[OSM-talk] Business Building Conventions (new branch)

[Mike N.]

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> Since this has been so helpful, I'd like to ask for advice on another
> question. In an urban/suburban setting (Tampa, Florida, US), where
> sidewalks are discontinuous (some blocks have them on both sides, some
> blocks only on one, some on neither), what is the preferred way to map
> and tag this? I have been tracing the actual sidewalks onto the map, but
> I have recently discovered that it is possible to tag streets to add
> "footway=left" or right or both, with the implication that if there is
> no footway tag then there are no footways.

   It would be better to attach the footway / sidewalk information to the 
associated street / highway - this won't render today, but may in the 
future.   I have been using the 'sidewalk' tag, because that was the first 
proposed feature I found at the time.   That all may be sorted out in the 
future, and hopefully someone can automatically set these to the final 
recommendations.

  That sort of information is useful in the US because there are areas and 
eras of construction in which sidewalks were 'in', then 'out', now they're 
back 'in'.   So one could envision a quick reference for 'neighborhoods with 
sidewalks'.