[OSM-talk] definition of the main highway-tag

[James Stewart]

Classifying roads in central asia, it is easier, and makes more sense  
in my opinion to use the highway ref in the administrative sense. Some  
countries or regions have 5 or 6 main roads with are the national  
trunk system. In places they are almost reduced to tracks through the  
mountains, through which all traffic flows - it makes little sense to  
mark then as a track though- physical attribute tags can do this, and  
using dual carriage way technique when relevant. Many central asian  
roads have fallen into disrepair in the last 20 years, but nonetheless  
remain trunk roads.  These roads are generally the object of  
investment to improvement, so so will remain the principal highways,  
but improved over time.
For example, the Chinese and Pakistani government are upgrading the  
Karakorum highway from 10m to 30m, it's physical characteristics will  
change, but the administrative classification and relative importance  
is likely to remain the same. Anyone driving through  Tajikistan will  
not be expecting a German trunk highway service anyway!
James


> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:06:54 +0100
> From: Richard Mann <richard.mann.westoxford at googlemail.com>
> Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] definition of the main highway-tag
> To: mk at koppenhoefer.com
> Cc: osm <talk at openstreetmap.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<a088870d0907311006q2e74e2aak6962b469c999910b at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Sometimes it's physical, sometimes administrative. Generally it's
> administrative where that is clearly defined (ie the higher road  
> classes in
> developed countries), and more physical when it isn't.
>
> So saying either is correct wouldn't be entirely true.
>
> Richard
>>
>>
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> reading the English page for tag highway
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:highway and comparing it to  
>> the
>> German version, I found some inconsistencies. Whilst I generally  
>> would
>> have tried to transfer the English content to the German page, in  
>> this
>> particular case I think that the German version is better.
>>
>> The main definition in English is:
>> The '''highway tag''' is the primary tag used for highways. It is
>> often the only tag. It is a very general and sometimes vague
>> ''description of the physical structure of the highway''.
>>
>> This goes back to an edit from 27th Oct. 2007 (Etric Celine). Until
>> then (from March 06) there was just this: "Applying to feature type:
>> Physical ".
>>
>> The German version defines:
>> "Das highway Tag ist das Haupt-tag f?r Stra?en. Oftmals ist es auch
>> das einzige Tag. Es ist recht allgemein und bestimmt in etwa die
>> Verkehrsbedeutung der Stra?e. "
>> (translates ~ "The tag highway is the primary tag for highways. Often
>> it is the only one. It is quite general and defines ~ the importance
>> of the road for the traffic"
>>
>> There are then 2 examples to show the advantage of a physical
>> classification in respect to an administrative one (on the English
>> page, dating back to the same edit):
>> "Here are two examples where the highway tag differs from the legal  
>> status:
>>
>>   Some roads in the UK that were legally classified as trunk roads
>> have been "detrunked" and are no longer designated by the government
>> as trunk roads. These roads should still have the tag highway=trunk.
>>
>> /* This first example is valid for a classification according to the
>> importance as well, while the 2nd would result in different tagging:
>> */
>>
>>   A road which is legally designated as trunk road has a section
>> where the road is not built to trunk standards, e.g. a single lane
>> with passing areas. The section that is not built to trunk standards
>> should be given a different value for highway other than trunk.
>>
>> _____
>>
>> If the highway-tag was the only tag on a road, I would agree with  
>> this
>> approach, but as we are meanwhile tagging physical attributes as
>> supplementory tags (e.g. lanes, surface, traffic-lights), as we do  
>> for
>> administrative classification (ref),
> On 31 Jul 2009, at 18:25, talk-request at openstreetmap.org wrote:
>
>>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> reading the English page for tag highway
>>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:highway and comparing it to  
>>> the
>>> German version, I found some inconsistencies. Whilst I generally  
>>> would
>>> have tried to transfer the English content to the German page, in  
>>> this
>>> particular case I think that the German version is better.
>>>
>>> The main definition in English is:
>>> The '''highway tag''' is the primary tag used for highways. It is
>>> often the only tag. It is a very general and sometimes vague
>>> ''description of the physical structure of the highway''.
>>>
>>> This goes back to an edit from 27th Oct. 2007 (Etric Celine). Until
>>> then (from March 06) there was just this: "Applying to feature type:
>>> Physical ".
>>>
>>> The German version defines:
>>> "Das highway Tag ist das Haupt-tag f?r Stra?en. Oftmals ist es auch
>>> das einzige Tag. Es ist recht allgemein und bestimmt in etwa die
>>> Verkehrsbedeutung der Stra?e. "
>>> (translates ~ "The tag highway is the primary tag for highways.  
>>> Often
>>> it is the only one. It is quite general and defines ~ the importance
>>> of the road for the traffic"
>>>
>>> There are then 2 examples to show the advantage of a physical
>>> classification in respect to an administrative one (on the English
>>> page, dating back to the same edit):
>>> "Here are two examples where the highway tag differs from the  
>>> legal status:
>>>
>>>   Some roads in the UK that were legally classified as trunk roads
>>> have been "detrunked" and are no longer designated by the government
>>> as trunk roads. These roads should still have the tag highway=trunk.
>>>
>>> /* This first example is valid for a classification according to the
>>> importance as well, while the 2nd would result in different tagging:
>>> */
>>>
>>>   A road which is legally designated as trunk road has a section
>>> where the road is not built to trunk standards, e.g. a single lane
>>> with passing areas. The section that is not built to trunk standards
>>> should be given a different value for highway other than trunk.
>>>
>>> _____
>>>
>>> If the highway-tag was the only tag on a road, I would agree with  
>>> this
>>> approach, but as we are meanwhile tagging physical attributes as
>>> supplementory tags (e.g. lanes, surface, traffic-lights), as we do  
>>> for
>>> administrative classification (ref),
>
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