[OSM-talk] highway=unsurfaced

[Alex Mauer]

On 01/12/2011 11:39 AM, Anthony wrote:
> Which I suppose is one of my main questions.  If a way is tagged with
> highway=road, and nothing else, should a router route motor vehicle
> traffic down it?  I would think the answer is yes, which means that
> paths which are not meant for motor vehicle traffic shouldn't be
> tagged with highway=road.

Well, nothing should end up tagged as highway=road, it’s an interim tag 
only.  It means exactly “we don’t know what this is, except it looks 
like a road from the aerial photos”: It could be private or 
pedestrian-only, there could be a gate or one-way spike strips, or 
bollards (rising or otherwise), or any number of other things which make 
it unsuitable for routing.

So at best it could be routed with strong “use at your own risk” 
warnings.  But in general it’s probably best if routers do not send 
people down them.

—Alex Mauer “hawke”