Map:place

The place key marks a named settlement or populated locality — the points and areas that carry the world's place names, from the largest cities down to individual hamlets. It is one of the map's most load-bearing keys: almost every named settlement carries a place=* tag, and the renderers read its value to decide how large to draw the label and at which zoom the name first appears.

How to tag

Put place=* on either:

• a node at the centre of the settlement — the usual case; or
• the settlement's area (a closed way or multipolygon) where its extent is mapped, keeping a node for the label.

Always give it a name=*. Larger settlements commonly also carry population=*, and admin_level=* where they serve as administrative seats.

Values

The settlement hierarchy, largest to smallest:

Value	Used for
city	The largest and most prominent settlements — major regional or national centres.
town	A substantial settlement below city rank; typically a local hub serving the surrounding area.
village	A small settlement, larger than a hamlet, usually with a handful of shared amenities.
hamlet	A very small cluster of dwellings with few or no services.
suburb	A named district within a larger city or town.

Which tier a settlement takes reflects its standing rather than a fixed population cut-off — when in doubt, weigh it against its neighbours already on the map.

See also

• name — the name every place should carry
• population — inhabitant count
• administrative boundaries — the areas settlements govern or belong to