[OSM-talk] "Unsurfaced road" and "Byway"?

Nick Whitelegg Nick.Whitelegg at solent.ac.uk
Sun Dec 16 12:52:40 GMT 2007


Byway (highway=byway) is an unsurfaced track in the countryside with foot, 
horse, bike and car rights - part of the UK rights of way system. They are 
almost never found in towns. Typically waymarked as a right of way, though 
some aren't.

Unsurfaced (highway=unsurfaced; example = Rownhams Court, Southampton near 
the Ordnance Survey building) is a residential road with a rough, non-made 
up surface. They'll normally have a name and houses along them.

The main OSM renderers show both the same way, I believe, but Freemap 
differentiates - showing byways as solid red lines, and unsurfaced roads 
the same way as the main OSM renderers.

Nick




More information about the talk mailing list