[OSM-talk] Highway and Ralyway - tram_stop's and the like

[Lester Caine]

Robin Paulson wrote:
> voting has now closed for this proposal, it has been approved, with 20
> yes votes, and 1 no vote
> 
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Proposed_features/Tram_station
> 
> it will be moved to the approved features and map features pages

Should it be used for the stops on the track of a bus_guideway ;)

I do think that taking a lot of these features in isolation is missing the 
whole picture.
Add the rich diversity world wide and things become even more complex.

We need to define some basic rules and follow them.
Station and halt can be distinguished easily, a tram_stop may have nothing 
more than a bus stop type sign on the side of the road which the tram tracks run.
A stop on a guided bus way is more like a railway halt than a bus stop or tram 
stop, since it requires a platform and access to the trackway. You can't just 
stop a vehicle anywhere on the track. This is why the discussion on some tag 
details become somewhat complex and miss information messes the discussion.

People are happy to identify trams as 'railway' yet the tracks may simply be 
laid in the highway, and yet they are trying to force bus guideways to be 
'highways' while the use of them would be as dangerous as using a railway line!

The main problem I see is trying to group bus priority lanes which ARE 
'highway' 'access=psv' along with dedicated bus trackways as demonstrated by 
the Cambridge and Adelaide tracks. There are probably some trackways that are 
little more than protected roads, but where a 'trackway' has been built for a 
specific purpose then it SHOULD be classified as a railway and access to it 
treated as such?

And then we can classify stops on this track as tram_stop, although I think in 
reality they will be railway=halt ?

In addition, railway=crossing and railway=level_crossing are being built on 
the Cambridge busway as far as I understand?

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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