[OSM-talk] Tracks, Byways, Footways, Bridleways, Rivers....!?

[Ben Robbins]

I'm very confused.  Are the only things that are less than a road 'tracks' 
'bridleways' 'byways' and 'footways'??

This is all I have found so far, and so its all I have used.  But I seem to 
be using track for so many completly different sorts of 'Tracks'.   Every 
Single road I have edited in the last few months is Track or Unclassified.  
Also if a footway is on a track...then what?  is it a footway, or a 
track?...

Basically, 2 Questions (or more):

1)  Is there a standadised way of nameing the visual and phisical state of 
the route indepent of the status of the route?  (So...if nessesery a 
phisical 'RIVER' could be statistically a 'Byway')

2) Is there a wider range of tags for track types?  If not, I really really 
think there needs to be.   In my village and around, there are:

Track 1) Basically farm enternces, or roads to houses out of the village. 
still Tarmacked
Track 2) Stone/Gravel Tracks wich are heavily used
Track 3) None Gravel but still heavily used tracks,  Usually still have 
hedges either side
Track 4) Tracks across Grass, that usually hold the staus of bridleway or 
byway.
Track 5) Field Tracks, wich are set aside sections around the edge of 
fields, used for access

If these dont exsists, could I suggest that they be asigned lighter varients 
of the same colour.  So that the less excesable, and blantent in the 
landscape, the track is, the less it stands out on the map.  But at the same 
time it is still clear that they all belong to the same family...'TRACKS'.

The other thing I have come across is Waterway-River (wich is what I'm 
currently labelling everything) Also seems quite generalized.  Are there a 
range of tags for rivers?  (I asume thickness is made from making an area).  
  The ones I am refering to are

Streams:  Small enough that you can hop over them and they often dont have a 
bridge
Seasonal Streams - Rivers:  Ones that dry up in the summer, but are 
definatly still present in the winter, and have some effect on the landscape 
and field boundries usually.

Finally, at www.free-map.org.uk....< I'm completly confused why countryside 
places are rendered different from none countryside places.  Please explain 
this to me!.  Also...where is the topographical data taken from, cause it is 
really cool to see.

Thanks...!

Ben