Do I use a point or area to define a business?

It seems confusing whether I should use a point or an area to define a business. For example I could use an area or a point to define a restaurant. It seems logical to define a building in general terms like “commercial” and then add a point inside the area to define what business is there, like “restaurant”. That way if the point is deleted or changed in the future, the general definition of a building is still there.

Is my logic wrong? How do the advanced users here feel about this? What is the proper way of doing it, if there is one.

Thanks in advance!

Generally, if a business occupies the entire building then you put all the tags on the building. If a business occupies a portion of the building, then a separate node within the building outline is usually done.

With respect to if the business moves or fails, it is possible to remove the business related tags from the building without removing the building. The building should only be removed from OSM if the building is actually demolished.

Is there a general agreement about this or is it more your opinion about the subject? I’ve created a good number of businesses that take up an entire building by using a point inside of an area. Should I go back and simplify my changes?

In some cases it might be interesting to map the POI as a point, even when it occupies the whole building, e.g. when it is in an historic building, which has it’s own name and start_date. AFAIK there is no satisfying tagging to give the building and POI different names and start_dates, operator, etc. if they are mapped on the same object (way)

I’d say it’s a pretty general agreement. While the node gives non-specific information that the business is somewhere in that building, adding the same tags to the building outline provides more information about the size and exact location of the business.

That being said, there isn’t a single “right way” to do things in this respect, so there’s nothing wrong with the businesses you’ve already mapped. I don’t think you need to worry about going back and changing things. You can if you feel like it and/or have some time to kill, but you can always just do things differently going forward.