[Tagging] Cycling relation misuse

John Willis johnw at mac.com
Mon Oct 14 21:16:42 UTC 2019


> On Oct 14, 2019, at 4:31 PM, Peter Elderson <pelderson at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I imagine mtb maps showing all kinds of mtb-trails except The Big One that everybody knows. If I were an MTB'ist, I would probably disxcard OSM as unusable, because it doesn't even give the biggest MTB-route on the planet!

To be clear, this is a grey area that the original post was not discussing.  

If a route is "famous", even if it is unsigned, then I think it deserves being in OSM. That "famous" bit crosses into "local knowledge". The route has a name everyone knows and uses. It isn't a nameless trace someone mapped for their personal use. 

The routes I map are official routes made up mostly of cycleways, with various crossings and detours where the cycleways cannot be constructed. The official route switches from cycleways on one side of the river to the other to avoid upcoming obstacles - the rider is asked to detour onto roads, sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, and other ways that are not dedicated cycleways - "detours" that are mapped (and usually signed) as the official route.

This collection of ways - cycleways, sidewalks, marked ped crosswalks, unmarked cycleway crossings, and roads make up the larger route. 

I am more forgiving of the idea of marking MTB trails Because MTB routes are often the only trails through an area passable to bicycles. They probably include a lot of double-track "tracks" as well.

But Cycling routes through a city or region for commuting/transportation are often chosen because they are designated from the myriad of roads and ways that one *could* cycle on, but this route was selected just for them because of affordances (dedicated ways, cycle Lanes, curb cuts, etc). Mapping every loop route you enjoy cycling for excersize in the mountains is treated as one of these transportation routes - deceiving users into thinking there is a route that is good for cyclists trying to cross the mountains,  when it is actually a Narrow two lane trunk road with no shoulder and no sidewalk - and loops Back to where you started. They are not cyclways for transportation. 

I don't want regular cycle routes used for transportation confused with random routes made by hobbyists for their weekend training. The MTB route discussed sounds like it should at least be be considered in OSM as an MTB route - but that is for route=MTB people to discuss. 



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