[Tagging] surface=ground/dirt/earth

[fly]

On 13.03.2014 15:37, Fernando Trebien wrote:
> But do you think that earth and ground are different kinds of surface?

Well, I would consider earth as earth where ground could be earth but
does not have to be.

All together, I think we could get rid of at least one out of the three
tags after updating the descriptions but this will not that easy with
existing tags in common use.

fly

> On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 10:16 AM, fly <lowflight66 at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> On 13.03.2014 10:34, jonathan wrote:
>>> Here's my take from an Englishman!
>>>
>>> While the term dirt road is used here, it is much rarer as all public
>>> (adopted) roads in the UK are paved in some way shape or form.  Most
>>> dirt roads are probably private roads, farm tracks or paths.
>>>
>>> Now, back to the original question.  I totally agree with Fernando,
>>> these classifications are confusing. In English English they pretty well
>>> mean the same thing. We should look to rationalise them.
>>
>> How do you tag hiking paths which do not lead across grass or solid rock ?
>>
>> I use ground in these cases and if the surfaces changes every few metres
>> between natural underground (from tree needles to rocks)
>>
>>> However, remember the surface tag is used elsewhere other than
>>> roads/tracks where there may be some distinction, although I can't
>>> imagine what the distinction may be.
>>
>> Exactly, how about unpaved sports` pitch and tracks (clay or dirt ?).
>>
>>> In general English usage there meanings rely on context but in this
>>> context of describing a base surface to something I would go with dirt
>>> to mean a loose surface, unpaved, water permeable, degradable surface.
>>> Ground and earth are just too vague to be of any use.
>>
>> That is one major problem of vague descriptions and of overlapping meanings.
>>
>> I would always use unpaved.
>>
>> I consider dirt as a mixture of earth, mud and little rocks or thin
>> gravel where I am not able to distinguish between earth or mud and where
>> it is not ground as it differs from the surrounding underground.
>>
>> My 2 ct from a non-native speaker.
>> fly
>>
>>
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