[OSM-newbies] Pavements and footpaths along streets

[Russ Nelson]

On May 3, 2009, at 6:52 AM, Craig Wallace wrote:

> On 03/05/2009 11:27, Joe Richards wrote:
>> Most - but not all - streets have a pavement on both sides which is  
>> a footpath. Some have a bicycle path as well.
>>
>> But the width/size/shape and presence/absence of these things  
>> varies and sometimes the footpath along a street can have stairs or  
>> other features as it follows the street/road.
>>
>> How should these things be tagged?
>>
> 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.

--
Russ Nelson - http://community.cloudmade.com/blog - http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:RussNelson
russ at cloudmade.com - Twitter: Russ_OSM - http://openstreetmap.org/user/RussNelson