[Tagging] Reviving the path discussion - the increasing importance of trails in OSM

Kevin Kenny kevin.b.kenny at gmail.com
Sat May 30 14:47:30 UTC 2020


On Sat, May 30, 2020 at 10:16 AM Mateusz Konieczny via Tagging
<tagging at openstreetmap.org> wrote:
> May 30, 2020, 15:46 by westis at gmail.com:
>> Is highway=path a type of way (wilderness trail or whatever term we use)
>> or a way for non-specified/mixed use?
>
> way for non-specified/mixed use, that due to its unfortunate name is sometimes
> used and interpreted as indicating a wilderness trail
>
> would it be  good summary of a situation?

This thread would not have gone on as long as it has if there were a
consensus on your statement.

Mind you, I'm not arguing the contrary. At this point, I don't know
what it means. Whatever the world decides, there are a lot of things
that will have to be retagged or have more information provided.


To Daniel's list, I'd add objectives:
 - Avoid basing routing decisions on the absence of a tag; every
attribute should have a specific negation available.
 - Avoid requiring mappers to be expert in a specific sport before a
way can be identified as unsuitable for that sport. For instance, one
should not be required to be knowledgeable enough to assess
`mtb_scale` before being able to assert "this way is not suitable for
commuters on road bikes."

Better nuance for hiking trails is really low on my list, except at
the very lowest end of the difficulty scale: can someone NOT prepared
for hiking (for example, using a mobility aid, or wearing high heels,
or with small children in tow) be routed down it? Hiking trail nuance
is also not something that needs to inform routing decisions made by a
computer; at least to me, the idea of using an autorouter to plan a
hike boggles the mind! We have abundant ways already to tag specific
hazards and conditions. I can read.

-- 
73 de ke9tv/2, Kevin



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