[OSM-newbies] pedestrian or footway?

[Andy Allan]

On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 10:07 PM, Charlotte Wolter <techlady at techlady.com> wrote:
> Folks,
>
>         I'm working on an area of LA, Venice, where we have a phenomenon
> called locally "walk streets." These "streets" are, in fact, wide sidewalks.
> Houses front onto these sidewalks. There is no access for cars, and bike
> riding is not encouraged (but not prohibited) because the "walk street" can
> have many pedestrians at times. Residents who have cars, access the houses
> and parking via alleys behind the houses.
>         I was busily converting these from "residential street" to
> "pedestrian," when I came across work by someone else who was using
> "footway." Which do you think is correct?

There's a fuzzy line between them, but from what you have described, I
would say they are highway=pedestrian. If they are called "streets"
then that suggests they might even be wide enough that you can convert
them from lines into areas. If they were less than 2 or 3 metres wide,
then I would start considering highway=footway instead.

A handful of pictures often helps for these situations, there's often
a lot of confusion when trying to describe them in words.

> I don't care (though I think the
> dotted red line for "footway" looks cooler on the rendered map than the grey
> of "pedestrian"). I just want to get it right.

A good attitude! :-)

Cheers,
Andy