually go much further than that, having classes on stuff like cartomancy, yoga, vegan cuisine, physiognomy, etc. Besides, the healthcare key is still a proposal. I’ve also thought about tagging them as amenity=place of worship since some of them have close relations to religious practices, but they aren’t exclusively focused on that either.
So, any thoughts on how to tag them correctly?
Há alguns lugares que são basicamente centros para a prática e o ensino de medicina alternativa/holística e filosofias esotéricas como astrologia, numerologia, radiestesia, etc. A melhor key que encontrei para descrevê-los foi healthcare=alternative, mas não tenho certeza de que ela seria correta porque esses espaços não são exclusivamente pra medicina alternativa - muitos deles vão muito além disso, tendo cursos em assuntos como cartomancia, yoga, culinária vegana, fisiognomia, etc. Além disso, a key healthcare ainda é apenas uma proposta. Também pensei em taggeá-los como amenity=place of worship porque muitos tem relações com práticas religiosas, mas eles não são exclusivamente focados nisso.
Alguma ideia sobre como taggear esse tipo de local corretamente?
Discussion
Comment from pizzaiolo on 30 January 2015 at 01:25
That’s an interesting issue. I look forward to seeing people’s take on this.
Comment from Sanderd17 on 30 January 2015 at 23:21
It’s not a simple question indeed. Thinking about tags is thinking about categorizing, which requires you to look into the problem first.
Some of those things you mentioned fall under healthcare. The difference with traditional healthcare is more in the research. Treatments developed by recognised healthcare researchers (like universities) normally do more rigorous and peer-reviewed studies. While the alternative healthcare might also work, but that is often disputed due to the lack of research, our due to non-conclusive research. Alternative healthcare typically doesn’t deny existing healthcare, but offers additional, unproven, treatments. For this group, healthcare=alternative must work good enough (perhaps with some sub-tags to clarify the use further).
For the other things (f.e. cartomancy), it gets interesting when you read things about magic (f.e. on Wikipedia). You’ll see that the line between magic and religion is small, and there are many definitions about it. Both have rituals and symbols, and both claim that theoretically impossible things can happen. However, IMO, the most clean distinction is that magic is demanding something, while religion requests something. F.e. a witch casting a spell to help you is magic. It’s the witch that has the power, and if the spell fails, it’s because the witch didn’t do it well. While a priest can pray to help you, but that’s only a request which God can deny. Given the similarity, maybe a similar tag should be chosen. F.e. amenity=place_of_magic. Together with some sub-keys, this might work fine.
Comment from nan_a on 31 January 2015 at 02:26
Great idea! amenity=place_of_magic seems like a nicely fitting tag for those places. Thanks for helping.