[Tagging] highway=service, service=driveway vs highway=track

Mark Wagner mark+osm at carnildo.com
Fri May 1 18:32:07 UTC 2020


On Thu, 30 Apr 2020 16:45:48 -0400
Greg Troxel <gdt at lexort.com> wrote:

> Mike Thompson <miketho16 at gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > I have always been under the impression that the highway tag should
> > be based off of function.  Recently I have come across a number of
> > cases where driveways and residential roads were tagged
> > "highway=track" (perhaps because they are unpaved?), e.g. [0].
> > Before I change these, I wanted to check with the rest of the
> > community.  
> 
> I agree with those who say driveways should be highway=service
> service=driveway, unless they are so difficult to drive on that they
> are really not recommended in a passengar car.
> 
> Not really germane to driveways, but a major distinction, at least
> around me (ma.us) is that
> 
>   a road is a legal thing, with its own parcel
> 
>   a track is an agricultural road, or old time logging road, within a
>   parcel
> 
> However, drivways are also not legally roads in terms of separate
> parcels.

Around me (eastern Washington), being within a parcel is a strong
indication that something is a track (or a driveway), but it's not
required. There are a number of places where gaps for roadbuilding were
left between parcels, but the road was never built.  Instead, a track
formed as farmers used the right-of-way to get access to the adjacent
properties.

-- 
Mark



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