[Tagging] highway=informal_path WAS: Re: "new" highway tag for small and informal footpaths; trail

[M∡rtin Koppenhoefer]

2010/10/25 Simone Saviolo <simone.saviolo at gmail.com>:
> For example, what would you tag this?
>
> http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Vercelli,+Piedmont,+Italy&ll=45.314604,8.414012&spn=0.001633,0.004128&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=45.314594,8.413845&panoid=VAMbvxwaZiigA_JUOfHBkw&cbp=12,348.5,,0,31.53
>
> I guess you could call it a path, a high-grade path at that, as it is
> virtually unusable by cars, and I wouldn't go there with a moped
> either; also, at the other end it reaches the sidewalk but to get on
> the street you have to jump down the curb (some 15 cm curb). This is
> really not a path, IMHO, as it is not actually in the street graph,
> it's just a kind of shortcut that locals or bikers use to avoid going
> on the overpass and walk/ride a kilometer when the destination is just
> twenty metres away.
>
> A path is somehow "official", while I think Martin's idea revolves
> around informal and spontaneous paths and shortcuts that authorities
> are somehow permissive about.


+1

Still I think the example you posted is a little bit ambiguous:
someone put some asphalt at the beginning, so it doesn't look to be
totally informal. Also there seems some pebblestones put on it to
enhance the surface, so probably I'd tag this

highway=path
surface=pebblestone
width=0.3
smoothness=very_bad

cheers,
Martin