[OSM-talk] Tagging for street danger levels

[Andy Allan]

On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 4:46 PM, Anthony <osm at inbox.org> wrote:
> On 6/23/10, Andy Allan <gravitystorm at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Without attempting to express much of an interest in tagging
>> discussions, it would be great if you were to use the word "sidewalk"
>> to describe the paths-along-the-edge-of-roads. The word footway might
>> well mean the same thing but is used elsewhere in osm, and will lead
>> to confusion.
>
> I don't get it.  Isn't the term footway used in OSM for precisely this
> sort of thing?  It's a way primarily used by pedestrians.  Perhaps
> it's not "designated", but that's only because nothing is "designated"
> around here.  Or do I just not understand what "designated" means?
>
> What am I missing?

The term "footway" (along with "path") have been used as highway
values to indicate the primary meaning of the way, and can be
meaningful when used on its own. You want to instead describe an
attribute of a different type of way ("this is a major road. It has
the following attributes: lit, 2 lanes, sidewalks). It seems at first
glance to be kinda neat to use the same word in similar contexts, but
it's deeply, deeply confusing. I've seen so many "highway=cycleway,
cycleway=lane" tags, which is a very similar in that the
"cycleway=lane|opposite_lane" stuff is meant as an attribute for other
road types. Reusing the term "cycleway" here as both a very common
value and a key for other tags seems to lead to lots of people getting
confused.

If you are planning to map the sidewalks with individual ways, then of
course stick to your choice of highway=footway|path and forgive me for
confusing everyone.

("footpath" is, of course, not helpful!)

Cheers,
Andy