On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 6:22 AM, Greg Troxel<g...@ir.bbn.com> wrote: > > With highway=path bicycle=designated there is the same ambiguity about > the default for foot. > > So how does footway/cycleway vs path make any difference in determining > the default? Or is the argument really that one group should have > different defaults to make tagging more convenient?
Very good question. Firstly, footway/cycleway seems to have caused a problem - people use these tags to mean different things. They attach variable meaning to them (just look at the content of these threads for examples). This is a really really bad thing. highway=path, on the other hand, IMHO is less likely to cause this problem. By treating "footways"/"cycleways" as both being highway=path's, it psychologically coerces the tagger to think about the actual characteristics of the path (e.g. what does the sign say, what's the surface like, who is legally allowed to use it), rather than making a snap, *subjective* decision as to what to call it. Secondly, highway=path is more extensible and therefore should be expected to lead to more consistent results into the future. What tag might you invent for a path designated for snowmobiles? You could invent highway=snowmobileway...or instead use highway=path; snowmobile=designated etc. _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
