[Tagging] [Talk-us] Beach routing

Ole Nielsen on-osm at xs4all.nl
Sat Jul 12 07:22:47 UTC 2014



On 11/07/2014 22:43, Richard Weait wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 12:50 PM, Elliott Plack <elliott.plack at gmail.com> wrote:
>> OSM US:
>>
>> I've been using some routing engines to map fitness routes (e.g. Strava)
>> that use OSM data. Along our US coasts, there are beaches. The beaches I'm
>> familiar with are popular with walkers and joggers to go up and down the
>> shore, since access is generally open to anyone along the water's edge. I'm
>> considering adding a `highway=path` along the beach to facilitate this. I'd
>> add the connections to the walking paths between parking lots and the beach
>> as well.
>>
>> For uninterrupted strips of sandy beach, would a path be appropriate to
>> indicate walkability?
>
> Adding a single arbitrary path where an area exists seems a bit of a
> hack. I recognize that part of the problem that you are trying to
> address is that routers aren't routing across areas. And that is
> surely a difficult problem to solve.  Is the creation of arbitrary
> fake-paths a worse problem than not being able to route with specific
> routing software?  Perhaps.
>
> A similar situation exists in (micro-)mapping golf courses.  Some
> courses have cart paths with discontinuities.  Often those
> discontinuities direct you to drive the cart (or walk, I'm not
> "judging" here) on the fairway, until the next section of physical
> cart path begins.  In that situation, I only map the real path, not
> the virtual path.
>
> The another similarity is that users will select different paths for
> different reasons. Beach walkers may divert towards interesting items
> on the beach, or away from waves, washouts or debris.  Golf players
> will be guided by course rules, weather rules and the location of
> their ball.  The golf player is probably more likely to complete a
> predictable circuit.  Beach walkers might follow an "out and back" of
> entirely arbitrary length.
>
> Using a router to select a, let's say, 5km stroll, out and back on a
> beach, seems of limited utility.
>
> I suggest, "no path on the beach".  Map a boardwalk where one exists,
> by all means.  And adding those access ramps / paths is awesome.  ;-)

Maybe this proposal could be promoted to solve this problem?

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/virtual_highway



More information about the Tagging mailing list