[OSM-talk] golf course marking

[Robin Paulson]

2008/5/8 Richard Fairhurst <richard at systemed.net>:
>  > yes, it is a strange choice. it leads to irrationalities like
>  > highway=footway and highway=cycleway
>  > why we're not using right_of_way=motorway|primary|cycleway|footway|
>  > and so on, i don't know
>
>  Generally "right of way" is a legal term. It defines a way by the class
>  of user who has legal permission to use it.

ok, fair point. highway=footway|cycleway are still unintuitive though

>  By and large, when we map roads, we're making observations as to what's
>  on the ground. We're not trawling through statutory instruments to find
>  the legal status of a particular road or footpath. So whatever the
>  failings of 'highway', 'right of way' would imply a legal status that
>  we simply don't know.

possibly; although i would argue that a combination of the access
restrictions listed in your local equivalent of the road code/highway
code, and a council-maintained signpost (otherwise we can't find out
the name....) will give exactly that: who and what are allowed to
access a given road/highway, in a very simple and unambiguous way. any
way that doesn't have signs telling us what it is, can then be tagged
in a way to imply it is ambiguous (access=unknown) i.e. you want to
use it, you take the chance that you're trespassing

>  (Incidentally, the term 'highway' isn't really UK-centric - it's very

agreed, but i don't think i said it was. i argued that it was
ambiguous in the context we use it and thus possibly confusing for new
users

>  rarely used over here except in road-technical circles, e.g. Highways
>  Agency, highway engineer. Everyone else calls it a 'road' - e.g.
>  railway enthusiasts dismissively refer to the Department for Transport
>  as the Department for Roads. The generic 'highway' is much more US
>  usage.)

i understand where they're coming from...