> Everywhere I've been in the US or Canada a dirt 'way' too narrow for a 4 > wheel vehicle is called a trail, path, or single track. For the most part > they are appropriately (IMO) tagged as path. Unfortunately the wiki says > this for highway:path (the highlighting is mine): > > A non-specific path. Use highway=footway for paths mainly for walkers, > highway=cycleway for one also usable by cyclists, highway=bridleway for ones > available to horse riders as well as walkers and highway=track for ones which > is passable by agriculture or similar vehicles. > > I think it makes no sense to call a dirt path, open to more than 1 user > group, anything other than a path. Since about 98% of the trail tagging > that I've seen seems to agree, Is there consensus on this? Perhaps if the > international group likes the description as is, a clarification on the US > road tagging wiki page? > https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/United_States_roads_tagging
TL;DR: As a mapper, I'm willing to map it according to others' preferences. As a data consumer, I need to be prepared to accept either scheme. Here in Upstate New York, when I got started tagging trails not knowing any better, I used highway=path, througout, with access tags as appropriate for foot, bicycle, ski, horse, ATV, and snowmobile, and surface=ground for the trails that are on variable natural surfaces. I found that the early ones I mapped were being routinely edited to 'footway.' When I consulted the Wiki, like the others here, I found enough conflicting information that I simply decided to adopt 'footway' for those that are single-use hiking trails (plus adding ski=* when appropriate), since obviously some local mapper felt strongly about the issue, and I didn't. I still use 'path' for the not-too-rare situation around me where the way is intended as a hiking trail, but MTB use is permitted or at least tolerated, and relatively skilled MTB riders are seen fairly frequently. (The ones I have in mind are obviously not for beginners!) It seems very odd to call such a thing a cycleway, and highway=footway bicycle=yes is kind of a strange combination. The winter situation is complicated; I use foot=conditional:no @ snow (I may have misspelt) for the trails that exclude snowshoers in the winter. Otherwise ski=* and snowmobile=* cover most of the issues. Many of the trails are open to skiers and snowmobilists in the winter. Some, but not all, snowmobile trails exclude snowshoers for safety, and some, but not all, ski trails exclude walkers so as not to mess up the surface. (There's also a law that snowshoes or skis are required once the snow is 20 cm deep, but I follow "don't tag the local legislation". There's nothing in that law regarding crampons, but any time I've been using crampons and met a ranger, the ranger was also using them and said nothing about it.) As a data consumer, I treat 'highway=path foot=yes motor_vehicle=no' and 'highway=footway' as synonyms.Since both are in common use, I have to be prepared to accept both. Not a huge worry for me, since I know about it. _______________________________________________ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
