[OSM-talk] highway=crossing tags removed in changeset.

[Andy Townsend]

On 13/07/2016 17:40, Dave F wrote:
>
> I'm unsure why the nodes originally had crossing=no, but I think 
> removing the highway tag makes them even more inaccurate. 

Leaving aside the "undiscussed mechanical edit" issues (see 
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2016-July/076403.html for 
my comments on that) in this case it's definitely worth a conversation 
with the mappers about what they were trying to encapsulate, and with 
the "crossing" wiki page editors about why 
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:crossing is as it is.  I suspect 
part of that reason in the latter case may be recent edits by wiki 
editors with differing views on what "crossing=no" means resulting in a 
bit of a mess.

I don't believe that I've ever been to any of the places that were 
changed in https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/40612462 so I'm 
guessing based on imagery and familiarity with nearby places (e.g. the 
one in Cannock Chase).  Looking at one of the examples in that 
changeset, http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2714463033 , it looks like 
"somewhere where you can cross the road but there's no traffic 
control".  It is a specific place where you can cross - footpaths 
terminate at that node.  I personally wouldn't tag it as any sort of 
crossing since there's no infrastructure, although it's clear that 
whoever built the footpath did anticipate crossing there rather than 
elsewhere.

The wiki page for highway=crossing (currently) says "Where definitely no 
crossing is possible/legal" for "no".  Unfortunately in itself that's 
very unclear - many places where crossing is legal it's essentially 
impossible to do so (e.g. many footpaths crossing dual carriageways), 
and there are also plenty of places where crossing is possible but 
illegal (e.g. in places where "jaywalking" laws exist).

Looking at another example, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/190732659 
, it's clear that you can cross (based on the name of the bus stop if 
nothing else!) so "crossing=no" looks wrong there too.

There are of course only 24 nodes in total, so whoever cleans this up 
should ask the mappers of those nodes what it was they actually meant.  
My guess in some cases is "you can't cross here", in others "you can, 
but there's no infrastructure" and in others again "actually, there's a 
zebra crossing or some lights".

Also, any follow-up in-depth discussion about what "crossing=no" means 
is probably best had on the tagging list.

Best Regards,

Andy