[Tagging] highway=footway - Advanced definition: Distinction footway vs path

[Martin Koppenhoefer]

sent from a phone

> Am 03.08.2015 um 12:30 schrieb johnw <johnw at mac.com>:
> 
> From all the history, it looks like path was made to show some kind of mixed use way that footway was not good at - for mapping useful but unpaved and irregular pathways - trails, tracks, etc. A guy was pushing for this as useful for horses, I think. 
> 
> Then Track showed up, taking a lot of the path’s job for things like farming roads, fire roads, and other mixed use roads. 
> 
> Also, there’s bridleway, paths designated for horses. And cycleway too. I don’t know when they showed up, but it seems later than path.


footway, bridleway, cycleway were all already there by the time path was introduced. btw also track, but this is a different story as tracks are meant to be used by utility vehicles.

before the introduction of path a lot of fine detail of mixed use ways was lost because of the then valid dogma to classify according to the "highest"'use (foot, bike, horse), resulting - as there is no natural order among these - in arbitrary decisions based on the personal preference of the mapper for a certain means of transport.


cheers 
Martin