<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">The “direction” tag [1] has different uses that seem disjoint to me.<div class=""><ol class=""><li class="">To specify the orientation (compass point or degrees from north) of an object (adit or cave entrance, etc.). </li><li class="">To specify direction (clockwise/counterclockwise) around a roundabout (not sure why this is needed as it should be apparent from local laws or specified with a “oneway=yes”).</li><li class="">To indicate the direction (forward/backward) a stop or yield (give way) sign has effect along a way.</li></ol></div><div class=""><div class="">Oddly, that third use seems only for stop and yield signs but not for traffic signals where a “traffic_signals:direction=forward | backward” tag is to be used. However that seems to be the most used form [2]. Apparently some have figured that if we have “traffic_signals:direction” there should be “stop:direction” [3] and “give_way:direction” [4] tags.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">And other things where a direction like tag might be used, like roof aspect have their own tags (“roof:direction=*”) [5] which follow the syntax and semantics of the first definition of the “direction=*” tag.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It seems to me that the first and the third definitions should be split into separate tags with the second definition deprecated.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">From a data consumer point of view, there may not be a conflict as map rendering is likely to only use the bearing definition while routing would use the forward/backward definition. Though I suppose that a really detailed map may wish to show the actual angle of a stop or yield sign as they are not necessarily exactly aligned with the traveled way. From a mapper’s point of view having totally different meanings for a tag based on context seems confusing.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Since the “forward” and “backward” values are most used, it may be reasonable to keep the third definition of that tag even though it is inconsistent with “traffic_signals:direction”.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Should we come up with a new tag to replace the angle/aspect meaning of the “direction=*” tag? If so, what tag name would make sense.</div><div class=""><ul class=""><li class="">“Bearing” (some uses which seem to follow the first definition of “direction”) [6]</li><li class="">“Aspect” a couple of instances in use but not clear to me what was intended. [7][8]</li></ul></div><div class="">Thoughts?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">[1] <a href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:direction" class="">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:direction</a></div><div class="">[2] <a href="https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/direction#values" class="">https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/direction#values</a></div><div class="">[3] <a href="https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/stop%3Adirection" class="">https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/stop%3Adirection</a></div><div class="">[4] <a href="https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/give_way%3Adirection" class="">https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/give_way%3Adirection</a></div><div class="">[5] <a href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:roof:direction" class="">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:roof:direction</a></div><div class="">[6] <a href="https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/bearing#values" class="">https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/bearing#values</a></div><div class="">[7] <a href="https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/Aspect#values" class="">https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/Aspect#values</a></div><div class="">[8] <a href="https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/aspect#values" class="">https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/aspect#values</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>