[Tagging] Tagging highway=cycleway without explicitknowledgeofthe law?

Mike Harris mikh43 at googlemail.com
Mon Dec 14 13:27:05 GMT 2009



Mike Harris
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tagging-bounces at openstreetmap.org 
> [mailto:tagging-bounces at openstreetmap.org] On Behalf Of Pieren
> Sent: 14 December 2009 12:13
> To: Tag discussion, strategy and related tools
> Subject: Re: [Tagging] Tagging highway=cycleway without 
> explicitknowledgeofthe law?
> 
> On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 12:13 PM, Mike Harris 
> <mikh43 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> 
> > So I tend to fall
> > back on highway=track (plus tracktype= ) - avoiding highway=path 
> > because of its widespread use for an informal hiking route of 
> > undefined status and unsuitable for (most!) cyclists.
> >
> 
> Be carefull with highway=track as its definition is:
> "Roads for agricultural use, gravel roads in the forest etc.;"

Not unreasonable. I think I am pretty much OK, as most of my stuff is in a
farming area - where the tracks are used by farmers' tractors etc. in
addition to their leisure uses by the general public - or in managed forests
where the tracks are used for forestry purposes in addition to leisure. I am
assuming here that 'forestry' is loosely 'agriculture'.

But how would you tag a path / track in an upland area which is wide enough
and with a good enough surface to be used by motorised vehicles (e.g.
shooting parties' all-terrain vehicles, gamekeeper access, conservation
worker access etc.) even though they are 90% used by walkers (or perhaps in
some cases all-terrain bikers). I would think it useful to differentiate
these from hiking trails that are only wide enough for use on foot (or
possibly by an all-terrain bike) and may be too steep or rocky for use other
than on foot - might even involve a bit of scrambling. I would tend to use
highway=track for the former (adding detail on tracktype= and/or surface=)
and highway=path, foot=permissive (unless on 'access land' where it wold be
foot=yes) for the latter (unless known to be a public right of way, in which
case I would still use highway=footway, designation=public_footpath,
foot=yes).

Again, I am not saying I am right - just explaining the stage to which my
current practice (not immutable!) has evolved and the reasons why.

> The main difference with a path is its access for motorcars 
> (physically and legally - might be permissive or for destination).
> This is the limit between track and path.
> 
> Pieren
> 
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