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
_______________________________________________
Tagging mailing list
Tagging@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging

Reply via email to