For the moment the wiki only describes the tagging of protected heritage in the four Belgian regions that get the heritage=4 tag. In Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels, the heritage agencies also maintain a (more comprehensive) inventory of heritage next to a list of protected heritage items. (the situation in the German speaking region isn’t well known by me). For example in Wallonia, the heritage inventory lists 51,000 items, including 9,000 protected items.

This is a proposal to follow the practice of heritage agencies and assign a tag to all inventoried heritage objects: add a tag for heritage objects inventories: heritage=5 * This will make the heritage items included in an inventory identifiable and searchable. Until now not protected inventoried heritage in Belgium only get the tag historic=x as other “old” items. * A tag for items that are only in their inventory is already in use by OSM France and also Italy, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hong Kong also have different types of the tag heritage. (In Belgium we use heritage=4 for protected heritage as some other countries but a lot of other countries use heritage=2 for protected heritage. The used number is specified per country). * The wiki now describes heritage as “Site/building/object registered by an official heritage organisation”.

In the last few years, there have been a number of changes at the heritage agencies in Flanders and Wallonia.

Wallonia The agency AwaP (Agence Wallonne du Patrimoine) has, next to the ‘’Patrimoine culturel immobilier classé’ for protected heritage, an inventory of that is now called IRP Inventaire Régional du Patrimoine (until recently it was named IPIC Inventaire du Patrimoine Immobilier Culturel, a name that can still be found in many OSM entries). It is interesting that heritage objects in OSM include a link (with a URL) to the Walloon IRP inventory, as this contains a detailed description and history of the item, as well as a reference to its status as a protected and exceptional site, if applicable. That description and history appear only in this inventory and not in the inventory of protected heritage, which only provides a very limited justification for the decision to protect the site. With the proposed additional tag for heritage, items in the IRP inventory get heritage=5 but protected items still get heritage=4.

Brussels The situation appears to be similar to that in Wallonia with an ‘Inventaire du Patrimoine Architectural Bruxellois’and ‘Le registre du patrimoine protégé’.

Flanders 1. There is a scientific inventory of heritage objects “Erfgoedobjecten” containing a fairly detailed description and history of the item. There are no legal consequences of being included in that inventory. It would be a good idea to include that link at the item in OSM so that anyone interested can find the explanation. The URL contains the word “erfgoedobjecten” and links to the description, with links to the “Aanduidingsobject” and its protection if applicable. 2. Indicative objects “Aanduidingsobjecten” are recognised architectural heritage and imply legal consequences that can be limited or extended if they are protected heritage. The proposal is to assign in OSM the tag heritage=5 to these heritage features and heritage=4 to protected heritage features. Tagging the URL to the Aanduidingsobject is less valuable as it includes very limited information about the object. The URL to the Erfgoedobject is more interesting. Including the ID number in the tagging is valuable to trace back a heritage item. There are heritage objects that are not listed as “Aanduidingsobject” mostly it are landscape features but it can be architectural feature. If applicable they can get the tag heritage=6.

German-speeking Community The situation isn’t known to me.

Question about this propasal: Are there objections or remarks against the proposal to add the tags heritage=5 and heritage=6 for heritage tagging in Belgium? Are there objections or remarks to make a wiki about heritage tagging in Belgium as described above and change menu’s in JOSM and eventually ID?