As far as shopping center Area Places are concerned, I would be in favor of only showing Arundel Mills Mall and not Arundel Village or Arundel Mills Marketplace. The mall is a known destination - the other shopping centers not so much.

To my view, a mall or shopping center as a whole, including its parking or garages, should be an "area" place, because it is an orienting location; people want to know where they are in relationship to the Arundel Mills Mall vs. the Arundel Mills Marketplace. Significant shops within the area can then be highlighted as "point" places.

I would tend to discourage the fairly common habit of marking gas stations as "area" places; a single business location is better marked as a point. Thus, in the map above, I'd prefer that the Exxon station be marked as a point rather than an area.

My 2¢: The shopping centers display as large grey splotches on the otherwise cream background.

I'd say this isn't clutter, but rather, a representation of the large grey parking lots on an otherwise normal community.

I just drove through here the other day, and I'd say that its nice to visually recognize that the shopping centers are separate, and distinct from the major mall. Also, it can be helpful in orienting the driver, say if they pass the first shopping center on the right, before turning left onto mills drive.

One users opinion though, and I'm always a fan of less misc crap on the map (thinking PLot roads in this case).

mdswbkq wrote:To my view, a mall or shopping center as a whole, including its parking or garages, should be an "area" place, because it is an orienting location; people want to know where they are in relationship to the Arundel Mills Mall vs. the Arundel Mills Marketplace. Significant shops within the area can then be highlighted as "point" places.

I would tend to discourage the fairly common habit of marking gas stations as "area" places; a single business location is better marked as a point. Thus, in the map above, I'd prefer that the Exxon station be marked as a point rather than an area.

Your first ¶ conforms with the wiki guidance, and my opinion.
Your second ¶ is opposite the wiki guidance. The champs and a lot of editors decided that gas stations should be visible in the app, and until such a time that we can see Point Places (maybe as a Gas Station symbol), they should be area places. I happen to agree to this point.

I agree with nzahn - I like to see each distinct shopping center or strip mall as a gray area, especially prominent ones that are clearly signed with a name. That being said, I have no objection to making the two strip malls point places, but Arundel Mills Mall should definitely remain as an area place. I locked them because a number of editors kept reshaping them to the building line then drawing separate parking lot landmarks. I've lowered the lock to 3.

In general, I think that named shopping centers should be marked with some type of place in addition to the individual stores, so that the name is on record and searchable. The shopping center's name may be more useful than an address, especially if that's how the store advertises itself (for instance, a website saying "Safeway located in Arundel Village"), and since addresses are usually difficult to use in retail settings.