[OSM-talk] Bus stops

[Jon Bright]

Hi,

On to my next potentially earth-shattering tag question: bus stops.  I 
see from Map Features that the tag appears to be "highway=bus_stop" and 
that it applies to nodes.

My question: the "highway" key makes it seem like these nodes should 
also be part of a way - i.e. I should (if necessary) add a node to the 
way which forms the street that this bus stop is at the side of.  This 
also seems like it might not be the worst thing in the sense that using 
route=bus, it would then be possible to work out a bus route from one 
place to another.

If, on the other hand, you're using bus stops as a navigational aid in a 
car journey, or if you're just trying to find a bus stop somewhere, it 
seems like it would be useful to know which side of the street the bus 
stop is on.  Assuming a two-way street, this would preclude those nodes 
being part of the way - they'd be freestanding nodes to the side of the 
way, often (but not always) roughly paired, one on each side.

Anyone have any hints?  (Other than the hint that I might want to spend 
less of my time thinking about bus stops, something I've already 
realised for myself :-)

-- 
Jon Bright
Silicon Circus Ltd.
http://www.siliconcircus.com