[Tagging] When does highway=footway become highway=pedestrian?

[nathan case]

> highway=pedestrian area=yes
> seems to be not fitting for this, in my opinion.

I agree. I can see the justification in why it has been done – the mapper wants to show the pedestrian area, rather than just a linear way and this is the only(?) way it’ll get rendered. However, the actual object doesn’t really match the highway=pedestrian description. It would seem odd to allow a supplementary tag (area=yes) to change (or ignore) the meaning of the primary tag (highway=pedestrian).


> highway=pedestrian area=yes misused for footway/sidewalk areas
> Note that the last one claim may be controversial, some claim that mapping
> sidewalk as highway=pedestrian area=yes in addition or instead to
> highway=footway line is OK.
> In some places such mapping is really popular.

If this is indeed a popular way to tag wide sidewalks, then I’ll leave it as it. We should probably consider documenting this on the Wiki too if usage is high.

Thanks all.


From: Mateusz Konieczny via Tagging <tagging at openstreetmap.org>
Sent: 28 October 2021 10:46
To: Tag discussion, strategy and related tools <tagging at openstreetmap.org>
Cc: Mateusz Konieczny <matkoniecz at tutanota.com>
Subject: Re: [Tagging] When does highway=footway become highway=pedestrian?

For me it looks like a sidewalk, maybe a bit wider than usual. I would use

highway=footway (with very optional area:highway=footway area)

or

use sidewalk tags on road, if that would be a local standard.

highway=pedestrian
or
highway=pedestrian area=yes

seems to be not fitting for this, in my opinion.


Oct 27, 2021, 16:43 by nathancase at outlook.com<mailto:nathancase at outlook.com>:
Thanks all for the comments so far.

This is the Google maps Streetview link: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.4457248,-1.8176195,3a,75y,243.25h,90.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svoVWzs3jxPFNcpfhvpc4eg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Hopefully that works OK. Travel to the right to see more.

Cheers.

From: Mateusz Konieczny via Tagging <tagging at openstreetmap.org<mailto:tagging at openstreetmap.org>>
Sent: 27 October 2021 12:07
To: Tag discussion, strategy and related tools <tagging at openstreetmap.org<mailto:tagging at openstreetmap.org>>
Cc: Mateusz Konieczny <matkoniecz at tutanota.com<mailto:matkoniecz at tutanota.com>>
Subject: Re: [Tagging] When does highway=footway become highway=pedestrian?




Oct 26, 2021, 16:00 by nathancase at outlook.com<mailto:nathancase at outlook.com>:
Hi all,

I’ve just posted this on the Wiki discussion page (https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:Tag:highway%3Dpedestrian#.22For_town_centres_and_civic_areas.22) but the thread is a little old and I know not everyone reads the Wiki anyway…

I’m wondering at what point, if at all, a highway=footway becomes highway=pedestrian (i.e., a pedestrian area)?
There are several things here
- sidewalk tags (sidewalk as attribute of road)
- highway=footway
- highway=pedestrian for pedestrian road
- area:highway=footway for area of footway/sidewalk (mapped as an extra)
- highway=pedestrian area=yes for pedestrian squares
- highway=pedestrian area=yes misused for footway/sidewalk areas

Note that the last one claim may be controversial, some claim that mapping
sidewalk as highway=pedestrian area=yes in addition or instead to
highway=footway line is OK.

In some places such mapping is really popular.

I have an example (https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/365487665#map=18/52.44601/-1.81904) of a sidewalk that has been mapped as a pedestrian area. It is certainly quite wide (around 7-8 m in places) and is located within a town centre/civic area. It even has painted markings (since COVID-19 pandemic began) splitting the direction of travel for pedestrians - though this is, of course, entirely ignored by everyone walking there.

However, it is, fundamentally, just a wide paved area for pedestrians that runs parallel and adjacent to the main carriageway (road) – i.e. a sidewalk.

Do we define particularly wide sidewalks as pedestrian areas? They do seem to match most of the criteria listed on the Wiki but it doesn’t seem to quite fit for me.
Linking photos would be useful. In principle I can imagine place that can be treated
as a dual carriageway, one of them mapped as highway=pedestrian line.

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