[OSM-talk] Tagging Scheme Recommendations: highway=path, footway, trail?

[Andy Allan]

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 3:10 PM, Craig Wallace <craigw84 at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> On 30/08/2010 14:53, Steve Bennett wrote:
>>
>> So you could end up mapping "highway=path; bicycle=yes; width=1;
>> surface=dirt;" in great detail, and totally miss the fact it's
>> unrideable.
>
> Use mtb:scale and/or sac_scale, to tag how ridable/hikable it is.
>
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:mtb:scale
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:sac_scale

I think these kinds of things would be great, if we were only making
products for mountain bikers and hikers. But we aren't. Are we instead
supposed to send one person from every end-user fraternaty to map
every path over and over again?

Also, given that I'm a mountain biker and I have no idea what a "handy
surface" is, nor what a "bail like hairpin" is, I have great doubts
about these particular guidelines. They sound like they can open the
way for many tagging disputes!

Cheers,
Andy