Policies Technical standards
Tag Governance Policy
How Map.ca's structured tag system is created, governed, deprecated, and used as signal rather than label.
- Version
- 0.1.0
- Effective
- May 20, 2026
- Last reviewed
- May 20, 2026
- Review cycle
- every 12 months
- Master Policy Index entry
- §4 #20
Policy text
Tags on Map.ca are signal, not label. They power discovery, structure, accessibility, and search across verticals. The Tag Governance Policy defines who can create tags, how the taxonomy evolves, how tags get deprecated, how tags interact with the AI tag-suggestion system, and how tag governance debates stay internal rather than spilling onto user surfaces as confusing labels.
It applies to anyone proposing a new tag, the Map.ca data team that approves taxonomy changes, Pin owners who apply tags, and the AI systems that suggest tags.
Principles this policy enforces
- AI assists, people remain responsible
- Collect less, protect more
- Public data and personal data are not the same thing
- Community benefit must survive scale
What it requires
- Structure new tags according to the documented taxonomy.
- Document tag deprecation and the migration path.
- Respect the tag-as-signal principle in every Map.ca surface.
- Route AI-suggested tags through human review before adoption into the canonical taxonomy.
What it forbids
- Do not create tags whose purpose is marketing labelling.
- Do not use tags to evade moderation.
- Do not expose internal tag governance debates as user-facing labels.
- Do not let AI alone introduce tags into the canonical taxonomy.
How it applies
- Tag creators
- Pin owners using tags
- Map.ca data team
- AI tag-suggestion systems
References
- Map.ca business plan — Tag architecture
- Map.ca Policy Constitution §2 principle 8
Related policies
Discovery Fairness Policy
Explains how search and discovery work: no paid ranking, no hidden sponsorship, results based on location, tag relevance, and quality rules.
Anti-Manipulation Policy
Prevents tag stuffing, false service claims, duplicate Pins, fake locations, false reviews, mass-generated spam, and misleading listings.
Vertical Map Policy
Defines how EatMap, RealMap, PetMap, LawMap, EventsMap, DeafMap, CivicMap, and other verticals use the same Pin data without duplicate-content or trust issues.