[Talk-us] Path/Cycleway/Footway/Track

[Richard Welty]

On 5/7/10 3:50 PM, Val Kartchner wrote:
> The descriptions on the wiki are quite ambiguous as to when to use path,
> track, cycleway, footway or bridleway.  There aren't any places around
> here that I've tagged as bridleway, so I'll leave that one alone for
> now.  Otherwise, here is the criteria that I have been using:
>
> Path: Unpaved, narrow way in the foothills or mountains.
> Track: Unpaved, way wide enough for a vehicle.
> Cycleway: Paved, usually urban and asphault, way designated for use by
> bicycles.
> Footway: Paved, usually concrete, way designated primarily for use by
> pedestrians.
>
> Are these good definitions?  If so, let's modify the wiki to be
> unambiguous.
>    
path is generally narrow. i don't think that any particular surface is 
implied. it gets used
to a degree in the US, at least, to represent multiuse trails, e.g.

highway=path
bicycle=designated
foot=designated
surface=paved

i think that explicit surface tags are probably a good idea, and i know 
some trails
in the map that probably need to have them added, i'll add that to my list.

highway=cycleway & highway=footway correspond, normally, to highway=path
combined with the appropriate bicycle or foot tag.

the other thing that's commonly seen for multi-use paths is one of these:

highway=cycleway
foot=yes

and

highway=footway
bicycle=yes

richard