On 13.03.2014 10:34, jonathan wrote: > Here's my take from an Englishman! > > While the term dirt road is used here, it is much rarer as all public > (adopted) roads in the UK are paved in some way shape or form. Most > dirt roads are probably private roads, farm tracks or paths. > > Now, back to the original question. I totally agree with Fernando, > these classifications are confusing. In English English they pretty well > mean the same thing. We should look to rationalise them.
How do you tag hiking paths which do not lead across grass or solid rock ? I use ground in these cases and if the surfaces changes every few metres between natural underground (from tree needles to rocks) > However, remember the surface tag is used elsewhere other than > roads/tracks where there may be some distinction, although I can't > imagine what the distinction may be. Exactly, how about unpaved sports` pitch and tracks (clay or dirt ?). > In general English usage there meanings rely on context but in this > context of describing a base surface to something I would go with dirt > to mean a loose surface, unpaved, water permeable, degradable surface. > Ground and earth are just too vague to be of any use. That is one major problem of vague descriptions and of overlapping meanings. I would always use unpaved. I consider dirt as a mixture of earth, mud and little rocks or thin gravel where I am not able to distinguish between earth or mud and where it is not ground as it differs from the surrounding underground. My 2 ct from a non-native speaker. fly _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging