[Tagging] Feature Proposal -- RFC -- service=irregular

Markus selfishseahorse at gmail.com
Fri Apr 5 21:08:07 UTC 2019


Hi Michael,

thanks for your feedback!

I see that the proposed tag service=irregular is too confusing. My
primary intention is to tag the function of these "diversion tracks",
not how often they are used (though this is a consequence of their
function). These tram, metro and light-rail tracks i have in mind
don't belong to the main tracks, but are almost exclusively used for
diversions, such as when a main track is blocked by a defective
railcar or in case of an accident or road works. They are also
relatively short (only a few 100 m).

I found out that these tracks are called "Dienstgleise" in the
German-speaking part of Switzerland, which literally means "service
tracks". Does anyone know how these tracks are called in English? I
was thinking of changing the tag to service=reserve, but then found
out that a "reserved tracks" is a term used for tracks on ground
exclusively for trams (opposed to street-running tracks). What about
service=auxiliary or service=diversion?

Route relations don't really help (e.g. for renderers to de-emphasise
these tracks), because the absence of a route relation on a track
doesn't necessarily mean that it is a diversion track; it could also
be that no route relations have been mapped yet. Besides, a tag on the
rail is more stable (i.e. gets less frequently broken) than a route
relation.

Best regards

Markus



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