[OSM-talk] highway=* + area=yes vs area:highway=*

Tom Pfeifer t.pfeifer at computer.org
Wed Aug 8 13:17:49 UTC 2018


On 08.08.2018 12:49, Tomasz Wójcik wrote:
> As highway=footway etc. tags are set to "should not be used on areas" on Wiki, and mapping them in 
> combination with area=yes is not documented at all and considered as wrong tagging by part of users, 
> there is a key "area:highway=*" (133k uses at the moment). Part of users still map footway areas as 
> a combination anyway, propably because it's rendered by default style. Due to our rules, that we 
> shouldn't have 2 active tagging schemes for the same feature, so we should discuss this topic.

There is nothing on the wiki page that explicitly discourages or deprecates the use of highway tags 
on an area, except the flag in the template that defines that a closed loop means it is not filled, 
in the absence of other tagging.

area=yes is the traditional tagging then to distinguish a closed loop from an filled area.

"some closed ways ... are assumed to be areas, but others, such as highway=footway are not, being 
treated as linear features instead, except when there is also an area=yes tag." [1]

"The area=yes tag is required for some closed ways when used to define an Area (polygon)"

area=yes is used nearly a million times, 300k with highway*

area=yes and highway:area=* have different purposes, the first for the occasional filled polygon, 
the latter for systematically mapping highway width and shape.

Thus, area=yes is _well_ documented, and I see no reason to change that.

[1] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Area
[2] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:area

tom



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