[Tagging] Cycling infrastructure routes (was Re: cyclist profiles - was:Feature Proposal - RFC - value 'basic_network' - cycle_network?)

[Andy Townsend]

On 12/12/2021 21:32, Volker Schmidt wrote:
> Have a look at the highway=cycleway wiki page. That is my reference.
>
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dcycleway most 
definitely disagrees with your earlier statement "A cycleway in OSM 
speak is road for exclusive use by cyclists".  It actually says 
"Different countries have their own rules as to whether foot access is 
allowed by default on cycleways", which I believe is correct.

I suspect that you may be reading 
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/DE:Tag:highway%3Dcycleway (machine 
translation - 
https://wiki-openstreetmap-org.translate.goog/wiki/DE:Tag:highway%3Dcycleway?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB 
) which says in translation "Since no other road users are usually 
allowed, any signposted exceptions must be explicitly stated".

I suspect that the German-language page is correct if it is presumed 
only to apply to cycleways in Germany and other countries with similar 
rules, but the English-language page is "more correct" in saying that 
access rules vary internationally.  It's not the first time where 
different language pages in OSM's wiki disagree with each other, and I'm 
sure it won't be the last.

To paraphrase the old joke, it's a mistake to use the OSM wiki like a 
drunk uses a lamppost - for support rather than illumination.

Best Regards,

Andy