[Talk-GB] Other Routes With Public Access

[Robert Whittaker (OSM lists)]

On 13 February 2016 at 14:57, Dudley Ibbett <dudleyibbett at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I came across a paved single lane "road" on a recent walk that was sign
> posted in both directions as a "Public Road" It makes a loop between two
> "unclassified" roads.
> Functionally, is seems to be a service route for an isolated farm that sits
> at the top of the loop, although it would make quite an useful link road
> between the two "unclassified" roads .  I crossed it at the top of the loop
> so I don't know what there was with regards to signs at each end.  On the OS
> 1:25 it is marked as "Other Routes With Public Access".  Is there anything I
> can infer from the use of the term "Public Road".  i.e foot, horse, bicycle,
> vehicle = yes/no? How are people tagging the "designation" of such routes,
> i.e. are people using  "designation=other routes with public access"?

Routes marked by OS as "Other Route with Public Access" will most
probably be routes that appear on the local Highway Authority's "List
of Streets Maintainable at the Public Expense", but are not maintained
to a standard for regular motor traffic. They will generally be
Unclassified Highways (i.e. not an A, B or C road) and unless there is
a specific Traffic Regulation Order to the contrary, there will be
full vehicle, horse and pedestrian rights over them.

As far as tagging is concerned, I would strongly advise against
designation="other routes with public access", designation=orpa and
similar. The "Other Route with Public Access" is an OS-specific term,
and even if that status hasn't been copied from OS, such tagging may
give the impression that it may have been -- which is not something we
want to give or accidentally encourage.

Instead, I would suggest that mappers do their best to determine the
precise status of the route in question -- which is most likely to be
an Unclassified Highway. Then an appropriate designation=* tag can be
given (e.g. designation=unclassified_highway). Despite a route
technically being an Unclassified Highway, if the route isn't suitable
for general motor traffic, I would avoid tagging it with
highway=unclassified -- as that would be misleading to data consumers.
Instead I'd give it a suitable highway tag based on the physical
condition of the route -- probably highway=track or highway=service.

Appropriate access tags should also be used (access=yes if everything
is allowed, and foot=*, horse=*, bicycle=*, motor_vehicle=* etc if
not) since routers and other tools shouldn't be expected to translate
UK-specific terms into access defaults. There are some more details
about different types of Rights of Way and the implied access rights
at http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Rjw62/PRoW_Table

To determine the precise classification of a road/track, you'll need
the "List of Streets Maintainable at the Public Expense" from the
local Highway Authority (usually the County Council or Unitary
Authority). Some councils will have online maps of their Highways, but
these will generally be derived from OS data, and so we're unable to
make use of them. For details about getting hold of this "List of
Streets" and permission to re-use it in OSM, see
http://robert.mathmos.net/osm/prow/council-docs.html . There's a
(short) list of councils known to have given permission so far at
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contributors#Information_in_the_.22List_of_Streets.22_maintained_by_local_councils

Hope that helps,

Robert.

-- 
Robert Whittaker