[OSM-talk] OSM cycle map - ?excessive focus on long-distance routes

Volker Schmidt voschix at gmail.com
Wed May 9 12:57:25 BST 2012


Richard,


> A Dutchman posted a map of the main cycle routes in Utrecht, and I asked
> why it looked so different to OSM/OCM
> http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/looking-down-on-cyclists/
>
> Q: Why does the map above look different to what?s in OpenStreetMap?
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=52.0924&lon=5.1317&zoom=12&layers=C
> A: The map here shows only those routes the city thinks are main routes. In
> reality there are far more routes and far more streets with cycling
> infrastructure (almost all major streets) as you can see in OpenStreetMap.
> The few red lines you see in OpenStreetMap are the national cycle routes
> but they have nothing to do with main routes in the city.
>
> "the national cycle routes ... have nothing to do with main routes in the
> city"
>
> Obviously, OCM can render what it likes, but I think this neatly
> illustrates that OSM tagging of cycle routes is missing a trick or two
>

I would not agree with this criticism.
Routes on OSM do correspond (or should correspond) to signposted routes on
the ground. There are intentionally different levels: international,
national, regional, local routes.
With regard to long-distance routes, these are indeed in many cases not the
routes that local commuters would use. They are intended for cycle
tourists.
Routes for commuters are a different story. Firstly, they are in most cases
individual - each commuter wants to go from his home to his place of work.
Secondly, I would expect that commuters or local users would end up in
local or regional cycle routes (dark and light blue routes in OCM).
In the Utrecht example, it's not clear whether the "main cycle routes"
shown in
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/looking-down-on-cyclists/ are
signposted routes or simply the streets/cyclepaths most used by local
commuters.
If the latter, than OSM cannot tag them anyway, because there is nothing on
the ground that tells about routes streeets/cyclepaths preferred by the
users.

A local commuter should in fact use services like cyclestreets (or the
local equivalent) to establish his preferred daily commute. Occasional
users should orient themselves by following signposted routes.

Or have I completely misunderstood your point?

Volker

(Padova, Italy)

http://opencyclemap.org/?zoom=13&lat=52.08908&lon=5.10929&layers=B00

>
> Richard
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