[Tagging] Mismatched Level of Detail in highways vs. other elements

[Martin Atkins]

On 04/07/2013 01:36 PM, Markus Lindholm wrote:
> On 7 April 2013 20:37, Martin Atkins <mart at degeneration.co.uk
> <mailto:mart at degeneration.co.uk>> wrote:
>
>     How have others resolved this fundamental conflict? More detailed
>     streets, or less-detailed everything else?
>
>
> I'd say more detailed mapping. Looking at the picture I think it's
> obvious that Duboce Avenue should be mapped as two separate highways,
> placed on each side of the railways.
>

The photo misleads because the boarding islands make it look like there 
is a separation between the railway and the roadway. In practice this is 
only true next to the boarding islands; almost all of the tracking in 
this area runs on lanes that are also open to traffic, shaped like this:


|             |             |             |             |
|             |             |     /|\     |      /|\    |
|             |             |      |      |       |     |
|     Autos   | Autos+Trams | Autos+Trams |     Autos   |
|      |      |      |      |             |             |
|     \|/     |     \|/     |             |             |
|             |             |             |             |

For much of the journey of these trams there is only a strip of paint 
separating these lanes, not any physical barrier.

It seems weird to treat this like a separated highway when there is 
actually no separation... drivers are free to switch lanes, make 
u-turns, make left turns into side streets from the Autos+Trams lane, 
etc at any point along the road.