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Preferences > Validator Settings

In this preference settings, you can activate only the tests you need. By default, all error and warning tests are active.

These are the validations performed by the validator:

NOTE: Links in third column lead to video explanations

	Validation	Description	Textual help and video guides
Addresses		Checks for errors in ​Addresses and ​Relation:associatedStreet.
	House number without street	Checks for objects that have an addr:housenumber tag, but neither addr:street nor addr:place. The street name can also be provided using an associatedStreet relation or on interpolation way.	Add the missing street name information.
	Duplicate house numbers	Checks if two members of an associatedStreet relation have the identical house number.	Make sure different buildings have different house numbers. Ignore this warning, if two buildings really have the same house number.
	Multiple street names in relation	Verifies that the name tag of an associatedStreet relation matches the name tags of the members with role street and the addr:street tag of the members with role house.
	House number too far from street	Checks if the houses of an associatedStreet are far away from the corresponding street.	Verify that the house really belongs the the street that is given by the relation.
	Multiple associatedStreet relations	Checks if an object is in more than one associatedStreet relation.
Barriers and entrances		Checks for errors in ​Barriers and ​Key:entrance.
Coastlines		This test checks that ​Coastline are correct.
Conditional Keys		Tests for the correct usage of *:conditional tags.	Imprecise rules covered at ​osm wiki page "Conditional restrictions"
Crossing barriers / boundaries / ways		This test checks if two roads, railways, waterways or buildings crosses in the same layer, but are not connected by a node.	​(video) usually you need to add a common node
Duplicated nodes		This test checks that there are no nodes at the very same location.
Duplicated relations		This test checks that there are no relations with same tags and same members with same roles.
Duplicated ways		This test checks that there are no ways with same node coordinates and optionally also same tags.
Duplicated way nodes		Checks for ways with identical consecutive nodes.
Highways		Performs semantic checks on highways.
Lane tags		Test that validates lane: tags.
Tag checker (MapCSS based)		This test checks for errors in tag keys and values.
Multipolygon		This test checks if multipolygons are valid.
Missing name:* translation		This test finds multilingual objects whose name attribute is not equal to some name:* attribute and not a composition of name:* attributes, e.g., Italia - Italien - Italy.
Opening hours syntax		This test checks the correct usage of the opening hours syntax.	​common OH examples ​common mistakes ​complete OH spec
Overlapping ways		This test checks that a connection between two nodes is not used by more than one way.	​(video) Using selection, split and middle mouse
Power lines		Checks for nodes in power lines that do not have a power=tower/pole tag.
Relation checker		Checks for errors in relations.
Self-intersecting ways		This test checks for ways that contain some of their nodes more than once.
Similarly named ways		This test checks for ways with similar names that may have been misspelled.
Tag checker		This test checks for errors in tag keys and values.
Turnrestrictions		This test checks if ​turn restrictions are valid.
	Unknown role	Checks if the role for members of a turn restriction relation is either from, to (ways) or via (nodes and ways)
	Unknown member type	Verifies that only nodes and ways (and not relations) are members of a turn restriction relation.
	No "from" way found No "to" way found No "via" node or way found	Checks that all necessary elements of a turn restriction relation are present.
	More than one "from" way found More than one "to" way found More than one "via" node found	Ensures, that there is at most one way with role from and to and at most one node with role via in a turn restriction relaion.
	Cannot mix node and way for role "via"	Ensures that there is either a "via" node or multiple "via" ways, but not a mix of nodes and ways with role via.
	The "from" way does not start or end at a "via" node. The "to" way does not start or end at a "via" node. The "from" and the first "via" way are not connected. The "via" ways are not connected. The last "via" and the "to" way are not connected.	Checks if the different parts of a turn restriction relation are connected. This test is also aware of oneway streets and considers parts unconnected, if they cannot be traveled in the intended order due to the oneway restriction.	Make sure that consecutive member of a turn restriction relation are connected. (Ways must be connected end-to-end.)
	Superfluous turnrestriction as "to" way is oneway	The turn restriction is not needed, because the corresponding turn would mean to enter a oneway street from the wrong side.	Verify that the "from" and "to" ways are correctly assigned and delete the relation if it is indeed superfluous.
Unclosed Ways		This tests if ways which should be circular are closed.
Unconnected highways / natural lands and landuses / power ways / railways / waterways		This test checks if a way has an endpoint very near to another way.
Untagged and unconnected nodes		This test checks for untagged nodes that are not part of any way.
Untagged, empty and one node ways		This test checks for untagged, empty and one node ways.
Way connected to Area		Checks for ways connected to areas.
Wrongly Ordered Ways		This test checks the direction of water, land and coastline ways.
Uncategorized		Descriptions that need to be checked, updated and added to one of the categories above.
	Duplicated nodes	Checks that there are no nodes in the very same location	Merge the nodes into only one, adding the properties from all nodes to the merged one
	Duplicated way nodes	Checks that ways contain no loop edges (i.e., a single step from a node to itself)	Split the way, and delete the way consisting of the loop edge.
	Reversed coastline: land not on left side	Checks for coastlines that are not counter-clockwise or that are otherwise misplaced (coastline misused as inland lake)	Reverse coastline
	Unconnected coastline: coastline ways do not form closed loops	Checks for coastlines ways that are not connected to the end of other coastline ways
	Unordered coastline: coastline ways are not connected start-to-end	Checks for coastline ways of which either the start is not connected to the end of another coastline or the end is not connected to the start of another coastline	Reverse coastline
	Incomplete ways	Checks for ways with zero or only one node	Removes the way
	Check property keys	Checks misspelled property keys. See the words.cfg for file of misspelled property keys	Replace wrong key with right one
	Check property values	Checks misspelled property values. Uses the tagging presets file for checking	Correct spelling
	Empty properties	Checks for properties with empty values	Remove the empty properties
	Crossing ways	Checks for ways (with highway/railway/waterway tags) that crosses in same layer with no crossing node	Add appropriate layer (and possibly bridge or tunnel)
	Unordered ways	Checks that all segments in a way are properly ordered	Reorder the way
	Overlapping (high)ways	Checks for two (high)ways that share the same nodes	Remove the double (high)way
	Self-intersecting ways	Check if a way crosses itself	Remove the self-crossing, remove overlapping parts or split way
	Similar named ways	Checks for ways with very similar names, possibly a typo	Fix names or ignore false warning
	Unclosed ways	Checks that way types, which should be closed really are closed	Close unclosed ways
	Untagged ways	Checks for untagged ways	Either describe them correctly or remove ways when useless
	Way end node near other highway	End point of a way is very near to other ways	Connect the ways or when really unconnected set a 'noexit' tag to prevent further warnings
	Style for outer way mismatches	Within a multipolygon relation, one of the tags of the relation and the outer ways is shared but with different values	Copy relation related tags to the relation itself
	Style for inner way equals multipolygon	Within a multipolygon relation, one of the tags of the relation and the inner ways is shared and has the same value	Remove tag from inner way
	FIXMES	Checks for any property with the word "FIXME" inside	Resolve the mentioned issue
	Highway without a reference	Checks if there is a ​ref tag for highways that are tagged tertiary. Not always required, see for instance ​Highway	Add ref property or ignore
	Key 'x' invalid. - ...	Check for illegal key combinations, names and similar issues	Fix the issue when possible
	Nodes with the same name	Check if two nodes have equal name	Join nodes when possible, ignore otherwise
	Overlapping areas	Checks if areas overlap	Remove overlapping only when really wrong.
	Unknown propery value	Checks for proper use of tags	Remove or change incorrectly used tag
	Untagged and unconnected nodes	Checks rogue nodes	Delete unused nodes when they have no further tags
	No style in multipolygon relation	The multipolygon relation is missing a tag describing what it represents	For a building, add building=yes to the relation etc.

See also

• Validator dialog
• Some examples howto use validator
• MapCSSTagChecker - about the syntax of validator checks, which are based on MapCSS

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