[OSM-talk] Proliferation of path vs. footway

[Martin Koppenhoefer]

2009/8/10 Martin Simon <grenzdebil at gmail.com>:
> In the case of a combinet cycle and footway in germany, there is no
> primary purpose, pedestrians and cyclists have equal rights on these
> ways. So I tag "highway=path,bicycle=designated,foot=designated".

but it could be equally tagged as
highway=cycleway
foot=designated

OR:
highway=cycleway
foot=official

that latter was introduced (probably by the same people that already
forced path) to express designated (which was allegedly not used in a
proper way). In the end it seems, that every few month a new tag with
the same meaning of an already existing is introduced to solve the
problem of previously partly uncorrect associated tags. IMHO this
nonsense will not help getting more interpretable / reliable data.

cheers,
Martin