[OSM-talk] Rights of way again

[Mike Harris]

How about using highway=service (and even including service=driveway) for
some of these as these are existing documented tags?

OTOH I do sometimes feel a need for tagging a public right of way footpath
that is not physically walkable! Usually I add a note if the presets for
obstructions / barriers do not suffice.

Some better rendering of some of the barriers e.g. =fence would be nice - - 


Mike Harris

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Avis [mailto:eda at waniasset.com] 
Sent: 03 March 2009 11:21
To: talk at openstreetmap.org
Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Rights of way again

I am always coming across private roads, which are physically there but not
rights of way, and occasionally footpaths which are rights of way but not
physically passable!  I am surprised that a schema for representing this
hasn't been developed already.

I have seen access=private suggested for the former case.  Although often
there are privately roads which are still accessible to the public, for
example the track past some playing fields to a sports pavilion, or the
pavement of London's South Bank which is privately owned but a public space.

If you wanted to be fully general you would have a table of flags, for
example a bridle path:

          Physical   Designation
Foot      yes        yes
Bicycle   yes        yes
Horse     yes        yes
Motorcar  yes        no

I think this is going too far.  I would be happy with designation=footpath,
designation=bridle_path, and designation=byway to mark ways which look
unpaved physically but are rights of way, and access=private to mark those
which look inviting but are in practice unusable by the public.

The in-between cases of a privately owned space which is open to the public
(like the South Bank) and a road which is not public but not completely
forbidden either (like a drive leading to a country hotel) I would be happy
to leave untagged.

There are also some where you're not quite sure if they are private or not,
like a track between two houses leading to a shared garage area.  I tend to
map these as highway=track, which fairly represents the physical condition
of the road and also gives a hint to the map reader that they might be
semi-private.  I don't feel a burning need for a tag to represent this,
especially as IANAL and I don't know exactly what the access rights are.

--
Ed Avis <eda at waniasset.com>