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

[Andy Townsend]

On 06/08/2015 10:24, John Willis wrote:
>> On Aug 6, 2015, at 5:28 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer <dieterdreist at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> is it a "highway"? Tags are not always 1:1 representations of (all) the meaning(s) of the words in natural language.
> When we have footway, cycleway, bridleway, steps, track, and via_ferrata, again, why is path the odd man out?
>
> Why does path get to stretch so far above its name and useful range?
>

I suspect it might help if you could explain what "path" means to you* - 
to my "English as spoken in England" sensibilities "path" is a broad 
term that can apply to a wide variety of physical characteristics.

Cheers,

Andy


* In fact wasn't there exactly this survey done some time ago - lots of 
pictures and "how would you tag this"?