[Talk-us] Track or path?

David Carmean dlc at halibut.com
Mon Nov 10 19:25:13 GMT 2008



I need help figuring out how to tag some local multi-use recreational trails, and the 
current discussion on osm-talk isn't making it any easier :)

What I'm trying to do is map the San Francisco Bay Trail and connecting trails.  
For the moment I'm ignoring the portions of the "trail" that are overlayed on 
public roads with car traffic.

Here's an example:  a large portion of the trails are on top of levees around 
salt evaporation ponds around the Bay.  Some of these segments are gravel roads 
that are 3 or 4 meters wide, where a passenger car could easily drive 50 kph if 
legally permitted.  In fact service vehicles (government, landowner) do use 
these roads from time to time, but primarily they're used for foot, bicycle, 
and/or horse travel.  Are these "tracks" or "paths"?

I need to account for the fact that in places, these roads are gated, and 
access changes from public to private.  On the private sections, it doesn't 
make much sense to me to tag them for bicycle/foot/horse traffic, but I 
need something that will still render.

This may be the wrong thing to do, but in many cases I rely on the Osmarender 
templates to infer which of several choices is likely the most popular method.






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