Proposal:Totem pole

Tag:man_made=totem_pole
Proposal status:	Draft (under way)
Proposed by:	Jfact0ry, Alan
Tagging:	`man_made=totem_pole`
Applies to:	node
Definition:	A monumental sculpture carved on a pole made from a large tree.
Statistics:
Rendered as:
Draft started:	2015-09-02

Proposal

Totem poles are found throughout the Pacific Northwest of the United States and British Columbia, Canada. They have significant cultural, historical, and artistic value. New poles are still being constructed to this day.

Rationale

Totem poles dot the landscape of areas rich in cultural history. Each totem pole has a unique story and/or meaning. Having totem poles mapped will help people connect to the history of a place. A totem pole tag in OpenStreetMap will allow people to keep a database of totem poles and categorize different features like the name, carver, and culture.

Examples

Sitka, Alaska's National Historical Park features a totem pole collection that contain over a dozen totem poles, some of which are over 100 years old. http://www.nps.gov/sitk/learn/historyculture/totem-poles.htm Totem poles can be found in other areas throughout the Pacific coast of North America.

Tagging

The man_made=* tag with a value of totem_pole for a node would be sufficient to map totem poles.

Some alternatives (see Usage Statistics section below):

Without using a specific tag for "totem pole", some mappers have been using various tourism=artwork subtags such as:

In this proposal we argue that OpenStreetMap would benefit from a more specific tag for totem poles because of their unique appearance and distinct cultural significance that doesn't exactly fit in these other categories.

Following the lead of Wikipedia, we propose that the term "totem pole" is a useful umbrella term that encompasses many types of poles, as described in the "Types" section on the Wikipedia entry on Totem Poles. However, there is some ongoing discussion about whether the term "totem pole" is appropriate, and whether alternative names such as "crest pole" or "spirit pole" are more appropriate. See the "Naming Controversy" section of the Wikipedia Talk Page.

Rendering

man_made=totem_pole does not currently render on the OSM.org map. Alternative tags such as tourism=artwork with totem_pole=* or historic=monument with monument=totem_pole render with default artwork or monument icons, respectively.

Useful combination

material=* (usually `wood` or more specific kind of wood such as `cedar`)
surface=* or material:surface=* to indicate if the totem pole is fully or partially painted, or is bare wood (are there any better existing tags we could use to indicate a painted surface?)
height=*
artist_name=* and artist:wikidata=* if available
culture=* (an undocumented tag that could be used to distinguish between varying cultures that are known to carve totem poles and have unique customs for pole-carving. Eg. Tlingit, Haida, Gitxsan, et al.
image=*
start_date=* for when the totem pole was carved (not when it was installed in its current location
direction=* to indicate which direction the totem pole is facing, if it has a clearly defined "front"
subject=* or artwork_subject=* to provide a semi-colon separated list of people, animals, crests, and other objects depicted on the pole. This information is sometimes found in a nearby plaque explaining the meaning of the pole.