[OSM-newbies] Pavements and footpaths along streets

[Craig Wallace]

On 04/05/2009 17:43, Russ Nelson wrote:
> On May 3, 2009, at 6:52 AM, Craig Wallace wrote:
>    
>> I think for most pavements / footpaths / sidewalks right next to roads
>> they are not tagged. There have been a few suggestions for "sidewalk"
>> tags, but I don't think they are commonly used.
>>      
> Not commonly used is not a good reason to refrain from doing something
> good.  I think the suggestion is for sidewalk=left, sidewalk=right,
> sidewalk=both, or sidewalk=none.  The default interpretation for
> highway=residential would be sidewalk=both, and for highway=trunk it
> would be sidewalk=none.  I'm sure there are sensible defaults for
> other kinds of highways as well.
>    
I've noticed there is also a proposed "footway" tag for the same thing: 
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/Footway
Also with values footway=both/left/right/none
 From a quick check on Tagwatch (Europe) it seems to be more commonly 
used than the sidewalk tag. It also seems more consistent with the 
cycleway tag etc

I think it makes sense to have footway/sidewalk=none as default for 
most/all highways. Its better to have something missing from the map 
than to map things which aren't there. And I'm sure in some parts of the 
world, most residential streets don't have any footways/sidewalks.