Although I don't know the history of the access tag, I would expect that "designated" and "permissive" might have something to do with Public Rights of Way in the UK:
* If a path is designated as a "Public Footpath" then you have a legal right to walk on it and there is a legal structure protecting these and dictating how the local government should keep a record of them. * The public has a right to request a path be added to the list of "Public Footpaths" if they can prove prior use (pre some date I can't remember). To prevent this happening a landowner can optionally decide to make a "Permissive Footpath". Again this has some legal consequences but to the landowner it may be more appealing to have a permissive path over his land rather than risk someone challenging him on the grounds that the path be added as a "Public Footpath". * Having said all this the UK guidelines are now to use "designation=public_footpath" and no need for an 'access' tag. For permissive paths I have seen both "foot=permissive" and "designation=permissive_footpath" Regards, Rob p.s. If it helps, I don't understand the access tag either!!
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