Key:created_by

changeset | key:
Description
The editor or script that created the changeset.
Group: changeset
Used on:
Status on changesets:
de facto

This tag is used to describe the computer program (editor or script) which made the changes', similar to a user agent in the HTTP headers. It is automatically added by editors to a saved changeset, see also a list of other changeset tags Changeset#Tags on changesets / Proposed features/changeset tags. It was also automatically added by editors to individual elements during beginning of OSM, see #History.

As entity key

Description
The editor or script that created the changeset, node, way or relation. Used before 2009, now only on changesets.
Group: annotations
Used on these elements
Status: discardable
created_by=* More details at taginfo
Tools for this tag
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It should no longer be added to individual elements, i.e. nodes, ways, or relations. Like other discardable tags, it is automatically removed by many editors. A chronological chart of the of created_by item amounts can be found here.

History

Prior to version 0.6 of the API the =* tag was applied to individual objects (nodes, ways and relations and even segments in earlier protocol versions). However, with the introduction of changesets to provide non-geographic "meta data" it makes more sense for the created_by tag to be recorded there. The number of nodes, ways or relations that still have a created_by tag is slowly decreasing, since this key is silently dropped by OSM editors like JOSM, iD, Potlatch, Potlatch2 when objects get modified.

Guidance

Guidance to users

• You should not edit this value to record your own name. Your user name will be recorded anyway (and in addition) automatically on upload.
• You should not remove the created_by tag on objects you are not otherwise modifying. If we wanted to remove them in bulk we'd do it some other way.
• You may remove the created_by tag on nodes/ways/relations that you are modifying in a changeset anyway. This is what JOSM, iD, Potlatch, Potlatch2 and some other editors do automatically.
• You may use the created_by tag as an indicator for objects that have not been edited for a long time and could use a review.^[1]

Guidance to software developers

The guidance to users plus:

• You should record a created_by tag on a changeset when saving changes
• The created_by tag may contain a revision number, version number or similar. This helps people track down problems if a version of your editor/script has a bug in it.
  • Alternatively, potlatch2 splits information into created_by, version and build tags.
• You should not add or update the created_by tag on nodes/ways/relations.
• You can remove it silently on edited elements and hide this tag from mappers – it is widely accepted as discardable
• For translation QA : please add the 'language' version (like: de,en,es,it,hu)

Changeset search

The data from key =* is used as a basis to filter changesets according to the editor software used. For example, OSMCha offers such an option (under Filter >> Editor).

Examples

References