Relation:route

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route

Description: Used for a set of tags and members marking a route of various kind. Google definition User discussion

Group: Route

Members: help - (blank) - forward - backward - stop_<number> - forward_stop_<number> - backward_stop_<number>

Tagwatch: help Europe France Germany Italy Netherlands Spain Turkey United-Kingdom

This is a proposal for a set of tags and members making a Relation for routes of various kinds.

A route is a pre-determined and often publicised path taken repeatedly by vehicles or people along a set of ways, for example a numbered road, a bus route, or a cycle route. Different routes may overlap, so the same way may have several different routes running along it.

Note that a road sometimes has more than one number - numerous major European "E" routes share ways (maybe even exactly the same ways in some cases) with national numbered routes. Also consider cases like the A14 and A11 in Cambridgeshire which come together for 10 km or so north of Newmarket and then diverge again.

Tags

Key	Value	Discussion
type	route	indicates this Relation represents a route
route	road / bicycle / foot / bus / pilgrimage / detour / railway / ...	a road (e.g. the ways making up the A14 trunk road), bicycle route, hiking route or bus route or whatever route
name	a name	The route is known by this name (e.g. "Jubilee Cycle Route", "Pembrokeshire Coastal Path")
ref	a reference	The route is known by this reference (e.g. "A14", "NCN 11", "Citi 4" (bus number); in germany there is always a space between character and number, e.g. "A 1", "L 130", "K 5"; in france too)
network	ncn / cambridge_citi_bus / uk_ldp	A wider network of routes of which this is one example. For example, the UK's national cycle network; the Cambridge Citi bus network; the UK's long distance footpath network. (The "uk_" bit isn't particularly to identify it as belonging to the uk, merely to be a conventional way to separate the namespace.)
operator	operator name	The route is operated by this authority/company etc. e.g. "Stagecoach Cambridge", "Eurostar"
state	proposed / alternate / temporary / connection	Sometimes routes may not be permanent (ie: diversions), or may be in a proposed state (ie: UK NCN routes are sometimes not official routes pending some negotiation or development). Connection is used for routes linking two different routes or linking a route with for example a village centre.
symbol	symbol description	This symbol is used as a label along the route, e.g., "Red cross on white ground" for the "Frankenweg" in Franconia, Germany I think this would be better implied by the network tag - the network=Frankenweg implies that symbol David.earl 22:38, 23 October 2007 (BST) I concede that you could derive the symbol from the combination of name/ref and network; network alone is probably not enough. --Keichwa 18:18, 31 October 2007 (UTC) What if cycle routes within a regional network all have different symbols that are used on sign posts to guide the cyclists? Or do we need specialised route relations for cycling, hiking, etc? --Karouf 14:03, 10 November 2007 (UTC) In Poland most routes are marked with coulourful marks (one trail one colour, see the bottom of this page). For hiking trails they are alwas a colorful stripe beetween two white ones. However, bicycle routes' symbols haven't been yet standarised accross the country, they alway use colours. Steelman 22:18, 20 December 2007 (UTC) Some cycle tours in Germany use special icons (e.g. the Ruhrtalradweg). I think a symbol description is not good enough - for rendering purposes an icon url would be more suitable.
description	a short description	What is special about this route

Members

Way or Node	Role	Recurrence?	Discussion
	(blank)	zero or more	the ways making up the route.
	forward/backward	zero or more	if a route should only be followed in one direction for some or all of its length, the "role" can indicate this for some or all of the constituent ways. "forward" means the route follows this way only in the direction of the way and "backward" means the route runs only against the direction of the way.
	stop_<number>	zero or more	A Bus stop or train halt, on the route. The number starts with 0
	forward/backward_stop_<number>	zero or more	A Bus stop or train halt, on the route, which is only be used in one direction.

Route Relations in Use

Route networks in use

This is a table with possible network tags being used right now

route	network	Description
bicycle	ncn	National cycling network: long distance routes used for cycling routes that cross countries
bicycle	rcn	Regional cycling network: used for cycling routes that cross regions In Belgium and the Netherlands this is used for the cycle node networks
bicycle	lcn	Local cycling network: used for small local cycling routes. Could be touristic loops or routes crossing a city
foot	nwn	National walking network: long distance paths used for walking routes that cross countries
foot	rwn	Regional walking network: used for walking routes that cross regions In Belgium and the Netherlands this is used for the walking node networks
foot	lwn	Local walking network: used for small local walking routes. Could be touristic loops or routes crossing a city

Cycle Routes

Cycle routes are extensively mapped with route relations, and the OSM cycle map will render route relations following this proposal.

In general it is probably a good idea to add the tags: "type => route" and "route => bicycle". However, the cycle map will still render a route if they are not present.

The following tags are used in rendering:

Key	Value	Comment
ref	a reference	(optional) NCN, RCN, and LCN references work best on the map if just the number is used, so for NCN 4: "4". The network tag correctly distinguishes the type, so just use "ref" and not "ncn_ref" or similar.
network	ncn / rcn / lcn	Specify the network as a national route, a regional route, or a local route, as per the normal tagging of cycle routes
state	proposed	(optional) Routes are sometimes not official routes pending some negotiation or development -- the map renders these routes dotted.

Some examples in use:

• Part of UK NCN Route 4
• Part of London Route 5

Train routes: Railway lines

Route relations could also be used to designate railway lines that are operated by one (perhaps more) train operators. Some examples can be found at Dutch Railway Lines.

Bus routes

Key	Value	Comment
ref	a reference	The route number of the bus route
operator	bus operator	The name of the bus company that operates this route

See also Buses. Some people have made a start at creating bus route relations, and User:Gravitystorm (creator of the cycle map) has had a go at rendering bus routes: See blog post

Also, the Dutch cycling map has a public transport layer which shows bus routes.

step by step guide

Potlatch

1. Ensure all ways which the route runs along exist and are appropriately tagged (eg highway=footway)
2. Select the first way and click on the second symbol on the right side, which looks like two chain segments.
3. Select a relation from the drop-down, if there's an appropriate existing one. Otherwise, select Create a new relation and click Add.
4. Enter route as the value to the type tag.
5. Add additional tags as needed. (Use the + button)
6. Click OK.
7. The relation is added to the way. The grey box to the right of the relation details and to the left of the X is the input field for the way's role within the relation, see the Members section above for details of roles within the route relation type.
8. Repeat steps 2-7, selecting the appropriate relation (the one just created) in step 3.