[Tagging] Proposed rewrite Of highway=track wiki page

[Andrew Harvey]

> "used for one-lane"

I find that line a bit confusing because mostly highway=track roads will
not have any lane markings, hence have no lanes. Perhaps instead it could
say "Often only wide enough for a single vehicle, with incoming vehicles
having to slow down or move to the side to pass each other."

> "usually rural roads"

Not necessarily rural, I have many highway=tracks around me in an urban
environment usually in the bushland behind houses where fire trails exist
for firefighting.

>  These lesser roads provide access to agricultural areas as well as
forests, deserts, mountains, and other undeveloped land.

Perhaps rewording to "These lesser roads provide access to agricultural
areas as well as undeveloped areas of forest, desert, mountains and other
undeveloped land".

Since not all roads through forest/mountains/desert are going to be
highway=track if there are settlements within the forest/mountains/desert
and the roads provide primary access to those villages then these are
usually going to have some other highway classification value.

> Without these tags, highway
<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:highway>=track
<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dtrack> does not imply
suitability for any particular type of vehicle. While some track roads are
passable in an average passenger car, others are too rough and require a
high clearance, four wheel drive vehicle.

> highway <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:highway>=track
<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dtrack> should not be
used simply because a road is unpaved, rough or narrow. Instead, use the
most functionally appropriate highway
<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:highway>=* classification tag,
with supporting physical attribute tags.

+1 these are good improvements to the page.

> Explicit access <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:access>=* tags
are recommended on a track road. Unlike other classes of road, highway
<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:highway>=track
<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dtrack> does not imply
any particular access <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:access>=* value.
Default access restrictions are country specific and depend on ownership,
land use and other factors. See access restrictions
<https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_tags_for_routing/Access-Restrictions>
.

Good rewording. We should always encourage an explicit access tag (and
modal access tags eg. where motor vehicle, walking and cycling etc access
varies).

> Examples

The examples are good, but I'd suggest adding the purpose of each track to
the description so they are not based solely based on the physical
characteristics.

eg instead of "A two-track road with as strip of grass between the tracks"
say "A two-track road used for access to the forest with as strip of grass
between the tracks"

> Broader interpretations & existing usage

+1 this is an excellent addition

On Mon, 8 Mar 2021 at 14:36, Zeke Farwell <ezekielf at gmail.com> wrote:

> There have been a number of discussions on various channels recently about
> the highway=track tag.  I've taken some time to consolidate the feedback
> from these discussions into a proposed rewrite of the highway=track wiki
> page.  I think it offers a clearer and more globally applicable description
> of what we use this tag for. Let me know what you think.
>
> Current wiki page:
> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dtrack
> Proposed rewrite:
> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Ezekielf/Tag:highway%3Dtrack
>
> --
> Zeke Farwell
> Vermont, USA (where there are a lot of dirt roads and and two-track roads)
> _______________________________________________
> Tagging mailing list
> Tagging at openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
>
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