[OSM-talk] amenity=doctor or amenity=doctors ? [tagging]

[Someoneelse]

Either my memory is playing up (entirely possible) or the Wiki, although 
still confusing*, is actually clearer than it used to be on this.  The 
tag page:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:foot

refers to the
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:access
page that you mentioned.

which makes it clear that it's about the legal right of access rather 
than the physical possibility of doing so.

Unfortunately, UK_public_rights_of_way doesn't refer to either of these 
or make it clear what the "yes" in "foot=yes; highway=footway" actually 
means (although "UK_Countryside_mapping" does explain "yes").

A significant minority of the footpaths that I add are
actually "foot=unknown" since although it's a path that "everyone uses" 
there's actually nothing on the ground that says that it is a public 
footpath - just a hole in a hedge and a muddy track across a field.

Things are further complicated by landowners diverting paths (sometimes 
legally, sometimes not) and new trails such as former railway lines for 
which "who is currently invited to use the trail" is clear, but the 
permanent legal status isn't.

*thinking about it, read without the UK- (actually England and Wales-) 
specific pages, and approached from the perspective of adding what's on 
the ground first, and then adding what is known about access rights, it 
actually makes much more sense.

Finally - a question.  How widespread is the use of the yellow / blue / 
red scheme described on UK_public_rights_of_way?  I've seen it southwest 
of London and maybe parts of Oxfordshire, but don't recall it elsewhere.