[OSM-talk] Tagging of jogging tracks

[Andy Allan]

On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 8:33 AM, Mike Collinson <mike at ayeltd.biz> wrote:
> At 10:24 PM 8/05/2008, Karl Eichwalder wrote:
>
>>Inge Wallin schrieb:
>>
>>> Yes, that is indeed what it is. I haven't tracked it yet, but there is
>>> also a
>>> mountain bike track in that area.  I suppose that should be tagged:
>>>
>>>   highway=cycleway
>>>   sport=mountainbike
>>>
>>> Except...  these are not really ways at all, but narrow tracks through the
>>> woods that are not suitable for anything really, except mountainbiking.
>>
>>So go for highway=mtb_track, please.  Do not expect old renderers or routers
>>to know about the sport=mountainbike restriction with a sudden.
>
> +1 to highway=mtb_track
>
> These are paths specifically designed for mountain bike use and fun, often deliberately not following the natural terrain an ordinary path would and often a circuit not taking you anywhere useful.
>
> I take the point that other paths are of varying suitability for road / hydrid / mountain bikes and that it is hard to objectively catagorise them ... but that is not relevant I think, highway=cycleway is fine for them (though a simple subjective classification as proposed in another thread does not seem a bad idea).

I completely agree with you and Dave that there's a distinction
between highway=cycleway and mtb tracks. If anyone is in any doubt,
here's a handy guide:

1) Open this video : http://youtube.com/watch?v=fDVXIBgM4kI
2) Skip forward to 0:58
3) Accept that highway=cycleway would be very misleading!

As for the actual tag, I don't care. I've got a lot of mtb tracks
still[1] to tag, so if someone beats me to it I'll use whatever they
are using, otherwise I'll just wield the Sword Of Arbitrary Tagging at
some point over the weekend[2].

I think it's important that there are three distinct concepts:
A) MTB tracks. usually rocky, deliberately dangerous, purpose-built,
single direction, stunts, dropoffs  and so on.
B) mtb = yes - a tag to show that you can ride on a mountain bike -
maybe a footpath or a rocky mountain road. Makes most sense if it's
bicycle=no, mtb=yes (no bikes except mountain bikes)
C) route = mtb - a signed mountain biking route. Might be on roads,
paths, MTB tracks. Implies *signs* and that kind of thing, like normal
cycle routes[3]

Cheers,
Andy

[1] lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2007-March/012247.html
[2] Ha. It's 18 months and counting. Don't hold your breath.
[3] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Cycle_routes