Properly mapping hospitals is important to routing and for proper search results. This wiki will cover how to map a hospital, urgent care clinic, place the stop point at the appropriate location, and how to name them.
Adding a Hospital
When mapping a hospital, first identify the grounds where it is located. Many major hospitals are located on extensive grounds known as campuses or centers. These property types may include many buildings and multiple parking lots. Other hospitals are just a single building with parking. To ensure that the hospital grounds are mapped correctly, please only use information either provided by that facility's website or obtained by observation on-the-ground.
Mapping Emergency Rooms
Properly mapping a hospital's ER is very important for both routing and search results. The place point of the ER should be located at the public entrance of the ER. If the facility has a website map, it will usually indicate the location of the ER entrance.
In some cases, hospitals may operate emergency centers at locations other than the hospital itself, especially in rural areas across the US. These locations only serve one purpose; emergency care -- the entire building is an ER. In this case, map the building as an Area, and place the stop point at the patient entrance.
For the naming of the ER point, please refer to the naming section below.
Adding an Urgent Care Clinic
Urgent care centers should only be added if they truly provide walk-in (no appointment) urgent medical care services. A simple indicator to differentiate Urgent Care centers from basic walk-in clinics is whether they have in-house X-ray equipment which is a national requirement[1]
Be careful to set the hours correctly, especially for centers not open 24/7 so the client app can display to users when they are closed.
Walk-in clinics which do not provide urgent medical (e.g. stitches, basic broken bones, etc.) regardless of their name, they should not be added as an urgent care category. These places should be added like any other doctor's office.
Place point or area
The assignment of point or area is very important. For this, special rules apply.
Campus/Centers
These types of properties are mapped as areas, if needed. As with many large places, they should be mapped to the fence line of the property, including the parking lots.
Buildings on property
Often, large properties will contain buildings that house specialty clinics or individual medical practices. For these buildings, add a place point and ensure it is located at the entrance nearest to parking.
Hospital
The general hospital building should be mapped as an area. This will show the name at the hospital location, aiding navigation.
Urgent Care Clinics
Urgent Care Clinics should be mapped as an area and outline the building.
Stop Points
Campus/Centers
The stop point should be located at the main entrance (main point of access and not a side street). Many locations have signs along the road to guide visitors to location they are looking for.
Hospitals
The stop point for the hospital should be located at what would be considered the main entrance. Many hospital websites will include this in a map that they offer or via an online directory. If you are still unable to locate the main entrance, consult an SM or RC for assistance.
Categories
As indicated in Places/USA, only Hospitals, Emergency Rooms, and places offering Urgent Medical Care should use the Hospital/Medical Care category.
Clinics, and Medical offices which do not offer urgent medical care for Walk-Ins should use the Office, (and any other appropriate) category instead.
As for the campus/center areas, they should also utilize the office and other appropriate categories in relation to what is found on that property (there are instances that a university may run a hospital and the location may be on or adjacent to the university and offer classes).
Naming
Please use the following naming format for Hospital / Medical Care names
- Name the hospital Area: Hospital Name
- Name the Emergency Entrance: ER - Hospital Name
- If there is a separate ambulance entrance, please name it as: ER Ambulance Entrance - Hospital Name
Lock Level
Lock levels vary by state. Please check your states wiki page for the proper lock level of hospitals.
Parking Lot Roads
It is essential that parking lot roads (PLRs) are mapped properly to ensure proper routing. Especially with large hospitals with various place points. It is also helpful to utilize the GPS layer to get an idea of what PLRs are used the most.
Many hospitals, that are large enough, have named roads that go through it. It is important to ensure these roads are named correctly as the addresses of many buildings are tied to them.