[OSM-talk] [tagging] alley - for tree-lined roads?

[Mike Harris]

Having lived in England, America and Germany ...

In British English and avenue is usually used for a road (or sometimes another way - e.g. in a park) that is lined with trees.
I agree with John's definition of the American English usage.
In German I agree with Robert that "alley" is a mistranslation ('false friend') for "Allee", which I would normally translate into (British) English as "avenue" - just as I would "puistotie" from Finnish (which is a more descriptive term anyway - 'park road').
To confuse matters further, my feeling is that in French the word "allée" can be translated - according to context - into the British English "avenue", the American English "avenue" or the English "alley"!
Not quite sure about Chinese or Arabic (:>)

I don't especially like "tree-lined" - but at least it says what it means and avoids the linguistic mess!

Mike Harris
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John F. Eldredge [mailto:john at jfeldredge.com] 
> Sent: 03 November 2009 13:40
> To: Open Street Map mailing list
> Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] [tagging] alley - for tree-lined roads?
> 
> Speaking as a non-German, I find "tree-lined" more specific.  
> In American usage, "avenue" is just a synonym for "street" or 
> "road", with no connotation of tree-lined or not tree-lined.  
> An "alley" in American usage is a narrow service road, 
> generally only one lane wide, used for low-speed access to 
> the side or back of properties.  It is distinguished from a 
> driveway in that a driveway is on private land and generally 
> gives access to just one property; an alley is on public 
> property and generally gives access to multiple properties.
> 
> --
> John F. Eldredge -- john at jfeldredge.com
> "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is 
> better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert <ropino at online.de>
> Date: Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:54:32
> To: Talk Openstreetmap<talk at openstreetmap.org>
> Subject: [OSM-talk] [tagging] alley - for tree-lined roads?
> 
> Hello,
> 
> We are discussing in talk-de (German board) just streets and 
> other ways with many trees nearby.
> 
> I found here:
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:natural%3Dtree
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:Proposed_features/tree_row
> alley=left/right/both
> 
> I think the tag “alley” is a mistranslation (false friends) 
> and 1. avenue or 2. tree-lined road is better for roads 
> marked by trees.
> 
> The tag alley is already used for highway=service; 
> service=alley for narrow ways.
> 
> I think the second version “tree-lined” or ”tree_lined” is 
> better than “avenue”.
> With this key we can use it for other lines of trees, for 
> example near railways, rivers and so on.
> 
> At the moment this tag is probably only mainly used in Germany:
> http://osmdoc.com/de/tag/alley/#values
> comparison: http://tagwatch.stoecker.eu/Germany/De/tags.html
> key alley with values: both (251), right (27), left (26), yes (8)
> 
> My questions:
> Would we like to change this tag?
> 
> 
> Robert
> 
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