[HOT] note to Project Managers: Highway=road

Rory McCann rory at technomancy.org
Fri Feb 24 09:11:52 UTC 2017


On 22/02/17 23:42, john whelan wrote:
> Currently there are HOT projects that include in the instructions the words
> 
> "If you are unsure of what tag to assign to a road, use the provisional
> highway=road tag."
> 
> Yes but many routing systems ignore this these.  When we mapped with GPS
> traces we used highway=road because you didn't know if it was a motorway
> or a footway with steps and that's why many routing systems ignore them
> and JOSM validation flags them.
> 
> I would suggest if in doubt use highway=unclassified for instructions.
> 
> Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

I think the existing advice is correct. highway=road is supposed to mean
"I'm not sure what the classification is".

Some routers ignore it? Yes that is a problem. At best they should rank
it quite low. Outright *ignoring* the road seems like a bug. However
don't tag for the renderer!

Yes, it's a annoying when JOSM etc flag that as a validation problem.
The solution is more mapping.

A possible source of confusion could be the name "unclassified". In the
UK (where OSM started), "unclassified" is a road classification. Saying
"unclassified" doesn't mean the road is unclassified!

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