[OSM-talk] footway vs. path - again and again

[sylvain letuffe]

> In Presets->Ways all Hiking paths are highway=path, none of them is
> highway=footway.

Don't know how JOSM presets are decided, but for me a :

Hiking trail in mountains, where nothing else than you and your feet can pass, 
not because of right of access but because of physical restrictions could be 
tagged as :

highway=footway
OR
highway=path
foot=designated

(as it is defined in the path proposal)
sac_scale can then apply to both without problems.

My choice, is, without problem highway=footway because I'm a lazy guy.

####
If you don't want to read me arguing for or against path, then please don't 
read further.


And after much thinking, I'll still use highway=footway, even if I weren't so 
lazy, because even if I like some aspects of path I'm still a bit unsatisfied 
with it.

footway is ended a very fast way to say : "this if for pedestrians, and this 
is not, or might hardly be for other transport means"
Something like a composite tag to say : 
Even if a bike is allowed to, he might hardly go there physicaly

While on the opposite, path is clearer and seems to say :
"I don't care about physics, I'm talking about right to do it"

So tagging a hiking mountain trail where Mountain bike cannot drive with 
highway=path
foot=designated
requires an aditionnal tagging to say wether or not a MTB can physicaly goes 
on it
The answer to that by adding 
bicycle=yes
is not enough for me, because designated/yes/no/maybe/private is of a "right 
of access" class but not of a "physical access" class.

I've been told many times, that no one cares if bicycle=no means  that I can't 
go or if I am not allowed to go, since the result is the same

But no ! that makes a difference to me that's worth tagging sometimes.
- in case of emergency, let's suppose I'm on the top of a mountain with my 
bike, and a storm is comming. The fastest way down to the valey is accross a 
natural park where bike are not allowed. If I know the "path" down there is 
okay for a MTB, I'll use it for sure.
Ok, my example is a bit extreme I admit

I haven't found yet a more "common" example, but you see the point, and as of 
now, I can't use 
highway=path
foot=designated
for an hiking trail because it's missing something, that "to my mind" a 
footway covers.


--
sly
sylvain letuffe