[Tagging] Non-orthogonal crossing=* tag proposals: crossing=marked/unmarked vs crossing:markings=yes/no

[Paul Allen]

On Fri, 24 May 2019 at 22:12, Kevin Kenny <kevin.b.kenny at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Yeah, there really are combinations around here:
>
> does it have signs?
> does it have traffic signals?
> does it have specific pedestrian-facing traffic signals? (Some
> intersections just have you cross at the same time as motor traffic in
> your direction rolls)
> are the traffic signals pedestrian- or cyclist-controlled? (Is there a
> button for you to push?)
> does it have pavement markings?
>

Some of those can probably be simplified away.  Like the push button.  It
may
seem like a major difference but in actuality on some crossings the ONLY
purpose of the push button is to light the sign saying "Wait" and the
crossing
cycle is determined by some combination of timing and traffic flow.

I'd say that traffic/pedestrian signals is the key factor for
crossing=traffic_signals,
irrespective of road decoration even if that road decoration modifies the
meaning
of the signals in some way (it's effectively no different from a sign on a
pole).
A marked crossing doesn't have traffic signals.  An unmarked crossing
doesn't
even have markings.

Pavement markings, tactile pavements, dropped kerbs, etc are all
attributes.  They
don't turn it into a different type of crossing or (except possibly in
Poland) affect the
interactions between pedestrians and motorists.  Nice to map, but as a
clarification,
not a primary feature.

I'm fine with leaving crossing=* as it is for legacy compatibility,
>
but we *do* want to move toward orthogonality, since that's what we've
> got on the ground.
>

I'm not yet convinced there's orthogonality in crossing type (except
possibly in Poland).
A crossing where the lights mean one thing and the road markings mean a
different
thing doesn't strike me as being even remotely workable: the road markings
tell the
pedestrians they have right of way irrespective of the lights and a green
light tells
the motorist he has right of way.  That's no way to run a crossing.

What we may need to do is expand on crossing_ref (maybe with a different
name) to cope
with all the regional differences.  "This is a crossing controlled by
lights which just happens
to have zebra stripes, but those stripes do not carry any legal meaning and
are purely
decorative"  We almost certainly do need to distinguish between Pelican and
Puffin crossings
in the UK because, although they look almost identical, the light sequences
and regulations
differ.  Etc.

-- 
Paul
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