OpenStreetMap
I went for a lovely afternoon hike today, and added a partial set of hiking trails through some nice woods. These are marked highway=footway. You should be able to see these at the map location associated with this diary entry.
Any suggestions on how I might improve this? I'm still a novice, and I'd like to make sure I'm doing everything correctly before adding more trails.
Discussion
Comment from SamatJain on 3 May 2010 at 22:30
It'd be useful to add restrictions. If the paths are hiking only (or, only an insane person would attempt to ride a bike there), add foot=yes. If you think bikes and horses may be allowed, add foot=designated (if you have detailed information on whether hikers and bikers are allowed, but not horses, check the wiki for the more precise restrictions you can add).
Comment from ekidd on 3 May 2010 at 22:58
Thank you!
I know that highway=footway says: "For designated footpaths, i.e. mainly/exclusively for pedestrians." (If it had been an obviously multiuse path, I would have chosen highway=path.) Is it important to add restrictions like bicycle=no to highway=path, or is it implied?
I think these paths are actually foot=yes, ski=yes, and everything else =no. What access tags would you use in this case?
Comment from SamatJain on 3 May 2010 at 23:20
Just to check, you're getting information about access restrictions from signs or brochures, right?
I'd tag any positive restriction you're certain about (i.e. what you mentioned: foot=yes, ski=yes, etc).
For negative restrictions (because it's so open-ended), I'd tag whatever the signs say it not allowed. Trails in my area, for example, disallow OHV and offroading (off-highway vehicles), and some disallow horses.
Comment from ekidd on 3 May 2010 at 23:36
I'm getting access restrictions from the posted signs, which I always try to photograph.
Checking osm.wiki/OSM_tags_for_routing/Access-Restrictions#United_States_of_America says that highway=footway defaults to bicycle=no and horse=no. So theoretically, I just need to add ski=yes to the trails, and they should be accurately tagged, assuming the wiki is to be trusted. :-)
Many thanks for your advice!
Comment from ekidd on 3 May 2010 at 23:40
(In general, access restrictions are pretty tricky around here: there are lots of different trail owners, and they all have their own policies. And I've seen cases where the sign at one of the trail allows bikes, and the sign at the other end forbids them. I don't think it was supposed to be a one-way restriction!)
Comment from Vclaw on 4 May 2010 at 12:08
Also worth tagging the paths with the surface: osm.wiki/Key:surface
Its useful to know whether its the path is paved or gravel or dirt etc (though I'm not sure if any renderers use this).
And if its a hiking trail you can tag with SAC scale: osm.wiki/Key:sac_scale