[OSM-newbies] Help designating temporary sidewalk closures

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 12:16 PM, Jones, Dawn <dawn-jones at uiowa.edu> wrote:
> Our goal is to show sidewalks on the University of Iowa campus that are
> temporarily closed so blind students using the Blind Square app will receive
> current information. (Blind Square reads Open Street Map data.)  We are
> using the Editor for OSM ESRI.
>
>
>
> What would you suggest for us to use for tags and values?   Do you know of a
> reference that would give us some assistance?

It depends on some surrounding issues and local custom.  Why are the
sidewalks closing and for how long?  Are you planning to maintain them
by opening them up again when they are restored?  You don't need to
answer me on these, just consider the questions. :-)

Without knowing your local mapping custom, and without having looked
at your campus, I'd be inclined to change highway=footway to
highway=construction for the ways in question.  If i was being extra
careful, I might also split the ways, and disconnect them from the
active sidewalks by a metre or two.  Of course that means more to
repair when the sidewalks are restored.

Happy Mapping.