[Talk-ca] Green alleys in Montréal (ruelles vertes)

[Richard Weait]

On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 9:53 PM, Guillaume Pratte
<guillaume at guillaumepratte.net> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I would like to have some advise on how best identify "green alleys" in
> OpenStreetMap data.
>
> "Green alleys" (ruelles vertes in French) are alleys that a group of local
> residents embellish with vegetation.
>
> Here is the Wikipedia page on the subject in Montréal:
> http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruelle_verte
>
> Here is a link in English:
> http://kandkadventures.com/green-alleys-of-montreal/
>
> These green alleys are identifiable because they have dedicated signs for
> them:
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WTMTL_T52_DSF2289.JPG

Thank you for adding this to the list, and the data base.  Green
Alleys look pretty great.  I was not aware of them before this thread.

If I understand the article that you linked, it appears that there are
some widely varied Green Alleys.  For example, some allow vehicles and
some don't.  From the point of view of OpenStreetMap data, that's
fairly important.  It may be that a single "green Alley" tag, just
won't be sufficient.  Fair enough.  Other tags are lacking in that way
as well.

A quick look at taginfo found several places named Green Alley, but no
keys or non-name tags for green alley.  So it seems the term is not
presently in use in the OpenStreetMap database.

I suggest two things.

For tagging now, and adding Green Alleys to the data base as the
opportunity arises, use un-controversial tags.  highway=service;
service=alley, seem pretty clear.  Access tags like vehicle=no;
foot=no; bicycle=no seem like they would be useful when they depart
from typical values for highway=service.

For any new tagging, I think you'll want to consult more widely than
just talk-ca.  I wonder, in this case, if a Green Alley is  close
enough to a living street to share a tag?  talk@ or tagging@ seem like
a good place for the discussion.

Best regards,

Richard