[OSM-newbies] Pavements and footpaths along streets

[Stephen Gower]

On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 06:57:36PM +0100, Craig Wallace wrote:
>
> 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

It's usual within OSM, given the history, to use the British English term
for a tag, which in this case would be (colloquially) "pavement" or
(legally) "footway".  That probably explains why footway is more commonly
used.

s