[Tagging] How to tag: Legally separated ways

[Tobias Knerr]

On 15.10.2012 10:56, Martin Vonwald wrote:
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/File:Lanes_Example_2.png
> 
> Only part 5 is relevant. Assume there is no physical separation just a
> double line between the upper and lower two lanes. How would you tag
> this:
> a) One way with lanes=4
> b) Two separate ways with lanes=2 each
> c) Tell me!

I would choose (a) and reserve separate ways for _actual_ physical
separation.

One practical reason for doing so is that there would simply be no
possibility to distinguish legally separate ways from physically
separate ways if we used the same mapping (splitting the way) for both.

Splitting the way at that point could be considered "tagging for the
router", in my opinion, and ignores the needs of applications that do
use OSM for something else than navigation.

Tobias