[OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...

[Mike Harris]

Broadly agree but why is 'meadow' not a land use? I believe that it is - in
rural England at least ... See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow

Mike Harris
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Anthony [mailto:osm at inbox.org] 
> Sent: 01 December 2009 00:12
> To: Roy Wallace
> Cc: talk at openstreetmap.org; mk at koppenhoefer.com
> Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Path vs footway vs cycleway vs...
> 
> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Roy Wallace 
> <waldo000000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 2:08 AM, Anthony <osm at inbox.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> What if I map the entire section of grass which is within 
> the right 
> >> of way as a polygon with highway=path, area=yes?  That's how we 
> >> represent infinite overlapping criss-crossing 
> "invisible-paths", like 
> >> a pedestrian mall.
> >
> > Not bad. But what makes that area of grass a "path" as 
> opposed to just 
> > an area of grass you can walk on (e.g. landuse=meadow or 
> something + 
> > foot=yes)? Is there a difference?
> 
> Well, I didn't know landuse tags were routable.  And 
> landuse=meadow sounds to me like a terrible tag ("meadow" is 
> not a type of usage of land).
> 
> But I think the key difference is that the area of land is 
> located in a right of way.  And a second key difference is 
> that it's useful for routing purposes.
> 
> > I tend to think "paths" should be limited to elongated 
> areas, designed 
> > for or used typically for travel (other than for large 
> vehicles like 
> > cars), with usually a constant or slowly varying width. There's 
> > probably a better definition though.
> 
> I'd say this strip of land qualifies by that definition.  
> Length, about 80 meters.  Width: about 10-15 meters.  Used 
> quite often for pedestrian travel (it's the way you get to 
> the park, plus school children regularly walk across it on 
> their way to/from school).  The width is fairly constant.
> 
> Frankly, I don't see much point in using an area, unless 
> you're going to use an area for basically everything.  I was 
> kind of being sarcastic about that.  But whatever.
> 
> 
>