[OSM-talk] Divided roads proposal

[Steve Bennett]

On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Martin Koppenhoefer
<dieterdreist at gmail.com> wrote:
> it allows to define things like: there is a kerb between the footway and the
> street, but on given nodes there is a lowered kerb to crossover.

Yes, it's certainly quite expressive, at the cost of complexity - and
having to use relations. One of the advantages of simply setting a
"divider=" tag is its simplicity and succinctness. One tag, and you've
got something that will render nicely, and be useful for routing.

I see four essential tag values:

divider=none (can freely cross)
divider=marked or something (do not route a car across this, but a
pedestrian could cross it)
divider=median_strip (again, do not route a car across this, but you
could drive across it in an emergency)
divider=barrier (a physical barrier that would probably stop a pedestrian)

Not certain about the key or tag names. Maybe:
divided=no
divided=line
divided=median
divided=barrier

Does that work? median=?

I guess we also have to be careful about the word "barrier". Setting a
highway to be barrier=yes would normally mean the highway itself is
somehow impassable to people not on it...but wouldn't say anything
about u-turns.

Steve