<div dir="ltr">I'd go as far as to say it's the default street layout for most of the old terraced housing in the UK! It's especially prevalent in the gridiron planning in northern towns and cities: thousands upon thousands of streets are laid out like that, and their back lanes are marked as highway=service, sometimes further qualified as service=alley if they're too narrow to drive a vehicle down.<br><div><br></div><div>But, to get back to the point, it's sometimes a close call between highway=residental, lanes=1 and highway=service, especially if it's narrow - if it has buildings fronting it, as opposed to backing onto it, I'd default to residential.<br><br>As to what they're called, well good luck with that: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alley#United_Kingdom">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alley#United_Kingdom</a><br><br>Regards,<br><i>Paul</i></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, 12 Feb 2021 at 10:26, Chris Hodges <<a href="mailto:chris@c-hodges.co.uk">chris@c-hodges.co.uk</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="zoom:0%"><div dir="auto">I've had one of those in Bristol, behind 30s terraces. They joined up between a few streets except where overgrown of otherwise blocked. Wide enough to drive down, maybe to drive past a parked car, access to garages. Certainly called an alley locally. "Track" would describe the surface quite well, if not the use or layout. <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">But "alley" can also refer to something too narrow to drive down - a.k.a. "ginnel" up north<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">Sent from <a href="http://www.bluemail.me/r?b=16470" target="_blank">BlueMail</a> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 12 Feb 2021, at 10:05, Edward Catmur via Talk-GB <<a href="mailto:talk-gb@openstreetmap.org" target="_blank">talk-gb@openstreetmap.org</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">They're all over the south east; I think they were popular during the suburban boom of the 1930s. Typically (at least in south London) they're rather less well manicured than your example (which has an engineered surface, a defined verge, and even street lighting). An example that I would definitely describe as an alley (and has been tagged highway=service service=alley) is
<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/61299961" target="_blank">https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/61299961</a> (visual: <a href="https://www.bing.com/maps?cp=51.37357~-0.243965&lvl=17&dir=358.246&style=x&v=2&sV=1" target="_blank">https://www.bing.com/maps?cp=51.37357~-0.243965&lvl=17&dir=358.246&style=x&v=2&sV=1</a>) - just wide enough for 1 car, with a solid but unsealed surface, giving access to back gardens. In some other parts of London they've been mapped as highway=track e.g.
<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/525334642" target="_blank">https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/525334642</a> which I don't feel is quite correct.<div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Feb 12, 2021 at 9:18 AM Nick Whitelegg via Talk-GB <<a href="mailto:talk-gb@openstreetmap.org" target="_blank">talk-gb@openstreetmap.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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Indeed - 'Alley' I think is one of those words with different UK and US usage.</div>
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In the UK I take it to mean a narrow concrete path between buildings.</div>
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In the US I take it to mean what is under discussion here: a service road that cuts through a block, with houses backing onto it from both sides, and running parallel to streets either side. There are actually a few examples of these in the UK, this springs
to mind (between Ludlow Road and Manor Road North), I would use highway=service for this:</div>
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<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/50.90403/-1.36846" id="gmail-m_-3398473152803889110gmail-m_-3700283276299911535LPlnk" target="_blank">https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/50.90403/-1.36846</a><br>
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Nick</div>
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<div id="gmail-m_-3398473152803889110gmail-m_-3700283276299911535divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Stephen Colebourne <<a href="mailto:scolebourne@joda.org" target="_blank">scolebourne@joda.org</a>><br>
<b>Sent:</b> 12 February 2021 08:17<br>
<b>To:</b> Talk Gb <<a href="mailto:talk-gb@openstreetmap.org" target="_blank">talk-gb@openstreetmap.org</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Talk-GB] Hanway Street - London - highway=residential or highway=service</font>
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<div>None of those four examples look like alleys to me. But this may be a<br>
cultural issue - when I've visited the US I've seen streets called<br>
alleys that are not dissimilar:<br>
<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@42.3498528,-71.0882683,3a,75y,60.23h,70.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGvRaWcdOwGdQ02UHEt0Yug!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DGvRaWcdOwGdQ02UHEt0Yug%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D256.35754%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656" target="_blank">https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@42.3498528,-71.0882683,3a,75y,60.23h,70.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGvRaWcdOwGdQ02UHEt0Yug!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DGvRaWcdOwGdQ02UHEt0Yug%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D256.35754%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656</a><br>
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Stephen<br>
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On Fri, 12 Feb 2021 at 06:14, Mateusz Konieczny via Talk-GB<br>
<<a href="mailto:talk-gb@openstreetmap.org" target="_blank">talk-gb@openstreetmap.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> <a href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:Tag:service%3Dalley" target="_blank">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:Tag:service%3Dalley</a> has ongoing topic of what<br>
> qualifies as highway=residential and what qualifies as highway=service service=alley<br>
><br>
> Hanway Street was given as highway=service example, then removed as an example<br>
> - with following photo <a href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/File:Hanway_Street_-_London.JPG" target="_blank">
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/File:Hanway_Street_-_London.JPG</a><br>
><br>
> To me it looks like a narrow highway=residential but right now it is mapped as<br>
> highway=service, see <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/233334347" target="_blank">https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/233334347</a><br>
> (and was mapped as such for basically all its existence).<br>
><br>
> Photo looks like something that I would definitely consider as narrow highway=residential,<br>
> and has tagged such roads in my city as highway=residential + lanes=1<br>
><br>
> What is your opinion? Is it highway=service service=alley or narrow highway=residential?<br>
> Should it be changed in OSM?<br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
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