Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
This may be too England-oriented to be generally useful but for what it is worth ... If the area of grass is a meadow or park over which there exists a large number of equivalent 'invisible' routes that could physically walked I would only use an area tag such as 'meadow' or 'park' and add 'path' for visibly walked routes. BUT ... and it is a big BUT in England and Wales ... if the area is crossed by a 'public right of way' (e.g. a 'public footpath') as defined in England and Wales then I would map the line of this (if known from acceptable sources) as highway=footway, designation=public_footpath, surface=grass, etc. whether or not the way was visible on the ground. My reasoning is (a) that it is useful and perhaps important to record the line of a way where the public has the legal right to walk and (b) that in practice many - and in some areas the majority - of public footpaths that cross pastures / fields / meadows (in particular), parkland (sometimes) and even arable / cropped land (sometimes) are not visible on the ground (even though in the case of arable land this is usually an illegal obscuration). This is so much the case that it applies quite often in my area even to named long-distance routes and to omit the segments would create unnecessary and misleading breaks in the continuity of a 'route' relationship. Just my thoughts for what they are worth .. Mike Harris -Original Message- From: Roy Wallace [mailto:waldo000...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 November 2009 21:10 To: Anthony Cc: talk@openstreetmap.org; m...@koppenhoefer.com Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs... On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 2:08 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: What if I map the entire section of grass which is within the right of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes? That's how we represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing invisible-paths, like a pedestrian mall. Not bad. But what makes that area of grass a path as opposed to just an area of grass you can walk on (e.g. landuse=meadow or something + foot=yes)? Is there a difference? I tend to think paths should be limited to elongated areas, designed for or used typically for travel (other than for large vehicles like cars), with usually a constant or slowly varying width. There's probably a better definition though. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Broadly agree but why is 'meadow' not a land use? I believe that it is - in rural England at least ... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow Mike Harris -Original Message- From: Anthony [mailto:o...@inbox.org] Sent: 01 December 2009 00:12 To: Roy Wallace Cc: talk@openstreetmap.org; m...@koppenhoefer.com Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs... On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 2:08 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: What if I map the entire section of grass which is within the right of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes? That's how we represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing invisible-paths, like a pedestrian mall. Not bad. But what makes that area of grass a path as opposed to just an area of grass you can walk on (e.g. landuse=meadow or something + foot=yes)? Is there a difference? Well, I didn't know landuse tags were routable. And landuse=meadow sounds to me like a terrible tag (meadow is not a type of usage of land). But I think the key difference is that the area of land is located in a right of way. And a second key difference is that it's useful for routing purposes. I tend to think paths should be limited to elongated areas, designed for or used typically for travel (other than for large vehicles like cars), with usually a constant or slowly varying width. There's probably a better definition though. I'd say this strip of land qualifies by that definition. Length, about 80 meters. Width: about 10-15 meters. Used quite often for pedestrian travel (it's the way you get to the park, plus school children regularly walk across it on their way to/from school). The width is fairly constant. Frankly, I don't see much point in using an area, unless you're going to use an area for basically everything. I was kind of being sarcastic about that. But whatever. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Mike Harris wrote: Broadly agree but why is 'meadow' not a land use? I believe that it is - in rural England at least ... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow meadow is a statement of what grows there landuse could be grazing or recreation or hay production ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
To quote from the wikipedia link I included Especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a haymeadow; grassland cut annually for hay I cannot see the difference between grassland cut annually for hay and hay production. By definition a meadow is not used for grazing (or there wouldn't be any hay) and only informally for recreation (lovers in the grass). Note the same wikipedia link defines 'pasture' where the land use is grazing. Mike Harris -Original Message- From: Liz [mailto:ed...@billiau.net] Sent: 01 December 2009 09:01 To: talk@openstreetmap.org Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs... On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Mike Harris wrote: Broadly agree but why is 'meadow' not a land use? I believe that it is - in rural England at least ... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow meadow is a statement of what grows there landuse could be grazing or recreation or hay production ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/12/1 Liz ed...@billiau.net On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Mike Harris wrote: Broadly agree but why is 'meadow' not a land use? I believe that it is - in rural England at least ... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow meadow is a statement of what grows there landuse could be grazing or recreation or hay production while this might be correct in Terms of language or not (see Mike Harris' post), it doesn't meet with OSM reality, where landuse and landcover are used sinonimously. Mapfeatures state that landuse is a physical feature (strange, isn't it?). cheers, Martin ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Martin Koppenhoefer dieterdre...@gmail.com wrote: 2009/12/1 Liz ed...@billiau.net On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Mike Harris wrote: Broadly agree but why is 'meadow' not a land use? I believe that it is - in rural England at least ... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow meadow is a statement of what grows there landuse could be grazing or recreation or hay production while this might be correct in Terms of language or not (see Mike Harris' post), it doesn't meet with OSM reality, where landuse and landcover are used sinonimously. Mapfeatures state that landuse is a physical feature (strange, isn't it?). Yes, de facto OSM puts lots of land cover items into landuse. That doesn't make it right. The landuse tag should be for land use or land cover, not both. Regarding the use of leisure=park to represent the ability to travel over an area, does that mean we have to cut out the areas of a park which physically can't be traveled over (a building, a pond, a marsh area)? Or should the presence of one of these (or other non-routable) features at the same layer override the routability (or change it, as I guess technically you could swim/wade across the pond :)? I took leisure=park to be a use designation. I see from the wiki it's technically a description of land cover, though, in which case I'm wrong to include a building within a park as part of the leisure=park. I never took anything other than highway (positive) and barrier (negative) to be definitive statements regarding routing. But maybe that could work. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 6:45 PM, Cartinus carti...@xs4all.nl wrote: Yes, because there are two solutions to that problem. 1) Add an extra tag in that single country that differs from the rest of the world. But don't bother all the other mappers. IMHO Don't piss off the whole world, just piss off one country is a bad solution, if there is no need to piss off anyone at all. 2) Any sufficiently sophisticated router will pre-process the data and it can do something with different national defaults. Yes, but I would like us to define what the different national defaults are, so that everyone can work off the same playbook. For example, in Noppia, bikes can do the wrong one down one way streets. One way streets are just tagged oneway, nothing special. In Stevia, they can't. We define use cases: UC1) Oneway street with bikes allowed in wrong direction UC2) Oneway street with bikes not allowed in wrong direction We have a 2x2 matrix: UC1 UC2 Noppia: oneway=true | oneway=true;bicycle=oneway Stevia: oneway=true;bicycle=twoway | oneway=true That's the table that needs to go in the wiki so that everyone understands how to code the same thing in different countries. Meanwhile the area for Noppia could be tagged bicycle_rule:wrong_way_in_oneway_permitted or whatever. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 5:36 PM, Nop ekkeh...@gmx.de wrote: It would also be possible to solve the problem generically for the whole planet. The real problem is that many people claim that there is no problem or that they have already solved it and everybody should just do as they do. +1 Several of the approaches would work on their own if they were completed to cover all use cases - but not with other interpretations using the same tags in different ways thrown in between. +1. I wonder how to proceed... ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 6:02 PM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: IMHO Don't piss off the whole world, just piss off one country is a bad solution, if there is no need to piss off anyone at all. +1 Yes, but I would like us to define what the different national defaults are, so that everyone can work off the same playbook. I'm not a fan of this solution, because usually I don't think it's necessary - not in this case, anyway (read on...). For example, in Noppia, bikes can do the wrong one down one way streets. One way streets are just tagged oneway, nothing special. In Stevia, they can't. We define use cases: UC1) Oneway street with bikes allowed in wrong direction UC2) Oneway street with bikes not allowed in wrong direction We have a 2x2 matrix: UC1 UC2 Noppia: oneway=true | oneway=true;bicycle=oneway Stevia: oneway=true;bicycle=twoway | oneway=true That's the table that needs to go in the wiki so that everyone understands how to code the same thing in different countries. Meanwhile the area for Noppia could be tagged bicycle_rule:wrong_way_in_oneway_permitted or whatever. I see your point, but WOW, that seems like a lot of extra STUFF to maintain - and we don't have a good track record with maintenance (see the wiki... :P). You don't need it. Use this, which is exactly as *already documented in the wiki*: UC1: oneway=yes; cycleway=opposite UC2: oneway=yes (see http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:oneway and http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:cycleway). ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
As an Englander who has lived, albeit briefly, in Germany I do perhaps recognise the difference between Germany and England as regards cycleways. I think - but am not certain - that Germany is relatively unusual in having a lot of cycleways that are NOT for pedestrians (foot=no) as Cartinus suggests. However, segregated cycleways are - I believe - common in both countries (and others) - i.e. there are parallel 'lanes' for cyclists and pedestrians (even if the separation / segregation is only by a painted white line - and [only in England, of course, never in Germany (;)] - often ignored by both classes of user). Rather than use something a bit complicated like highway=cycleway+footway=lane I tend to prefer the advice given in the wiki at: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:access%3Ddesignated which even addresses the dreaded snowmobile issue. In a more general vein the use of the designated= tag has 'solved' a number of related problems - at least for me. But long live chaos, anarchy and OSM ... (:) Mike Harris -Original Message- From: Cartinus [mailto:carti...@xs4all.nl] Sent: 30 November 2009 00:31 To: talk@openstreetmap.org Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs... On Sunday 29 November 2009 23:10:15 Steve Bennett wrote: Before you go, do you think there is potential at least to have consistency within each country? I'm not the one that leaves, but the answer would be yes. It's fairly simple to put foot=no on all cycleways in what is probably the only country with rules for cycleways that are so strict. The often mentioned German paths with a white line in the middle (that separates cyclists and pedestrians) could have been done with highway=cycleway+footway=lane or something similar. That is analogous to how we treat e.g. a tertiary road with cycle lanes. etc. etc. etc. The path crowd however wanted one solution for everything and can't accept that people didn't want to redo all existing tagging. Especially not in places where it simply works. The result is that some people use path as it is designed, some people don't use path at all and other people use path for what the translated word path means in their language (often some kind of unpaved footway). -- m.v.g., Cartinus ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 7:32 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: IMHO Don't piss off the whole world, just piss off one country is a bad solution, if there is no need to piss off anyone at all. +1 I see your point, but WOW, that seems like a lot of extra STUFF to maintain - and we don't have a good track record with maintenance (see the wiki... :P). You don't need it. Use this, which is exactly as *already documented in the wiki*: UC1: oneway=yes; cycleway=opposite UC2: oneway=yes You just pissed off Noppia. You just told them that every single oneway street has to be explicitly marked cycleway=opposite. The citizens of Noppia resent this, and most of them refuse to put it in. After all, they reason, everyone knows that you can ride the wrong way up any oneway street. And you reply...? Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
I'm doing a lot of mapping of pedestrian and bike paths around my area, and am having trouble deciding when to use path, when footway, and when cycleway. I'm particularly troubled by the way Potlatch describes path as unofficial path - making it sound like an unpaved line of footprints carved through the grass. I don't think highway=path means unofficial path. Though different people have interpretations, highway=path seems to be used most often for dirt paths in the countryside. An unofficial path where the landowner has allowed access (or doesn't mind access) should be tagged as highway=path *and* foot=permissive. Without the foot tag, many would assume the path's private. Could someone give me guidance on a few specific scenarios: 1) In the parks near me, there are lots of paths, which I guess were probably intended for pedestrians, but cyclists use them too. Sometimes paved, sometimes not. I've been tagging them highway=path, bicycle=yes (to be safe). I generally use footway, rather than path, for paved paths but again this is a contentious point. Do you know whether bikes can access the path? If a designated bike path, use highway=cycleway/bicycle=designated (optional). If you're not sure, use highway=footway and leave the bicycle tag out or use bicycle=unknown. 2) Multi-use paths, like in new housing developments. Usually paved, and connecting streets together. If a definite cycle path: highway=cycleway If not: highway=footway; foot=permissive; [bicycle=unknown] 3) Genuine multi-use paths along the sides of creeks or freeways. Frequently with a dotted line down the middle. Most people think of them as bike paths, but plenty of pedestrians use them too. highway=cycleway, foot=yes seems the most satisfying, but according to the definition, it should just be a path? I tend to assume it's a cycleway if the gap between two entrances ever exceeds a kilometre or so... This would simply be highway=cycleway, I think the general assumption is that pedestrians are permitted unless foot=no is added. Nick ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:29 PM, Nick Whitelegg nick.whitel...@solent.ac.uk wrote: Do you know whether bikes can access the path? If a designated bike path, use highway=cycleway/bicycle=designated (optional). If you're not sure, use highway=footway and leave the bicycle tag out or use bicycle=unknown. That's a really hard question. Reflecting my biases here, but I tend to believe I can ride my bike wherever the hell I want unless there's a sign saying otherwise. I actually find it very to objectively decide whether paths in my neighbourhood are bicycle=yes. There are some narrow laneways that I ride through - no idea if anyone else does, or whether the council expects people to. Paths through gardens and parks are the same. (I've noticed in the media sometimes a prevailing assumption that you can ride a bike on a road, or on a designated bike path...and that's it. But I think it has more to do with lack of imagination than actual restrictions.) 2) Multi-use paths, like in new housing developments. Usually paved, and connecting streets together. If a definite cycle path: highway=cycleway If not: highway=footway; foot=permissive; [bicycle=unknown] Lol. If I knew what a definite cycle path was, this thread wouldn't exist. Well, I guess if there are painted bikes on the ground, it's definite. But that's not many. This would simply be highway=cycleway, I think the general assumption is that pedestrians are permitted unless foot=no is added. I wish we could codify these general assumptions. Because they won't be universal, which means there is bad map data being generated. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:29 AM, Nick Whitelegg nick.whitel...@solent.ac.uk wrote: This would simply be highway=cycleway, I think the general assumption is that pedestrians are permitted unless foot=no is added. The crux of the matter is that this is not what the wiki says, and not what at least some in Germany would like: The UK view appears to be: foot can go anywhere (except motorways) unless you say foot=no The German view appears to be: foot can go anywhere except motorways, cycleways and bridleways And we have no way of resolving this :( ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:46 PM, Richard Mann richard.mann.westoxf...@googlemail.com wrote: The UK view appears to be: foot can go anywhere (except motorways) unless you say foot=no The German view appears to be: foot can go anywhere except motorways, cycleways and bridleways And we have no way of resolving this :( I think you just did resolve it. I guess the other alternative is to have some new concept of German bikepath and German bridleway, which all renderers will render the same, but which routers will distinguish. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 8:06 PM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 7:32 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: IMHO Don't piss off the whole world, just piss off one country is a bad solution, if there is no need to piss off anyone at all. +1 I see your point, but WOW, that seems like a lot of extra STUFF to maintain - and we don't have a good track record with maintenance (see the wiki... :P). You don't need it. Use this, which is exactly as *already documented in the wiki*: UC1: oneway=yes; cycleway=opposite UC2: oneway=yes You just pissed off Noppia. You just told them that every single oneway street has to be explicitly marked cycleway=opposite. The citizens of Noppia resent this, and most of them refuse to put it in. After all, they reason, everyone knows that you can ride the wrong way up any oneway street. And you reply...? Hmm good question... Several thoughts: 1) I told them that *the wiki recommends* that they do need to use cycleway=opposite where appropriate. 1a) This is different to *me* telling them what to do - the wiki carries more weight as it is the outcome of discussion (see the discussion page, for example). It's also where newbies go to learn how to map, and where others (me, at least) go for reference. Using a common set of guidelines like this is key to maintaining consistency. Also, importantly, if the Noppians think something is suboptimal in the wiki, and want to re-open the discussion, propose something else, etc., there are mechanisms available for that. 1b) Is it really so hard to add cycleway=opposite where applicable? Really? Maybe I'm missing something (but then again, I'm one of those strange people who have no problem adding source=* tags to everything I change). I am always a little perplexed at some people's aversion to extra tags - we have autocomplete, presets, DB compression, ... I don't think it is ever worth compromising consistency to save keystrokes. 2) They may think everyone knows the rules in Noppia, but this is unlikely to be true. e.g. what if I visit Noppia on holiday or business? What if my routing software uses the defaults for oneway=* as described in the wiki? 3) You say the citizens refuse to follow the wiki's recommendations. If they do realise that this is a problem, I cannot imagine that they would refuse to change their practices - after all, usually OSM contributors do want to contribute to a consistent i.e. useful OSM database. If they can't see that ignoring the wiki can be dangerous, then I would probably leave the room in frustration. But Steve, the point is that surely the Noppians also want to come up with a solution that gives us the best possible OSM database. Right? I would ask them: what do they think is the best way to achieve that? ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
I didn't resolve it because either the UK view or the German view (or some other view) has to be the default. What we can't agree is which should be the default. On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:52 AM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:46 PM, Richard Mann richard.mann.westoxf...@googlemail.com wrote: The UK view appears to be: foot can go anywhere (except motorways) unless you say foot=no The German view appears to be: foot can go anywhere except motorways, cycleways and bridleways And we have no way of resolving this :( I think you just did resolve it. I guess the other alternative is to have some new concept of German bikepath and German bridleway, which all renderers will render the same, but which routers will distinguish. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Steve Bennett wrote: [...] I tend to believe I can ride my bike wherever the hell I want unless there's a sign saying otherwise. That's fine for your personal decision making. However, for OSM we need to provide people with as much information as possible so they can make their own, possibly different, decisions. Record legal access rights using access=* and bicycle=* tags, and record physical characteristics using width=* and surface=* tags, and include any barrier=* on the path. Routers can choose whether only to use legal routes that way, or add to path cost where there's a bike-unfriendly barrier in the way. If you don't *know* the legal situation this gets tricky, but that's something we can clear up within each country eventually. -- Jonathan (Jonobennett) ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, 30 Nov 2009, Richard Mann wrote: I didn't resolve it because either the UK view or the German view (or some other view) has to be the default. What we can't agree is which should be the default. not at all we can have a cycleway und einen Fahrradweg ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:54 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: 1) I told them that *the wiki recommends* that they do need to use cycleway=opposite where appropriate. 1a) This is different to *me* telling them what to do - the wiki carries more weight as it is the outcome of discussion (see the discussion page, for example). It's also where newbies go to learn how Ok, to recap, I said IMHO Don't piss off the whole world, just piss off one country is a bad solution, if there is no need to piss off anyone at all. And you said: +1 (It's ok if you don't agree with the position, but you're having it both ways - saying you don't want to piss off Noppia, but then complaining when the Noppians get pissed off. to map, and where others (me, at least) go for reference. Using a common set of guidelines like this is key to maintaining consistency. Across all countries? Why? Also, importantly, if the Noppians think something is suboptimal in the wiki, and want to re-open the discussion, propose something else, etc., there are mechanisms available for that. But they're only one country. As long as there is an assumption that everyone has to follow the same rules, then there are going to be losers. 1b) Is it really so hard to add cycleway=opposite where applicable? Yep. Like I said, I refuse to add direction=clockwise to mini_roundabouts. One extra tag is a lot of extra effort, when the total number of tags you're adding is usually 2-3. Really? Maybe I'm missing something (but then again, I'm one of those strange people who have no problem adding source=* tags to everything I change). I am always a little perplexed at some people's aversion to extra tags - we have autocomplete, presets, DB compression, ... I don't think it is ever worth compromising consistency to save keystrokes. What if you had to type bicycle=yes on every single road? It would suck. How about car=yes? How about bicycle=yes;car=yes;bus=yes;surface=paved;smoothness=5;colour=black;lines=white;parking=parallel;lanes=2; on every road? 2) They may think everyone knows the rules in Noppia, but this is unlikely to be true. e.g. what if I visit Noppia on holiday or business? What if my routing software uses the defaults for oneway=* as described in the wiki? Then your routing software needs to be Noppia-compatible. And since, theoretically, we have published an RFC explaining all the international variations in an XML file, what the rules are, that's easy. 3) You say the citizens refuse to follow the wiki's recommendations. If they do realise that this is a problem, I cannot imagine that they They don't have a problem. Their maps render fine, and they know exactly how oneway streets. would refuse to change their practices - after all, usually OSM contributors do want to contribute to a consistent i.e. useful OSM Locally consistent. But Steve, the point is that surely the Noppians also want to come up with a solution that gives us the best possible OSM database. Right? I would ask them: what do they think is the best way to achieve that? That's one goal. I suspect most people's goals are more pragmatic and localised. Do I really care what the Bulgarian OSM data looks like? Not unless I'm going there. Do I care what the Melbourne data looks like? Yes. Do I care what the Melbourne bike path data looks like? Yes, a lot. Am I out of line here? Of course I want to see a globally consistent, useful database. But ultimately, I want to see the most number of users happy with their local data. And if that means tags mean something slightly different in Cambodia than they do in Ireland, then...what was the problem again? Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 8:39 PM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: I wish we could codify these general assumptions. Because they won't be universal, which means there is bad map data being generated. I think it's critical that this stuff be summarised on the wiki. Besides being highly relevant to those who want to know *how to tag things*, it might help us find a way forward out of this mess. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:58 PM, Jonathan Bennett openstreet...@jonno.cix.co.uk wrote: Steve Bennett wrote: [...] I tend to believe I can ride my bike wherever the hell I want unless there's a sign saying otherwise. That's fine for your personal decision making. However, for OSM we need to provide people with as much information as possible so they can make their own, possibly different, decisions. In case it wasn't clear, I was using the above statement to explain my difficult in judging accurately where bikes are actually allowed to go. There aren't many signs. Real observation-based tagging (surface, smoothness, width etc...) seems like less shakey ground. If you don't *know* the legal situation this gets tricky, but that's something we can clear up within each country eventually. Ok. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 8:57 PM, Richard Mann richard.mann.westoxf...@googlemail.com wrote: I didn't resolve it because either the UK view or the German view (or some other view) has to be the default. What we can't agree is which should be the default. Does it matter?? How hard is it to tag cycleways and bridleways with foot=yes/no?? I would have no problem with that, if it helped give us consistency. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:11 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: Does it matter?? How hard is it to tag cycleways and bridleways with foot=yes/no?? I would have no problem with that, if it helped give us consistency. From a purely pragmatic perspective, the more repetitive tasks you assign to people, the less likely it is that those tasks will be performed consistently. I'm not convinced that telling people how to perform a task, and getting them to do it 10,000 times will lead to 10,000 correctly performed tasks. (At about this stage, maybe someone should introduce some statistics into the discussion, like number of cycleways/footways/paths tagged in various combinations in various countries.) Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/11/29 Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 10:33 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: When is there a path and when is there not a path? I walk through an area of grass every time I go to the park near my house. Isn't that a path which is part of reality? An area of grass is - to me - not a path. A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). -1, a path is either planned and constructed (the ones you are refering to) or it creates itself by frequent use (e.g. shortcuts on grass). IMHO the latter are even more valueable to the project because they are usable but you don't find them in other maps. cheers, Martin ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:08 PM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: Am I out of line here? Of course I want to see a globally consistent, useful database. But ultimately, I want to see the most number of users happy with their local data. And if that means tags mean something slightly different in Cambodia than they do in Ireland, then...what was the problem again? Ok, let me summarise my position, before this thread derails. I think we should aim for a globally consistent database, because 1) I travel a fair bit (I've never been to Bulgaria, but maybe someday soon) 2) I do NOT want to be limited to Noppia-compatible routing software if I visit Noppia (etc.) 3) I think it's not that hard to be globally consistent - it just comes at the cost of verbosity (which is cheap) Adding tags that help clarify what I mean does not piss me off. I am quite happy to add direction=clockwise to roundabouts if necessary. Ultimately, why not aim to have direction=* applied to ALL roundabouts? I know you have a different position, which is fine. I'm surprised that you feel one extra tag is a lot of extra effort - have you tried various editor presets, auto-complete, selecting multiple entities before applying a tag, etc.? For me, your example of a road tagged with: bicycle=yes;car=yes;bus=yes;surface=paved;smoothness=5;colour=black;lines=white;parking=parallel;lanes=2 just looks like a very well-mapped road. Good job, I would say to the mapper, as they were obviously very thorough. Seriously. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/11/30 Richard Mann richard.mann.westoxf...@googlemail.com On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:29 AM, Nick Whitelegg nick.whitel...@solent.ac.uk wrote: This would simply be highway=cycleway, I think the general assumption is that pedestrians are permitted unless foot=no is added. The crux of the matter is that this is not what the wiki says, and not what at least some in Germany would like: The UK view appears to be: foot can go anywhere (except motorways) unless you say foot=no The German view appears to be: foot can go anywhere except motorways, cycleways and bridleways And we have no way of resolving this :( there is some ways to resolve this: - use a polygon (border) to determine whether the path is in Germany or in the UK - explicitly tag foot=yes in the UK or foot=no in Germany on those ways (or both for best consistency). - use path like described in the wiki and tag according to the right of ways and tags proposed cheers, Martin ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:14 PM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:11 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: Does it matter?? How hard is it to tag cycleways and bridleways with foot=yes/no?? I would have no problem with that, if it helped give us consistency. From a purely pragmatic perspective, the more repetitive tasks you assign to people, the less likely it is that those tasks will be performed consistently. I'm not convinced that telling people how to perform a task, and getting them to do it 10,000 times will lead to 10,000 correctly performed tasks. Good point, but I think it's ok to first work out how we *should* be tagging, before we assume that people will stuff it up. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:25 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer dieterdre...@gmail.com wrote: An area of grass is - to me - not a path. A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). -1, a path is either planned and constructed (the ones you are refering to) or it creates itself by frequent use (e.g. shortcuts on grass). IMHO the latter are even more valueable to the project because they are usable but you don't find them in other maps. A shortcut through grass that you can see, sure! e.g. http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/18/97/189701_92c9a5d5.jpg But if you can't see it - sorry - you're not going to convince me that there is a path. If you can see some grass, sure, map that. But just being able to walk on the grass does not turn the grass into a path. Otherwise, in any area of grass there would actually be *infinite* overlapping, criss-crossing invisible-paths. :P ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:09 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.comwrote: I think it's critical that this stuff be summarised on the wiki. Besides being highly relevant to those who want to know *how to tag things*, it might help us find a way forward out of this mess. Yep. Even if some of us don't agree that long term the usecase vs country matrix is appropriate, it would be a very useful discussion point if we could map out *current practice* this way. Oh, the French do that??? Liz wrote: we can have a cycleway und einen Fahrradweg Yep. And cycleway ~= Fahrradweg. Steve [originally sent to Roy only by mistake - still not used to mailing lists that don't have reply-to list.] ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/11/30 Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:25 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer dieterdre...@gmail.com wrote: An area of grass is - to me - not a path. A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). -1, a path is either planned and constructed (the ones you are refering to) or it creates itself by frequent use (e.g. shortcuts on grass). IMHO the latter are even more valueable to the project because they are usable but you don't find them in other maps. A shortcut through grass that you can see, sure! e.g. http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/18/97/189701_92c9a5d5.jpg But if you can't see it - sorry - you're not going to convince me that there is a path. If you can see some grass, sure, map that. But just being able to walk on the grass does not turn the grass into a path. Otherwise, in any area of grass there would actually be *infinite* overlapping, criss-crossing invisible-paths. :P Perhaps what we need here is a tag that says you can walk anyway you like within this area, Like a large town squares, playing field, etc I know that places like Scotland there is a Right to Roam but for most of us, we need to keep to paths but sometimes areas are less strict Walking routing software could see this area and take the shortest route across the area. Peter ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:28 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: I think we should aim for a globally consistent database, because 1) I travel a fair bit (I've never been to Bulgaria, but maybe someday soon) 2) I do NOT want to be limited to Noppia-compatible routing software if I visit Noppia (etc.) Consider it internationally aware software. Routing software that is aware of the local laws of each country seems obvious. We'll limit the variations as much as possible, of course. 3) I think it's not that hard to be globally consistent - it just comes at the cost of verbosity (which is cheap) I think verbosity is expensive. My experience is with Wikipedia, where everyone always thinks the labour is free. It may be free, but it's finite. And the more you get people to waste their time doing tedious busywork, the less time they spend doing useful things. Adding tags that help clarify what I mean does not piss me off. I am quite happy to add direction=clockwise to roundabouts if necessary. Ultimately, why not aim to have direction=* applied to ALL roundabouts? Sure, by all means, have that tag applied. But forcing someone to manually add it when the roundabout in question is in a left-drive country is insulting. Maybe the client could add it automatically. I don't know. I know you have a different position, which is fine. I'm surprised that you feel one extra tag is a lot of extra effort - have you tried various editor presets, auto-complete, selecting multiple entities before applying a tag, etc.? Auto-complete, yes, and I still think plus-s-o-enter-n-enter is too many keystrokes to add source=nearmap. (It's even worse in josm: alt+b-s-o-tab-n-enter). Maybe I need to use josm to do something like search for everything I've touched that has no source and bulk-update. But that could make mistakes. Will investigate editor presets. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/11/30 Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:09 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.comwrote: I think it's critical that this stuff be summarised on the wiki. Besides being highly relevant to those who want to know *how to tag things*, it might help us find a way forward out of this mess. Yep. Even if some of us don't agree that long term the usecase vs country matrix is appropriate, it would be a very useful discussion point if we could map out *current practice* this way. Oh, the French do that??? +1 Emilie Laffray ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:45 AM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: Liz wrote: we can have a cycleway und einen Fahrradweg Yep. And cycleway ~= Fahrradweg. Steve There are umpteen ways of resolving it. The problem is that we don't have a process for agreeing which. I wouldn't go for a different highway value personally. Richard ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/11/30 Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com A shortcut through grass that you can see, sure! e.g. http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/18/97/189701_92c9a5d5.jpg But if you can't see it - sorry - you're not going to convince me that there is a path. +1, I completely agree with you. Only visible paths (where visibility indicates frequent use, if it is not in use, there won't be a visible trail). I guess I misunderstood you before. cheers, Martin ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:51 PM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:28 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: I think we should aim for a globally consistent database, because 1) I travel a fair bit (I've never been to Bulgaria, but maybe someday soon) 2) I do NOT want to be limited to Noppia-compatible routing software if I visit Noppia (etc.) Consider it internationally aware software. Routing software that is aware of the local laws of each country seems obvious. Um...what??? That will not write itself. Do you expect us to successfully digitize and maintain a database of all laws of all countries? In a wiki, even? That's ambitious! I'd prefer to stick to mapping what's on the ground. 3) I think it's not that hard to be globally consistent - it just comes at the cost of verbosity (which is cheap) I think verbosity is expensive. My experience is with Wikipedia, where everyone always thinks the labour is free. It may be free, but it's finite. And the more you get people to waste their time doing tedious busywork, the less time they spend doing useful things. I agree that tedious busywork is not good. But we have computers - surely we're able to use presets etc. so that more verbosity/explicitness requires negligible amounts of additional labour. Let's get the tagging schemes right first. Seriously, it's not going to be a big deal to e.g. add foot=yes/no to cycleways. Look at the big picture - we're making a map of the entire world. We're trying to find the best and easiest way to do it. Remember that additional labour adding foot=yes/no can *avoid* future labour spent sorting out messes like this one. And it can give us a better quality result. Adding tags that help clarify what I mean does not piss me off. I am quite happy to add direction=clockwise to roundabouts if necessary. Ultimately, why not aim to have direction=* applied to ALL roundabouts? Sure, by all means, have that tag applied. But forcing someone to manually add it when the roundabout in question is in a left-drive country is insulting. Maybe the client could add it automatically. I don't know. Well, I don't find it insulting. And yes, the client (editor) could certainly add it automatically. Remember that we are also not limited to current versions of current editors - editors can be improved. Let's get the tagging right first - editor improvements will follow. I think we shouldn't tag for the editor (if you know what I mean) :P ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:38 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: Um...what??? That will not write itself. Do you expect us to successfully digitize and maintain a database of all laws of all countries? What do you think? Work with me, here. In a wiki, even? That's ambitious! I'd prefer to stick to mapping what's on the ground. I agree that tedious busywork is not good. But we have computers - surely we're able to use presets etc. so that more verbosity/explicitness requires negligible amounts of additional labour. Yes...macros and scripts are always a first step in improving usability. Smarter data structures and algorithms, and better analysis of needs and solutions is the next. Let's get the tagging schemes right first. Seriously, it's not going to be a big deal to e.g. add foot=yes/no to cycleways. You: It's easy to add foot=yes. Me: It's hard to get everyone to consistently add foot=yes. Just so we're clear on that. Can we move on? Let's get the tagging right first - editor improvements will follow. If by get the tagging right you mean analyse the problem, work out what people are doing, and come up with the most efficient set of tags for people to use, then yes. But I don't think you mean that. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 6:39 AM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:25 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer dieterdre...@gmail.com wrote: An area of grass is - to me - not a path. A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). -1, a path is either planned and constructed (the ones you are refering to) or it creates itself by frequent use (e.g. shortcuts on grass). IMHO the latter are even more valueable to the project because they are usable but you don't find them in other maps. A shortcut through grass that you can see, sure! e.g. http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/18/97/189701_92c9a5d5.jpg But if you can't see it - sorry - you're not going to convince me that there is a path. If you can see some grass, sure, map that. But just being able to walk on the grass does not turn the grass into a path. Otherwise, in any area of grass there would actually be *infinite* overlapping, criss-crossing invisible-paths. :P What if I map the entire section of grass which is within the right of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes? That's how we represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing invisible-paths, like a pedestrian mall. On the right is a road. On the left is a lake. In the middle, is a path, made out of grass. It's probably not much wider than the road. And only about half of it is within the right of way. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 3:08 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: What if I map the entire section of grass which is within the right of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes? That's how we represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing invisible-paths, like a pedestrian mall. I'm kind of hoping future routers will assume people can walk anywhere within parks, if it saves time. For most of the parks I've been dealing with, it would make far more sense to map the occasional barrier rather than all the open space. (I confess I've been dreaming of a super-router that plots a path, then quickly walks you through it, checking that you're happy with its decisions...) Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:20 AM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 3:08 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: What if I map the entire section of grass which is within the right of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes? That's how we represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing invisible-paths, like a pedestrian mall. I'm kind of hoping future routers will assume people can walk anywhere within parks, if it saves time. For most of the parks I've been dealing with, it would make far more sense to map the occasional barrier rather than all the open space. Maybe, but this isn't in the park. This is on the way to the park. The way. Ha. No pun intended. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Anthony wrote: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 6:39 AM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:25 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer dieterdre...@gmail.com wrote: An area of grass is - to me - not a path. A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). -1, a path is either planned and constructed (the ones you are refering to) or it creates itself by frequent use (e.g. shortcuts on grass). IMHO the latter are even more valueable to the project because they are usable but you don't find them in other maps. A shortcut through grass that you can see, sure! e.g. http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/18/97/189701_92c9a5d5.jpg But if you can't see it - sorry - you're not going to convince me that there is a path. If you can see some grass, sure, map that. But just being able to walk on the grass does not turn the grass into a path. Otherwise, in any area of grass there would actually be *infinite* overlapping, criss-crossing invisible-paths. :P What if I map the entire section of grass which is within the right of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes? That's how we represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing invisible-paths, like a pedestrian mall. On the right is a road. On the left is a lake. In the middle, is a path, made out of grass. It's probably not much wider than the road. And only about half of it is within the right of way. I think that is probably covers some of the 'paths' that I need to describe. They are really large areas of grass which can be walked across to get to other points, rather than a 'tag' on the side of a near by road using the road to do the 'pedestrian' routing is simply wrong but so also is drawing an imaginary additional set of ways except where they are specifically marked. -- Lester Caine - G8HFL - Contact - http://lsces.co.uk/wiki/?page=contact L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/ Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk// Firebird - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 2:08 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: What if I map the entire section of grass which is within the right of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes? That's how we represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing invisible-paths, like a pedestrian mall. Not bad. But what makes that area of grass a path as opposed to just an area of grass you can walk on (e.g. landuse=meadow or something + foot=yes)? Is there a difference? I tend to think paths should be limited to elongated areas, designed for or used typically for travel (other than for large vehicles like cars), with usually a constant or slowly varying width. There's probably a better definition though. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:47 PM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: Um...what??? That will not write itself. Do you expect us to successfully digitize and maintain a database of all laws of all countries? What do you think? Work with me, here. I think that would be a nightmare, and would not work. If anything, it would introduce MORE inconsistency due to 1) difficulty maintaining the lawbook and 2) a more complicated set of guidelines and more complicated wiki, making it even LESS likely that people will follow it consistently. As I've said, I'd prefer to stick to *mapping what's on the ground*, *according to the guidelines in the wiki*. This is the only way to get global consistency, which I think is important for the reasons I've already described. Let's get the tagging schemes right first. Seriously, it's not going to be a big deal to e.g. add foot=yes/no to cycleways. You: It's easy to add foot=yes. Me: It's hard to get everyone to consistently add foot=yes. Just so we're clear on that. Can we move on? Me: It *will be* easy to get everyone to consistently add foot=yes when: 1) I can convince you guys that this approach is the best way to get global consistency, and that that's important; 2) people realise that editors can be used to avoid additional keystrokes and so there is actually no cost in adding foot=yes; 3) this mess is sorted out, and the guidelines for path/footway/cycleway are consolidated and improved (made clear) Re: 3), I often hear people say it's such a mess, I gave up asking on the email list and now I just use cycleway when [ insert custom definition ]. Let's get the tagging right first - editor improvements will follow. If by get the tagging right you mean analyse the problem, work out what people are doing, and come up with the most efficient set of tags for people to use, then yes. But I don't think you mean that. I do mean that! Assuming that, by most efficient, you mean most likely to result in a complete and consistent map of the Earth. And before you say but that's not necessarily efficient, part of being likely to result in a good outcome is that mappers remain motivated to contribute - so this does take into account that the tags have to be satisfying to use. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Monday 30 November 2009 22:25:36 Roy Wallace wrote: 1) I can convince you guys that this approach is the best way to get global consistency, and that that's important; 2) people realise that editors can be used to avoid additional keystrokes and so there is actually no cost in adding foot=yes; I've been told that when OSM started (I wasn't involved then) that every motorway had to be tagged horse=no+foot=no+bicycle=no. There is a reason they stopped doing that. -- m.v.g., Cartinus ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Roy Wallace wrote: Routing software that is aware of the local laws of each country seems obvious. Um...what??? That will not write itself. Do you expect us to successfully digitize and maintain a database of all laws of all countries? In a wiki, even? That's ambitious! I'd prefer to stick to mapping what's on the ground. If we map what's on the ground, then we create a map database containing here is an oneway sign, over there is a cycleway sign. That's nice, but if I want to do routing with this, I need information such as can I use way w in direction d with vehicle v? - and in order to know this, I need another database that tells me what a sign means in that part of the world (for example: are pedestrians allowed to walk on ways with a cycleway sign?). If we don't want a traffic law database, then we need to tag the required information directly. But then mappers don't just map physical reality. They interpret the signs (and other information) using their - hopefully correct - knowledge of the laws. Both can work, but /someone/ has to do the transfer from reality to road network attributes - either software (using a traffic laws DB) or humans (mapping more than just what's on the ground). Tobias Knerr ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 7:55 AM, Cartinus carti...@xs4all.nl wrote: On Monday 30 November 2009 22:25:36 Roy Wallace wrote: 1) I can convince you guys that this approach is the best way to get global consistency, and that that's important; 2) people realise that editors can be used to avoid additional keystrokes and so there is actually no cost in adding foot=yes; I've been told that when OSM started (I wasn't involved then) that every motorway had to be tagged horse=no+foot=no+bicycle=no. There is a reason they stopped doing that. The reason is that that's *globally* redundant. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Roy Wallace wrote: On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 7:55 AM, Cartinus carti...@xs4all.nl wrote: On Monday 30 November 2009 22:25:36 Roy Wallace wrote: 1) I can convince you guys that this approach is the best way to get global consistency, and that that's important; 2) people realise that editors can be used to avoid additional keystrokes and so there is actually no cost in adding foot=yes; I've been told that when OSM started (I wasn't involved then) that every motorway had to be tagged horse=no+foot=no+bicycle=no. There is a reason they stopped doing that. The reason is that that's *globally* redundant. not exactly correct. We do have highway marked motorway in Au where bicycles are allowed. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 8:16 AM, Tobias Knerr o...@tobias-knerr.de wrote: Roy Wallace wrote: Routing software that is aware of the local laws of each country seems obvious. Um...what??? That will not write itself. Do you expect us to successfully digitize and maintain a database of all laws of all countries? In a wiki, even? That's ambitious! I'd prefer to stick to mapping what's on the ground. If we map what's on the ground, then we create a map database containing here is an oneway sign, over there is a cycleway sign. That's nice, but if I want to do routing with this, I need information such as can I use way w in direction d with vehicle v? - and in order to know this, I need another database that tells me what a sign means in that part of the world (for example: are pedestrians allowed to walk on ways with a cycleway sign?). If we don't want a traffic law database, then we need to tag the required information directly. But then mappers don't just map physical reality. They interpret the signs (and other information) using their - hopefully correct - knowledge of the laws. Both can work, but /someone/ has to do the transfer from reality to road network attributes - either software (using a traffic laws DB) or humans (mapping more than just what's on the ground). Good points. You did find a flaw in my argument - that I was sort of advocating exhaustive tagging as well as only mapping what's on the ground. Funnily enough, I actually find both of these extremes acceptable. But that's not the point... The point I was making was that it should *not* be necessary to *require* a database of all laws of all countries to know what highway=cycleway means. There should be one definition that is consistent for the whole world. For example, this path is marked with a sign with a bicycle symbol on it. If people also want to put in exhaustive information inferred from a law book, I'd prefer they go ahead and use foot=no + source:foot=lawbook. If people prefer to leave out the inferred information, and instead write routers with country-specific defaults, that's cool, too. But highway=cycleway tags in the OSM database should all mean the same thing. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 8:57 AM, Liz ed...@billiau.net wrote: On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Roy Wallace wrote: On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 7:55 AM, Cartinus carti...@xs4all.nl wrote: On Monday 30 November 2009 22:25:36 Roy Wallace wrote: 1) I can convince you guys that this approach is the best way to get global consistency, and that that's important; 2) people realise that editors can be used to avoid additional keystrokes and so there is actually no cost in adding foot=yes; I've been told that when OSM started (I wasn't involved then) that every motorway had to be tagged horse=no+foot=no+bicycle=no. There is a reason they stopped doing that. The reason is that that's *globally* redundant. not exactly correct. We do have highway marked motorway in Au where bicycles are allowed. Ok, rephrased: the reason they stopped is because it wasn't necessary. Obviously, we have a problem here. I'm suggesting some solutions. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Roy Wallace wrote: On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 8:57 AM, Liz ed...@billiau.net wrote: On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Roy Wallace wrote: On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 7:55 AM, Cartinus carti...@xs4all.nl wrote: On Monday 30 November 2009 22:25:36 Roy Wallace wrote: 1) I can convince you guys that this approach is the best way to get global consistency, and that that's important; 2) people realise that editors can be used to avoid additional keystrokes and so there is actually no cost in adding foot=yes; I've been told that when OSM started (I wasn't involved then) that every motorway had to be tagged horse=no+foot=no+bicycle=no. There is a reason they stopped doing that. The reason is that that's *globally* redundant. not exactly correct. We do have highway marked motorway in Au where bicycles are allowed. Ok, rephrased: the reason they stopped is because it wasn't necessary. Obviously, we have a problem here. I'm suggesting some solutions. I'm not sure that those roads (Hume Highway) should be marked as motorway, but got no comment on the talk-au list when i asked for comments. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Roy Wallace wrote: The point I was making was that it should *not* be necessary to *require* a database of all laws of all countries to know what highway=cycleway means. There should be one definition that is consistent for the whole world. For example, this path is marked with a sign with a bicycle symbol on it. If people also want to put in exhaustive information inferred from a law book, I'd prefer they go ahead and use foot=no + source:foot=lawbook. If people prefer to leave out the inferred information, and instead write routers with country-specific defaults, that's cool, too. But highway=cycleway tags in the OSM database should all mean the same thing. Do you only suggest that there should be exactly one meaning per tag, or would you also want the same tags to be used all over the world? It makes a difference for possible approaches like using highway=Fahrradweg (or DE:cycleway or any other value that isn't exactly cycleway) for German cycleways, as that would still be one meaning per tag. Tobias Knerr ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Various comments: I'm not sure that those roads (Hume Highway) should be marked as motorway, but got no comment on the talk-au list when i asked for comments. The Hume *Freeway* is definitely a motorway. There are places between Melbourne and Sydney where it's just a highway, but it's dual carriage almost the whole way through Victoria. The Western Freeway also allows bikes. (And for anyone who hasn't tried it, riding on a motorway has some serious slipstreaming benefits!) This is one area where national defaults won't help - you'd have to get down to local rules. I've referred to Jurisdictions a few times for this reason. I imagine US states are possibly even more individual. Would we go as far as councils/municipalities? Probably not. (Although, as I mentioned somewhere earlier, the City of Melbourne prohibits bike riding in parks, while other councils don't. My preferred solution would be tag paths in the former as footway, and in the latter as cycleway). The point I was making was that it should *not* be necessary to *require* a database of all laws of all countries This statement is unnecessarily scary. Database. All laws. All countries. Like I said, think about it. Of course not. The variations are minor, and represent a tiny proportion of the traffic laws of each country. And we could certainly have defaults that most countries match. Remember, the goal here is to have a situation where the most intuitive and convenient way to tag stuff where people live is as consistent as possible with the rest of the world. A cultural/legal matrix is the right way to do that. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 9:34 AM, Tobias Knerr o...@tobias-knerr.de wrote: Roy Wallace wrote: The point I was making was that it should *not* be necessary to *require* a database of all laws of all countries to know what highway=cycleway means. There should be one definition that is consistent for the whole world. For example, this path is marked with a sign with a bicycle symbol on it. If people also want to put in exhaustive information inferred from a law book, I'd prefer they go ahead and use foot=no + source:foot=lawbook. If people prefer to leave out the inferred information, and instead write routers with country-specific defaults, that's cool, too. But highway=cycleway tags in the OSM database should all mean the same thing. Do you only suggest that there should be exactly one meaning per tag, or would you also want the same tags to be used all over the world? It makes a difference for possible approaches like using highway=Fahrradweg (or DE:cycleway or any other value that isn't exactly cycleway) for German cycleways, as that would still be one meaning per tag. One meaning per tag is essential. If a German cycleway is *different* in some important way to a UK (or whatever) cycleway, it should ultimately be tagged *differently*. I find this obvious. The details of how they should be tagged are of secondary importance. To answer your question specifically, I don't have so much of a problem with highway=fahrradweg, though I doubt that's the best way to do it. If highway=fahrradweg at least has the same meaning in all usages, it would be an improvement! ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, 1 Dec 2009, Steve Bennett wrote: I'm not sure that those roads (Hume Highway) should be marked as motorway, but got no comment on the talk-au list when i asked for comments. The Hume Freeway is definitely a motorway. There are places between Melbourne and Sydney where it's just a highway, but it's dual carriage almost the whole way through Victoria. The Western Freeway also allows bikes. (And for anyone who hasn't tried it, riding on a motorway has some serious slipstreaming benefits!) i agree with you there are many km of Hume Highway in NSW which are marked as motorway, when they are technically not so, they are a high quality dual carriageway. But there are no flyovers, traffic can cross the lanes to enter and leave the road. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/12/1 Tobias Knerr o...@tobias-knerr.de Roy Wallace wrote: The point I was making was that it should *not* be necessary to *require* a database of all laws of all countries to know what highway=cycleway means. +1. even if for implicit regulations this would be needed, at least the consensus could be (like you suggested) that cycleway is a marked cycleway. Whether I'm allowed to use it with a 25ccm motorcycle (mofa) or not, could be optionally tagged or considered as implicitly given by local law. Do you only suggest that there should be exactly one meaning per tag, or would you also want the same tags to be used all over the world? what do you mean by this? The meaning is always different. Do we need different tags for roads in the UK because the drive on the left? IMHO no. cheers, Martin ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/12/1 Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com I've referred to Jurisdictions a few times for this reason. I imagine US states are possibly even more individual. Would we go as far as councils/municipalities? Probably not. (Although, as I mentioned somewhere earlier, the City of Melbourne prohibits bike riding in parks, while other councils don't. My preferred solution would be tag paths in the former as footway, and in the latter as cycleway). no, I wouldn't tag all ways in a park as cycleways, just because you can also ride a bike. I would tag both as footway (or service if big enough for cars to drive, with access-tags) and put bicycle=yes/no aside, as long as they are not dedicated cycleways. cheers, Martin ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 2:08 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: What if I map the entire section of grass which is within the right of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes? That's how we represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing invisible-paths, like a pedestrian mall. Not bad. But what makes that area of grass a path as opposed to just an area of grass you can walk on (e.g. landuse=meadow or something + foot=yes)? Is there a difference? Well, I didn't know landuse tags were routable. And landuse=meadow sounds to me like a terrible tag (meadow is not a type of usage of land). But I think the key difference is that the area of land is located in a right of way. And a second key difference is that it's useful for routing purposes. I tend to think paths should be limited to elongated areas, designed for or used typically for travel (other than for large vehicles like cars), with usually a constant or slowly varying width. There's probably a better definition though. I'd say this strip of land qualifies by that definition. Length, about 80 meters. Width: about 10-15 meters. Used quite often for pedestrian travel (it's the way you get to the park, plus school children regularly walk across it on their way to/from school). The width is fairly constant. Frankly, I don't see much point in using an area, unless you're going to use an area for basically everything. I was kind of being sarcastic about that. But whatever. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/12/1 Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com One meaning per tag is essential. it depends what this meaning is. If you intend by meaning: cycleway is a way with a bicycle-sign: fine, if you intent that all access rights should be implicitly and globally given: no. If a German cycleway is *different* in some important way to a UK (or whatever) cycleway, it should ultimately be tagged *differently*. I find this obvious. what's the difference? Minimum width differs 5 cm? Kind of sign? Forbidden to pedestrians? Obligatory for bicycles? Forbidden to 25ccm? Blue lines instead of white ones? If every smallest difference will cause another top-tag, we'll get thousands of them. cheers, Martin ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
2009/12/1 Anthony o...@inbox.org I'd say this strip of land qualifies by that definition. Length, about 80 meters. Width: about 10-15 meters. Used quite often for pedestrian travel (it's the way you get to the park, plus school children regularly walk across it on their way to/from school). The width is fairly constant. what about highway=pedestrian, area=yes, surface=grass? Frankly, I don't see much point in using an area, unless you're going to use an area for basically everything. in the end yes. cheers, Martin ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 7:38 AM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: That will not write itself. Do you expect us to successfully digitize and maintain a database of all laws of all countries? In a wiki, even? That's ambitious! I'd prefer to stick to mapping what's on the ground. You can map what's on the ground, then. But in order to make a decent routing application, someone is going to have to maintain a database of certain laws in any states they wish for their routing application to work. There's really no question about that. The only question is whether you want to store that information in every single element of the database, or store it once for each jurisdiction. I vote for once for each jurisdiction. But I vote strongly against doing so using a wiki. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 10:14 AM, Martin Koppenhoefer dieterdre...@gmail.com wrote: If a German cycleway is *different* in some important way to a UK (or whatever) cycleway, it should ultimately be tagged *differently*. I find this obvious. what's the difference? Minimum width differs 5 cm? Kind of sign? Forbidden to pedestrians? Obligatory for bicycles? Forbidden to 25ccm? Blue lines instead of white ones? If every smallest difference will cause another top-tag, we'll get thousands of them. If you're indicating something that might be useful for someone (e.g. foot=yes/no), then yes, it should ultimately be recorded. Eventually. And yes, eventually, I would expect OSM will have more tags than it does now, as the scope of the project expands (note this doesn't mean it has to expand illogically, or without structure). ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:25 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:47 PM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: Um...what??? That will not write itself. Do you expect us to successfully digitize and maintain a database of all laws of all countries? What do you think? Work with me, here. I think that would be a nightmare, and would not work. If anything, it would introduce MORE inconsistency due to 1) difficulty maintaining the lawbook and 2) a more complicated set of guidelines and more complicated wiki, making it even LESS likely that people will follow it consistently. As I've said, I'd prefer to stick to *mapping what's on the ground*, *according to the guidelines in the wiki*. This is the only way to get global consistency, which I think is important for the reasons I've already described. If the law of one jurisdiction says bicycles are allowed on all roads except freeways, and the law of another jurisdiction says bicycles are allowed on all roadways with speed limits less than 45, and there aren't any signs on the ground making people aware of this, and we don't want to maintain a database of laws, what are we to do? I like the idea of mapping only what's on the ground. But it can be taken to far. Does anyone honestly suggest that we shouldn't tag a road's name using any knowledge other than what's literally on the ground - on a street sign? Should we really do away with pretty much all boundary=* tags altogether (or replace them with nodes at the points where there are signs)? Map what's on the ground is a good guideline, but there have to be exceptions. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 11:21 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: I vote for once for each jurisdiction. But I vote strongly against doing so using a wiki. Not quite sure what you're voting against. I would suggest using the wiki to collect and organise information on jurisdictional varations, current tagging practice, and proposed practice, then codifying that information in something like XML. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Richard Fairhurst wrote: Steve Bennett wrote: Instinctively, I want to tag it a cycleway...but there's absolutely nothing to justify that. Nowhere will you see any primacy given to cycling over walking. Conundrum. highway=cycleway doesn't mean cycles have priority. It just means it's intended for pedestrian and cycle use. There's no suggestion of primacy for either. (Incidentally, I missed out the footnote from my last mail, which was going to say that in some countries (like the UK) cycles are permitted on bridleways; nonetheless it's most sensible to treat highway=bridleway as a path for pedestrian and horse use, and tag over and above that if it's a cyclable one.) http://www.horsedata.co.uk/Jargon.htm I think nicely covers most of the options. But 'cycleway' is still a rather woolly term, with many specially constructed cycle routes using that term only for a fully-segregated cycle route, however sustrans.org.uk works on the basis that the national cycle network is also for 'walkers, wheelchair uses and horseriders' and this is where the 'path' designation sort of came from since many vehicle free routes are not footway, cycleway or bridalway. Personally I would only use cycleway where the 'path' was specifically restricted to cycles for reasons of safety - such as the segregated routes that form part of a main vehicle way, lanes on the side such as described in http://www.cycling.bham.ac.uk/other/RoadDesignTerminology.shtml but at this point we are getting back to the 'micromapping' question on when does a single 'way' get replaced with a group of parallel ways each with their correct designation . around here it is the footpaths which do not follow directly the 'roadway' and many of them are 'pavements' where cycling is specifically banned. -- Lester Caine - G8HFL - Contact - http://lsces.co.uk/wiki/?page=contact L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/ Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk// Firebird - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Hi! Cartinus schrieb: On Sunday 29 November 2009 01:34:19 Nop wrote: 2) AFAIK the only attempt at a neutral display of the different opinions is here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Consolidation_footway_cycleway_path That page is far from neutral, because the only solutions it offers are doing something with the path tag. It is an attempt. If you find something missing or have another suggestion for a solution, why don't you add it? bye Nop ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Not to suggest that there is a 'right' or a 'wrong' approach - but merely to note that I (England mostly) - and I believe some others in England and perhaps elsewhere) have a different approach - this is, I stress, what I currently do - and has evolved as a result of my own (limited) experience in mapping and participation in various group discussions: 1. All ways that are not available other than to pedestrians are highway=footway - whether urban paved footways or rural unpaved 'footpaths'. Even a rural 'footpath' that is barely discernible where it crosses, for example, pasture, is highway=footway if it is a legal public footpath. 2. Highway=path is only used for a route - usually ill-defined and often in upland areas where the precise legal line of a public footpath is often less meaningful than the customary route (e.g. up a mountain) - in the sense that people walk it. 3. Highway=track is used similarly for something that is wider and, at least in principle, available for use by a four-wheeled (off-road e.g. a farm tractor) vehicle. 3. I would then define legal status, where known, using a designated= tag and surface condition using a combination of tracktype= and/or surface= as appropriate. I would also add ref= where the reference number of the way was known. 4. I would always add foot=yes (or at least foot=permissive) for clarity and also add bicycle ¦ horse = yes ¦ permissive ¦ no as appropriate. 5. I would reserve highway=cycleway for something that was (a) built primarily for use by bicycles - whether beside a motor road or not and was (b) (only relevant in England and Wales) not a public footpath/bridleway/byway (as these have legally defined rights for different classes of user). I would then add foot=yes (unless pedestrians were actually forbidden) for additional clarity and perhaps an indication as to whether it was a shared way for cyclists and walkers or a longitudinally divided dual use way. 6. I would use a route relation to define medium- / long-distance routes - e.g. a long-distance path or a national/regional cycleway - adding names and reference numbers to the relation. Again, I stress, this is just what I do - in the interest of transparency - and not in any way to suggest that it is better or worse than what Lesi or anyone else has adopted. This is OSM - the ultimate popular democracy! Have fun mapping! Mike Harris -Original Message- From: Lesi [mailto:l...@lesi.is-a-geek.net] Sent: 28 November 2009 14:29 To: talk@openstreetmap.org Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs... The footway/cycleway/path choas is the one of the biggest drawbacks of OSM. Here's my approach: - A footway is a mostly paved way in a city. It's a way which was mostly built by an authority. You can walk on it safely in high heels. - A path is a narrow way, which is mostly not paved and was not built by somebody. This can be short cuts in cities, ways in a forest which are to narrow to be tagged as tracks or hiking trails in the mountains. If it's raining you could get dirty shoes. You can indicate that the path is (not) suitable for bikes with bicycle=yes/no. You can ride with your bike everywhere in my area, so I do not use cycleway. lesi ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
1) Re: connecting paths across small grass areas - don't mark a path where there isn't one, and especially don't do it for the purpose of trying to make routers work better. Map reality - that will always work best in the long term. (just my personal preference) IMHO accessible paths *must* be marked, because it's impossible to write a router that will guess correctly. I agree that it would be preferable not to have these hints to the router appear in the renderer, and to be distinguished somehow. I'd almost be inclined to invent a tag with a clearly whimsical name like highway=invisible_path (to avoid adding to the chaos). Or even highway=none bicycle=yes etc. 2) Re: when to use path/footway/cycleway etc. - firstly, I prefer highway=path because it is more extensible. Any highway=footway/cycleway/bridleway can be expressed in terms of a highway=path with additional access tags. Yes. You have spelt out exactly what is wrong with this approach, with the terms can be expressed...with additional...tags. Succinct is good. Semantically rich tags are good. In this way, using highway=path can be more explicit, because of ongoing disagreements in the definition of footway/cycleway/bridleway. 3) Re: what does TAG really mean? - rather than everyone giving their personal opinion on e.g. what highway=path means, for new users I would strongly recommend reading the wiki carefully and using that. The wiki (in my perusal thus far) suffers from a lack of consistency and a lack of authority. There's nowhere that says THIS is what a path is, and nothing else. Like Wikipedia's policies, for example. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Btw - no need for highway=grass, why not use highway=path (or =footway, see previous message) + surface=grass (which seems well-established). Mike Harris -Original Message- From: Anthony [mailto:o...@inbox.org] Sent: 29 November 2009 04:30 To: Roy Wallace Cc: talk@openstreetmap.org Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs... On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: The following, IMHO, are not sufficient reasons to tag an area of grass as a path: 1) you walk on it; 2) you think it would help routing. Analogy: 1) Just because you sit on something, that doesn't make it a chair; 2) Just because you want others to be recommended to sit on it, that doesn't make it a chair. Bad analogy. If I look in a dictionary under chair, there is no definition which says a thing that is sat upon. But if I look under path, there is a definition which says a route, course, or track along which something moves. A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). Usually, or always? Um... so the question is, if you can't see a path, can it still be a path? No, my question was whether you really meant to use the word usually. Answer: No, because otherwise your mapping is not verifiable: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Verifiability. The fact that an area of land is within a legally defined right of way is verifiable. The fact that it is suitable for travel is verifiable. The fact that people use it for travel is verifiable. I suppose in that sense I can *see* that it resembles a path. Oh, and if you like highway=grass, use that! I like highway=path. More general. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 9:13 AM, Mike Harris mik...@googlemail.com wrote: Btw - no need for highway=grass, why not use highway=path (or =footway, see previous message) + surface=grass (which seems well-established). I was just proposing a compromise. I don't care what the tags are so long as they are well-defined. highway=qwijibo (or highway=invisible_path) is fine with me. The wiki right now says that highway=path is to be used for paths, which is incredibly unhelpful. There are also some examples, which suggest to me that a path, as used by OSM, means essentially any highway (place open to the public where people travel) which doesn't fall under another highway=* tag. If I thought the wiki was a productive work environment, I'd try to add that more specific definition there. But I don't. If that isn't the definition, then I propose highway=highway, to have that definition. Personally, I don't see much sense distinguishing between different types of highways except in areas where there is a formal legal designation. Number of lanes should be represented by lanes=*. Maximum speed should be represented by maxspeed=*. Surfaces can be described with surface=*. Access is determined by access=*. Importance can then be determined, objectively, during a preprocessing stage which factors in all these conditions along with the physical connections. It should then be the job of computers to combine all those elements together and decide what colors to paint things. I don't see that happening, so I'll just make my best guess as to which highway=* tag to use, and not particularly worry about it (except when someone tells me that I can't use *any* of the highway=* tags for something which ought to be in the routing network). ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sunday 29 November 2009 09:31:27 Nop wrote: It is an attempt. If you find something missing or have another suggestion for a solution, why don't you add it? Because I am not allowed to. The page starts with stating that if you don't agree with the problem, then you are not allowed to contribute. Then it tells us about all the problems that the old fuzzy definitions cause. Next it barely recognises that the path tag isn't perfect either. I am of the opinion that the old fuzzy definitions weren't a problem at all and the path tag should only be used for things that really don't fit in them. (Like the snowmobile trail.) -- m.v.g., Cartinus ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sunday 29 November 2009 19:37:08 Nop wrote: Hi! Cartinus schrieb: I am of the opinion that the old fuzzy definitions weren't a problem at all and the path tag should only be used for things that really don't fit in them. (Like the snowmobile trail.) I guess you are right. Adding a sixth contradictory opinion probably will not help. If you negate the existence of a problem that has been widely confirmed, you're not likely to contribute to a solution. bye Nop Except that I am far from alone with my opinion. See e.g. Richards explanation somewhere at the start of this thread and the widespread opposition the path tag gets. -- m.v.g., Cartinus P.S. Please keep list discussions on the list. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Hi! Cartinus schrieb: If you negate the existence of a problem that has been widely confirmed, you're not likely to contribute to a solution. Except that I am far from alone with my opinion. See e.g. Richards explanation somewhere at the start of this thread and the widespread opposition the path tag gets. EVERY contradictory interpretation has a substantial number of followers - that IS the problem. Richards view works only in the UK and fails terribly in Germany and other countries. But sorry, I really am fed up with the pointless discussions on this matter, so I'll refrain from plucking apart the details. It has all been said before. bye Nop ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Nop ekkeh...@gmx.de wrote: EVERY contradictory interpretation has a substantial number of followers - that IS the problem. Richards view works only in the UK and fails terribly in Germany and other countries. But sorry, I really am fed up with the pointless discussions on this matter, so I'll refrain from plucking apart the details. It has all been said before. Before you go, do you think there is potential at least to have consistency within each country? Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sunday 29 November 2009 23:10:15 Steve Bennett wrote: Before you go, do you think there is potential at least to have consistency within each country? I'm not the one that leaves, but the answer would be yes. It's fairly simple to put foot=no on all cycleways in what is probably the only country with rules for cycleways that are so strict. The often mentioned German paths with a white line in the middle (that separates cyclists and pedestrians) could have been done with highway=cycleway+footway=lane or something similar. That is analogous to how we treat e.g. a tertiary road with cycle lanes. etc. etc. etc. The path crowd however wanted one solution for everything and can't accept that people didn't want to redo all existing tagging. Especially not in places where it simply works. The result is that some people use path as it is designed, some people don't use path at all and other people use path for what the translated word path means in their language (often some kind of unpaved footway). -- m.v.g., Cartinus ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Cartinus wrote: It's fairly simple to put foot=no on all cycleways in what is probably the only country with rules for cycleways that are so strict. Indeed. The often mentioned German paths with a white line in the middle (that separates cyclists and pedestrians) could have been done with highway=cycleway+footway=lane or something similar. highway=cycleway, segregated=yes . There are zillions of these in Britain too. (I'd also observe that it's already accepted that you parse highway values according to the country. A UK primary road is not the same at all as a French voie express, but both of them are tagged with highway=trunk.) cheers Richard -- View this message in context: http://old.nabble.com/Path-vs-footway-vs-cycleway-vs...-tp26551214p26568023.html Sent from the OpenStreetMap - General mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sunday 29 November 2009 22:53:58 Nop wrote: Richards view works only in the UK and fails terribly in Germany and other countries. Richards view works in a lot more countries than the UK. You can see it even works in Germany by just looking at how Germany is currently mapped. Fuzzy logic is flexible and extensible, that's why it works. Where it doesn't work is in the minds of people who want one rigid solution that solves everything in total detail. A solution that preferably looks like some programming logic. -- m.v.g., Cartinus ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Richard Fairhurst rich...@systemed.net wrote: Cartinus wrote: It's fairly simple to put foot=no on all cycleways in what is probably the only country with rules for cycleways that are so strict. Indeed. Yeah, but from the point of view of a resident of that country, doing the mapping...why should I put 'foot=no' on every cycleway? that's so redundant! I have a similar issue with the suggestion that I'm supposed to mark every mini_roundabout direction=clockwise. I refuse. Some day the renderers and routers will get smart enough to figure out that EVERY mini_roundabout goes clockwise in this country, and every other left-drive country. So do we just need a more managed approach to interjurisdictional variation? We have some ad hoc tables for things like freeways. Why not make this approach more structured, and possibly encoded, so that we can use plain old cycleway in different countries, and have a table that explains to routers what that means? Currently the definitions on each page are very vague, as they try and capture commonalities across all countries, even though actual practice is more specific. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Hi! Cartinus schrieb: On Sunday 29 November 2009 22:53:58 Nop wrote: Richards view works only in the UK and fails terribly in Germany and other countries. Richards view works in a lot more countries than the UK. You can see it even works in Germany by just looking at how Germany is currently mapped. Fuzzy logic is flexible and extensible, that's why it works. Let me apply your logic to a different use case. Just imagine that in my country there is a law that generally allows bicycles to use a one-way road in both directions. So I would define one-way as mainly or exclusively intended for use in one direction, bicycles may use both and I claim that this is sufficient. If you have a more rigid law where one-way is strictly for all vehicles, it does not matter, fuzzy logic is good. Right? I don't think so. But again, it is a waste of time to discuss whether there is a problem at all when we have chaotic and contradictory tagging for very basic use cases. That is a problem. bye Nop ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Hi! Steve Bennett schrieb: Before you go, do you think there is potential at least to have consistency within each country? It would be possible to solve the problem for each country. It would also be possible to solve the problem generically for the whole planet. The real problem is that many people claim that there is no problem or that they have already solved it and everybody should just do as they do. Several of the approaches would work on their own if they were completed to cover all use cases - but not with other interpretations using the same tags in different ways thrown in between. bye Nop ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Monday 30 November 2009 08:29:22 Nop wrote: Let me apply your logic to a different use case. Just imagine that in my country there is a law that generally allows bicycles to use a one-way road in both directions. So I would define one-way as mainly or exclusively intended for use in one direction, bicycles may use both and I claim that this is sufficient. If you have a more rigid law where one-way is strictly for all vehicles, it does not matter, fuzzy logic is good. Right? Yes, because there are two solutions to that problem. 1) Add an extra tag in that single country that differs from the rest of the world. But don't bother all the other mappers. 2) Any sufficiently sophisticated router will pre-process the data and it can do something with different national defaults. -- m.v.g., Cartinus P.S. Gosmore ignores oneway for bicycle routing, but not for car routing. One wonders why? ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Le samedi 28 novembre 2009, Steve Bennett a écrit : 1) In the parks near me, there are lots of paths, which I guess were probably intended for pedestrians, but cyclists use them too. Sometimes paved, sometimes not. I've been tagging them highway=path, bicycle=yes (to be safe). If you use highway=path and not highway=footway, then you should also add foot=yes (or even foot=designated if appropriate). If I understand correctly http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway=path adding a bicycle=yes to a highway=path means that only bicycles are allowed (whereas highway=path alone would mean any non-motorized vehicle). -- Renaud Michel ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
highway=path foot=yes bicycle=no mtb=yes highway=footway implies foot=designated and highway=cycleway implies bicycle=designated. foot=yes means you can walk there while designated means it's the primary choise of route for pedestrians. See also http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:smoothness Konrad 2009/11/28 Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com: [...] 6) Places where a bike is probably permissible, but most people wouldn't ride. (But I would :)) I'm not sure where the division of responsibility for correctly handling bike routing lies, between the OSM data, and the routing software. Is there any software smart enough to give options like how far are you willing to push the bike or are you willing to cut across grass? etc. An example is at a university I used to ride through to get to work. I used to ride around the side of an oval, and cut down through some trees on an a true unofficial path - basically mountain biking. Do you mark it in as an unofficial walking path, and tag it with appropriate mountain biking paths, and assume the bike routing software is smart enough not to route city bikes that way? Maybe I'm looking for a distinction between bicycle=no and bicycle=forbidden. [...] ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Steve This is a big topic that has been very extensively discussed in this group (and elsewhere). There is quite a range of opinion and, perhaps inevitably, to some extent the opinions reflect (a) whether mappers see themselves primarily as walkers, cyclists or ... mappers! and (b) the geographical location of the mapper. The UK (or at least England and Wales) has developed a quite sophisticated system based around the local legislation on public rights of way - but, given your reference to Albert Park, you will probably want to stand this on its head (:). There are quite a lot of tags to look at: Highway= Surface= Tracktype= Foot ¦ Bicycle ¦ Motorcar = yes ¦ permissive ¦ no Designated = I wont bore you with my own practice (and this will perhaps avoid starting up once more one of the long discussions we've had) beyond saying that I would recommend that you avoid the use of highway=path except for very ill-defined and unofficial paths (in your own words an unpaved line of footprints carved through the grass) and give preference to highway=footway ¦ track ¦ cycleway. Given the controversies over the relative rights and priorities for different classes of user (e.g. foot ¦ bicycle ¦ horse) and the large regional differences between what is or is not permitted on different classes of way (ranging from everyman's right to wander as in Germany and most Nordic countries) to the strictly legalistic public rights of way system in England where there is only a legal right where this is recorded and defined) I would suggest that useful general guidelines are: - record what is there on the ground by observation of state or signage. - do not tag to make the maps render nicely - the renderers will eventually catch up with what mappers do. - add legal rights where you are sure about them e.g. by using the designation= tag. - be as explicit as possible as to what class of user may be able to use the way (whether in practice or by right) as this will help clarify where one person might call something a 'footway' and another a 'cycleway' - something like foot=yes, bicycle=permissive is at least fairly explicit. Before I get flamed - these are only my ideas and others may well differ - but I've tried to keep it general as to practice and geography ... Give my regards to Melbourne! Mike Harris -Original Message- From: Steve Bennett [mailto:stevag...@gmail.com] Sent: 28 November 2009 08:24 To: talk@openstreetmap.org Subject: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs... Hi all, (Apologies if this is the wrong list - still getting my head around them all. Or this has been discussed extensively, please point me at it)... I'm doing a lot of mapping of pedestrian and bike paths around my area, and am having trouble deciding when to use path, when footway, and when cycleway. I'm particularly troubled by the way Potlatch describes path as unofficial path - making it sound like an unpaved line of footprints carved through the grass. Could someone give me guidance on a few specific scenarios: 1) In the parks near me, there are lots of paths, which I guess were probably intended for pedestrians, but cyclists use them too. Sometimes paved, sometimes not. I've been tagging them highway=path, bicycle=yes (to be safe). 2) Multi-use paths, like in new housing developments. Usually paved, and connecting streets together. 3) Genuine multi-use paths along the sides of creeks or freeways. Frequently with a dotted line down the middle. Most people think of them as bike paths, but plenty of pedestrians use them too. highway=cycleway, foot=yes seems the most satisfying, but according to the definition, it should just be a path? I tend to assume it's a cycleway if the gap between two entrances ever exceeds a kilometre or so... 4) In Albert Park (home of the grand prix) near me, there are lots of sealed paths that are wide enough for a car. They're normally blocked off, and used mainly by contractors before and after the grand prix. The rest of the time, they're used by pedestrians and cyclists. I had marked them highway=unclassified but now I think highway=track surface=paved would be better? 5) Non-existent paths, but places where access is possible. For example, a bike path passes close to the end of a cul-de-sac. There's no actual paved or dirt path, but a cyclist could easily cross a metre or two of grass (possibly dismounting). It seems crucial for routing to make connections here. So I've been adding highway=path. Is there a better tag? 6) Places where a bike is probably permissible, but most people wouldn't ride. (But I would :)) I'm not sure where the division of responsibility for correctly handling bike routing lies, between the OSM data, and the routing software. Is there any software smart enough to give options like how far are you willing to push the bike or are you willing to cut across grass? etc. An example is
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
I'm doing a lot of mapping of pedestrian and bike paths around my area, and am having trouble deciding when to use path, when footway, and when cycleway. I'm particularly troubled by the way Potlatch describes path as unofficial path - making it sound like an unpaved line of footprints carved through the grass. highway=footway - a path intended for pedestrian use highway=cycleway - a path intended for pedestrian and cycle use highway=bridleway - a path intended for pedestrian and horse use[1] Useful tags you can add to modify the above: * access tags such as foot or bicycle. (So highway=cycleway, foot=no would cover the rare case of a cycleway from which pedestrians are banned.) * designation=whatever - for the official status of a path. (For example, in the UK, you might have highway=bridleway, designation=restricted_byway.) * surface=tarmac | grass | dirt | gravel | whatever highway=path is an invention of the wikifiddlers and not needed in 99% of cases. The one case that isn't adequately covered by the above is what some people call pathways of desire - informal shortcuts that were never really laid out as a footpath. Like you say, an unpaved line of footprints carved through the grass. So: 1) In the parks near me, there are lots of paths, which I guess were probably intended for pedestrians, but cyclists use them too. highway=footway. You could add cycle=yes if bikes are permitted to use them; or upgrade to highway=cycleway if they have the width/surface etc. that characterises a cycleway. 2) Multi-use paths, like in new housing developments. Usually paved, and connecting streets together. highway=cycleway. 3) Genuine multi-use paths along the sides of creeks or freeways. Frequently with a dotted line down the middle. Most people think of them as bike paths, but plenty of pedestrians use them too. highway=cycleway. If there's a dotted line you could add segregated=yes. 4) In Albert Park (home of the grand prix) near me, there are lots of sealed paths that are wide enough for a car. They're normally blocked off, and used mainly by contractors before and after the grand prix. The rest of the time, they're used by pedestrians and cyclists. I had marked them highway=unclassified but now I think highway=track surface=paved would be better? Without knowing the exact place, probably something like: highway=service, access=private, bicycle=permissive, foot=permissive 5) Non-existent paths, but places where access is possible. For example, a bike path passes close to the end of a cul-de-sac. There's no actual paved or dirt path, but a cyclist could easily cross a metre or two of grass (possibly dismounting). It seems crucial for routing to make connections here. So I've been adding highway=path. Is there a better tag? highway=path is well-suited for this. 6) Places where a bike is probably permissible, but most people wouldn't ride. (But I would :)) I'm not sure where the division of responsibility for correctly handling bike routing lies, between the OSM data, and the routing software. Is there any software smart enough to give options like how far are you willing to push the bike or are you willing to cut across grass? etc. cyclestreets.net is an OSM-based routing site with an option for pushing your bike, so yes, there is. 7) Big open concrete spaces that are eminently navigable by pedestrians and cyclists, but aren't exactly pedestrian malls. I have no idea about landuse types so will leave this to others! All IMO, of course. I've cross-posted this to the tagging@ list which is better suited for this kind of discussion. cheers Richard ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Thanks all, these are very good replies. I'll have to ponder for a bit. One complication that I should perhaps have mentioned is at the moment I'm doing a lot of the mapping based on NearMap aerial maps, so I can't actually observe local practice to see what's going on. Which is why I'm inferring as much as possible from things like the location of the path: near houses, or in the middle of the bush... Sometimes you can make out painted bike signs on the ground, sometimes you can't. Another tricky aspect is that the rules about what bikes can do vary from council to council. It came up in the news recently that if you ride a bike in a park in the City of Melbourne (ie, the most central suburb), it's a $200 fine. No other inner city suburb bans bikes from parks... I'm still a bit confused by the notion of a cycleway - perhaps because we don't use that term here at all, we say bike path. OSM is obviously an empirical process, and empirically, there is very little or no difference between a footpath and a bike path: they're both paved, about a metre wide, and connect useful places together. In the absence of signs, I don't see how there would be any satisfactory way to decide whether something was a cycleway or a footway, if those are the only two choices. And with so little to distinguish them, there must be a big grey area. I guess I've seen true cycleways in places like the Netherlands, where it's a genuine single-purpose path between two villages, crowded with bikes. But there is barely anything like that here - it's always multi-purpose. As an example: http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/RoadsAndProjects/RoadProjects/WesternSuburbs/DeerParkBypass.htm Now, in common language, everyone would refer to this as a bike path. It clearly has great interest to cyclists, as does the whole network of trails. But there's nothing about it that says it's a bike path - it's called a wellness trail and is for walking and cycling. Instinctively, I want to tag it a cycleway...but there's absolutely nothing to justify that. Nowhere will you see any primacy given to cycling over walking. Conundrum. Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Steve Bennett wrote: Instinctively, I want to tag it a cycleway...but there's absolutely nothing to justify that. Nowhere will you see any primacy given to cycling over walking. Conundrum. highway=cycleway doesn't mean cycles have priority. It just means it's intended for pedestrian and cycle use. There's no suggestion of primacy for either. (Incidentally, I missed out the footnote from my last mail, which was going to say that in some countries (like the UK) cycles are permitted on bridleways; nonetheless it's most sensible to treat highway=bridleway as a path for pedestrian and horse use, and tag over and above that if it's a cyclable one.) cheers Richard ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 12:14 AM, Richard Fairhurst rich...@systemed.net wrote: highway=footway - a path intended for pedestrian use highway=cycleway - a path intended for pedestrian and cycle use highway=bridleway - a path intended for pedestrian and horse use[1] Boy, I like this way of thinking. Of course, it must be controversial given the preceding comments, but it does make a lot of sense. Not really sure what a bridleway is in practice, but we do have rail trails that allow all three modes, and a couple of long distance trails that allow all three, but are really best suited to horses (too far between camps for walkers, too rough for cyclists). * access tags such as foot or bicycle. (So highway=cycleway, foot=no would cover the rare case of a cycleway from which pedestrians are banned.) I've used this a few times. It crops up in my area where there are two distinct paths, one for bikes and one for pedestrians, and they follow slightly different routes. (See the Bay Trail between St Kilda and Elwood, Victoria, Australia for example...) To expand on the semantics of what you posted: highway=footway - purpose built path for pedestrians highway=cycleway - purpose built path for pedestrians and/or cyclists, with all the characteristics of a bike path (no steps, no kerbs, width 1m), no restrictions against bikes Agree? Then we can keep it totally empirical and objective, without worrying about whether the thing is labelled xxx bike path or was intended for that purpose. In particular, I'm thinking of lots of paths that were built with pedestrians in mind, before the cycling revolution came along... highway=cycleway doesn't mean cycles have priority. It just means it's intended for pedestrian and cycle use. There's no suggestion of primacy for either. Cool. So again, cycleway is a statement of the quality and attributes of the path, rather than implying any design decisions, rules, usage etc. Next question: how popular is this viewpoint? Is this a minority way of thinking? Steve ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
The footway/cycleway/path choas is the one of the biggest drawbacks of OSM. Here's my approach: - A footway is a mostly paved way in a city. It's a way which was mostly built by an authority. You can walk on it safely in high heels. - A path is a narrow way, which is mostly not paved and was not built by somebody. This can be short cuts in cities, ways in a forest which are to narrow to be tagged as tracks or hiking trails in the mountains. If it's raining you could get dirty shoes. You can indicate that the path is (not) suitable for bikes with bicycle=yes/no. You can ride with your bike everywhere in my area, so I do not use cycleway. lesi ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Underwater bicycling, the next Olympic sport... ---Original Email--- Subject :Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs... From :stevag...@gmail.com Date :Sat Nov 28 08:24:57 America/Chicago 2009 (Australian bias showing, I'm unable to conceive of the idea of cycling from one country to another...) -- John F. Eldredge -- j...@jfeldredge.com Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all. -- Hypatia of Alexandria ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 9:24 AM, Steve Bennett stevag...@gmail.com wrote: Ok, since I'm new here, You're new here? Welcome to OSM. I'll ask the obvious question: does it matter whether this stuff is done the same across different countries? Is it not ok if cycleway has slightly different semantics in different jurisdictions? A map is an abstraction and can not hope to perfectly represent all of the wonderful variations of 'things' we see. There are likely to be several ways to do some of the things that you want to do. Some of these variations will have subtle benefits and some will be matters of personal preference. Others will be noticeably different than what you will see in other jurisdictions. Look to see what other are doing locally and in similar places. Learn and adapt what you see as best practice in other places. Have fun. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Saturday 28 November 2009 14:37:12 Steve Bennett wrote: Next question: how popular is this viewpoint? Is this a minority way of thinking? It was the only viewpoint before highway=path was invented. Now it is one of several competing viewpoints without a clear winner. -- m.v.g., Cartinus ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
I have a couple of thoughts: 1) Re: connecting paths across small grass areas - don't mark a path where there isn't one, and especially don't do it for the purpose of trying to make routers work better. Map reality - that will always work best in the long term. (just my personal preference) 2) Re: when to use path/footway/cycleway etc. - firstly, I prefer highway=path because it is more extensible. Any highway=footway/cycleway/bridleway can be expressed in terms of a highway=path with additional access tags. In this way, using highway=path can be more explicit, because of ongoing disagreements in the definition of footway/cycleway/bridleway. 3) Re: what does TAG really mean? - rather than everyone giving their personal opinion on e.g. what highway=path means, for new users I would strongly recommend reading the wiki carefully and using that. I'm sure there are plenty of mappers who read the wiki and nothing else, and if consistency is the goal, I think the wiki should serve to document the current consensus as well as current disagreements. Of course, the wiki needs improving, and I personally think we should make this a priority. See, for example, some of the latest efforts to improve the situation: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Consolidation_footway_cycleway_path ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 9:21 AM, Liz ed...@billiau.net wrote: On Sun, 29 Nov 2009, Roy Wallace wrote: I would strongly recommend reading the wiki carefully and using that. but Roy, the wiki is written by committee and it is a good example of the failure of the committee process the minority report cannot be distinguished from the majority report so a newbie reading the wiki is just going to become confused when it is a non-vehicular way I think you missed my point - let me clarify. If a newbie asks hey guys, what's a footway? and they get 50 responses saying well, I think it's... and well I've been using... and no, no, it's really..., that will get us nowhere. Plus, what about the newbies who *don't ask?!* The newbie reading these conflicting responses either 1) becomes confused, or 2) begins to think that best practice is to invent your own meaning for existing tags and then pass this secret knowledge on to only the newbies who ask via email. This is not a good outcome. Please let me stress that I am not saying the wiki is in a good state! But it is the best thing to refer to as a reference for tag meanings, because it is *documented*. That is, for the 10,000's of mapper who are out there adding footways right now and are *not on this list*, one must assume they are doing so on the basis of the definition in the wiki. That is certainly what I did and will continue to do. So if consistency is the goal, you cannot rely on various personal opinions that exist only in people's minds and in email discussions from time to time (which no doubt only a small proportion of mappers ever read). You must write it down for reference. And if what's written down has flaws, they must be fixed. Note also that by the wiki serving as a reference I do not mean that the wiki page for, say, footway must give only the one true definition. It should 1) document the usage of tags as they occur in the database, 2) detail any ongoing controversy and 3) if a consensus exists, give a clear recommendation on how the tag should be used by new mappers. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 6:01 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: I have a couple of thoughts: 1) Re: connecting paths across small grass areas - don't mark a path where there isn't one, and especially don't do it for the purpose of trying to make routers work better. Map reality - that will always work best in the long term. (just my personal preference) When is there a path and when is there not a path? I walk through an area of grass every time I go to the park near my house. Isn't that a path which is part of reality? 3) Re: what does TAG really mean? - rather than everyone giving their personal opinion on e.g. what highway=path means, for new users I would strongly recommend reading the wiki carefully and using that. A generic path, either multi-use, or unspecified usage. Umm, okay. I take that to mean anything course of travel that isn't covered by one of the other highway tags. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
Hi! Roy Wallace schrieb: The newbie reading these conflicting responses either 1) becomes confused, or 2) begins to think that best practice is to invent your own meaning for existing tags and then pass this secret knowledge on to only the newbies who ask via email. This is not a good outcome. The newbie - who usually assumes that there is a simple and straightforward answer to the simple question how to I tag a footway - becomes confused - and frustrated that such a basic thing is unsolved and not looking like it's going to be solved one of these years. To the newcomer, this is somewhere between unexpected and crazy. So if consistency is the goal, you cannot rely on various personal opinions that exist only in people's minds and in email discussions from time to time (which no doubt only a small proportion of mappers ever read). You must write it down for reference. And if what's written down has flaws, they must be fixed. No help there. The major contractiory interpretations of the tags around this topic are all documented in the wiki in contradictory ways. It just depends on which page you find first and what conlusions you derive from rather fuzzy definitions. Note also that by the wiki serving as a reference I do not mean that the wiki page for, say, footway must give only the one true definition. It should 1) document the usage of tags as they occur in the database, 2) detail any ongoing controversy and 3) if a consensus exists, give a clear recommendation on how the tag should be used by new mappers. 1) The same tags are used with up to 5 different meanings - usually one wiki page only states one interpretation, but there are many different pages. 2) AFAIK the only attempt at a neutral display of the different opinions is here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Consolidation_footway_cycleway_path 3) There has never been anything approaching a consensus. Not even close. The discussion has been going around in circles since I first thought there had to be a simple answer to a simple question. Which is about a year. :-) bye Nop ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 10:33 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: When is there a path and when is there not a path? I walk through an area of grass every time I go to the park near my house. Isn't that a path which is part of reality? An area of grass is - to me - not a path. A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). 3) Re: what does TAG really mean? - rather than everyone giving their personal opinion on e.g. what highway=path means, for new users I would strongly recommend reading the wiki carefully and using that. A generic path, either multi-use, or unspecified usage. Umm, okay. I take that to mean anything course of travel that isn't covered by one of the other highway tags. That's fair enough. My main point was that you can at least be assured that other mappers are using the same documentation (the wiki as a whole) to decide how to tag their ways. If you ask on this email list, you cannot be assured of that. As an aside, about highway=path...the definition of generic is descriptive of all members of a genus, so I take it to mean that - quite intuitively - all paths are a kind of path, regardless of whether you can ride a bicycle or walk or snowmobile on them :) But I'm not going to get into this discussion again - instead let's go and improve http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Consolidation_footway_cycleway_path ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 10:34 AM, Nop ekkeh...@gmx.de wrote: So if consistency is the goal, you cannot rely on various personal opinions that exist only in people's minds and in email discussions from time to time (which no doubt only a small proportion of mappers ever read). You must write it down for reference. And if what's written down has flaws, they must be fixed. No help there. The major contractiory interpretations of the tags around this topic are all documented in the wiki in contradictory ways. It just depends on which page you find first and what conlusions you derive from rather fuzzy definitions. I know. I didn't mean to say the *content* of the wiki is necessarily good, just that I think the *concept* of the wiki is a better way to aim for consistency than throwing around personal opinions from time to time. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sunday 29 November 2009 01:34:19 Nop wrote: 2) AFAIK the only attempt at a neutral display of the different opinions is here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Consolidation_footway_cycleway_path That page is far from neutral, because the only solutions it offers are doing something with the path tag. On Sunday 29 November 2009 02:15:14 Roy Wallace wrote: That's fair enough. My main point was that you can at least be assured that other mappers are using the same documentation (the wiki as a whole) to decide how to tag their ways. If you ask on this email list, you cannot be assured of that. Actually you can't, because there is a whole horde of experienced mappers that gave up on the wiki-mess. But they do speak up from time to time on the mailinglists. -- m.v.g., Cartinus ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 8:15 PM, Roy Wallace waldo000...@gmail.com wrote: On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 10:33 AM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: When is there a path and when is there not a path? I walk through an area of grass every time I go to the park near my house. Isn't that a path which is part of reality? An area of grass is - to me - not a path. Never? Or just not generally? What if the grass is slightly bare? http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/18/97/189701_92c9a5d5.jpg Cut short? http://www.agrigarden.co.nz/Data/Media/Images/Path%20through%20grass%20resize.jpg http://img2.allposters.com/images/PTGPOD/GPBO05-3171-001-FB.jpg Through an otherwise impassible area? http://www.chimacumwoods.com/images/Path%20to%20south.JPG Marked by a sign? http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/images/5/52/PathSnowmobile.jpg A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). Usually, or always? Usually, fine, I agree. Always, that just doesn't coincide with my definition of path. To me, the fact that you can usually recognize a path is an effect, not a cause. If there were some other tag for me to use (say highway=grass), fine. But none of the other highway tags are appropriate, and the routing information needs to be designated somehow. The area of grass I have in mind exists in a legal right of way. It's not like I'm talking about cutting through someone's backyard. It's a perfectly legitimate path of travel. It should provided in walking directions. And that means having some sort of highway tag. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 12:20 PM, Anthony o...@inbox.org wrote: An area of grass is - to me - not a path. Never? Or just not generally? I'll rephrase. The following, IMHO, are not sufficient reasons to tag an area of grass as a path: 1) you walk on it; 2) you think it would help routing. Analogy: 1) Just because you sit on something, that doesn't make it a chair; 2) Just because you want others to be recommended to sit on it, that doesn't make it a chair. The only reason I would tag an area of grass as a path is if, when I asked a typical stranger, hey, is that over there a path?, they replied yes. If I ask is this a chair?...you get the picture. In that sense, of course, the photos you linked to are paths. Common sense. A path, IMHO, is something that exists independently of people walking or not walking on it (i.e. usually you can *see* that it resembles a path). Usually, or always? Um... so the question is, if you can't see a path, can it still be a path? Answer: No, because otherwise your mapping is not verifiable: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Verifiability. If there were some other tag for me to use (say highway=grass), fine. But none of the other highway tags are appropriate, and the routing information needs to be designated somehow. The area of grass I have in mind exists in a legal right of way. It's not like I'm talking about cutting through someone's backyard. It's a perfectly legitimate path of travel. It should provided in walking directions. And that means having some sort of highway tag. I don't have an easy answer for your problem. I would urge caution, though, in tagging things that aren't verifiable. Actually, I remember trekking recently, using an OSM map, that connected one track to another. The tracks actually *weren't connected* in any way other than through a short stint through dense forest. This is the problem: when you tag in order to have things provided in walking directions, this can lead you astray. Oh, and if you like highway=grass, use that! ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk