I have come across an interesting mappable feature when out cycling last
weekend.
The ~60 km long cycling roads along the Rivers here in Japan occasionally have
city operated facilities, and similar to the centuries old “road stations” and
the more recent motorway “Service areas”, I found a “Cycle Center”, best
described at a cycling service area. Someone has mapped it as a building.
https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/184976184
<https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/184976184>
the Japanese phrase サイクリングセンター “Cycle Center” is used for these buildings. this
is a play off of the “road station” name, but tagging as
highway=cycle_service_area seems proper. This is where an east-west and
north-south cycling route cross, and the cycle center is a public facility. It
has public toilets, cycle parking, outdoor sinks, air pumps, small information
office, a room for getting out of the weather and sitting and eating lunch,
showers, a few vending machines, a nurse’s first aid room, and a (seasonal)
cycle rental service.
this sounds a lot like a motorway Service Area to me.
I know the features are mappable by themselves, and that this kind of
purpose-built facility is rare, but they seem to exist. The feature is a named
and singular mappable object with multiple amenities offered.
someone else asked this question through OSM questions.
https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/56838/bicycle-rest-area-how-do-i-map-it
<https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/56838/bicycle-rest-area-how-do-i-map-it>
his “rest area” is a picnic shelter. There are no real amenities offered there
beyond the shade and a bench. I am not talking about a bicycle parking spot
with a drinking fountain. This is why I think “bicycle_rest_area” should be
avoided - as service area implies there are actual “services" to the cyclist.
This is a purpose-built facility along the route, catering to the travellers
and their vehicles along this route, similar to a British/Japanese Parking
Area/Service area.
Saitama Prefecture (near Tokyo) operates two of these “Cycle Centers”, with
images viewable here.
http://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/a1105/910-20091204-109.html#kihon
<http://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/a1105/910-20091204-109.html#kihon>
Additional searches lead to other prefectures operating 1 or 2, so I assume
there are about 20 in Japan, when you filter out all the cycle shops using
“cycle center” in the name.
I think we should have some way of tagging a cycle center that isn’t a bike
shop or a Park, even though it is rare.
Javbw
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