[talk-au] Should a "trail" route relation be one-way?

[stevea]

On Sep 5, 2022, at 12:23 AM, Warin <61sundowner at gmail.com> wrote:
> Be careful with the automated tool .. you can end up with the route comprising some 'north bound' bits with some 'south bound bits'.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the automated tool," Warin.  I'm only suggesting to use JOSM's relation editor window's "sort" button.

> Roles 'forwards' and 'backwards' refer to the direction of travel with respect to the direction of the way - not 'north', 'south' 'east nor 'west'.

Yes, I know.  I'm not sure whether Ian does, though thank you for pointing this out, as perhaps I wasn't clear.  My intention was to convey my methodology (which works well) and to inspire Ian to discover (using wiki, practice and experience) whether it might work for him.  Some Contributors DO add cardinal directions as role tags in relations, and that is NOT correct, let's be clear about that.  (Sometimes they do this as "placeholders" during route construction, but this is not recommended as it is confusing to other human editors as these role tags are encountered).

> Route roles are...
> See https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:route=hiking?uselang=en#Roles

Yes, specifically for HIKING routes, this wiki and these role tags are crucial resources to read and use where appropriate.  Ian, it is essential that you read, understand and apply this wiki as appropriate to the Munda Biddi route relations in OSM.

> You may find that the renders of hiking/bicycle and horse routes will take no notice of 'forwards' and 'backwards'.

Right:  as the OP mentioned not "know(ing) enough about the potential consumers of route relation data..." it wasn't clear to me whether this included knowledge of humans as consumers or software like renderers and routers as consumers.  Some renderers have "weak" support for role tags, but again:  it is most important to get the data "OSM correct," not "pretty for a particular renderer" (or router).

> Thinking about this .. and coming from 'public transport' routes ...
> 
> Use 2 relations
> 
> One from 'x' to 'y' (and public transports uses keys 'from' and 'to')
> 
> The other from 'y' to 'x'.
> 
> So you'd have 2 Munda Biddi Trail route relations.. similar to the India Pacific train - one from Perth the other from Sydney.
> 
> This would make clear the north only and south only routes...

Yes, I agree, this is another workable solution, thank you, Warin.