Cycle routes/cyclability

"It is one of several proposed schemes. You may use or ignore it. This is how we do it." -- from the Karlsruhe Schema webpage. i.e. unsuitable for voting types.

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Use this page to list physical attributes along a cycle route that could be used to define cyclability.

Important principle: no two cyclists are the same - OSM should concentrate on recording the facts so that map users/client software can make up its own mind, rather than imposing an arbitrary general-purpose definition of "cyclability".

Contents 1 Route type 2 Facilities/physical 3 Surface 4 Other users 5 Other 6 Tag ideas:

Route type

• On road/Off road
  • how? both have advantages
  • safety issues mostly occur around junctions
  • Pedestrians madly flailing around and not understanding that The Bit With The Bike Painted On Is For Bikes
• Cycle lanes (minor) and their design characteristics including width and location (more telling)
  • Best sort for some users are often also bus lanes.
  • Narrow sort can be unsafe or worse than useless, as can bike lanes located too close to parking or to the outside of all lanes (including turn lanes).
  • Presence of cycle lanes on junctions like roundabouts can be actively unhelpful
• Continuity, and actually going somewhere
• General traffic picture: complexity, number of crossing motions permitted
• Signed route
  • Amount, consistency, and clarity of signage

Facilities/physical

• Advanced Stop Lines (ASLs, "bike boxes") with/without sensible feeder lanes
• Presence/absence of barriers that hinder cyclists barrier=cycle_barrier
  • for me, bicycle=no on such a thing means: would an ideal bicycle (zero-width) still have to turn by more than 45° to wiggle through (or do you have to get off and push, are there interferences at pedal and handlebar level)
  • trailers are even more difficult to deal with
• Traffic calming
• Good/bad sightlines
• Presence of nearby amenities (e.g: cycle parking, refreshments, toilets, etc...)

Surface

• Surface type surface=*
  • Type (material)
  • Quality (presence of potholes, etc.)
• Glass (Ephemeral :) )
• Dropped kerbs (at intersections of off-road ways with roads)

Some surface recording might be seasonal - e.g. bridleways that are impassable (due to mud) in winter but easily cycled in summer; paths with hawthorn clippings at certain times.

Other users

• Route also used by walkers
  • Codify highway=footway|bicycle=yes < highway=cycleway|foot=yes as a means of recording what a way is better for, perhaps?
• Other route users
  • Traffic levels
  • proximity to vehicles
    • ... infer from road width / classification?
• Speed limit for motors
• Presence of parked cars
  • with bike lanes: typically a bad combination round here, but not always
  • likelihood of dooring affected by number of nearby shops, degree of clue in car-driving locals...
• Tram or other light rail lines sharing the carriageway.

Other

• Gradient (from SRTM)
  • For short slip roads/hills where the change in height won't be picked up by SRTM, use incline=1/-1 or steep_incline=1/-1
• Pub on section
• Illuminated lit=*
• Road classification
• Named hazards
  • What about cycleway:hazard=* or {bicycle,car,vehicle}:hazard=*?

Tag ideas:

• Try to use existing tags where they exist, and link to where they're defined

Physical	Tag key	values	notes
Illuminated	lit=*	yes; no
Surface	surface=*	paved; unpaved	in many cases this is implied by the way itself (for highway=trunk to highway=residential, paved is implied)
Hazards	hazards	potholes; traffic_calming; parked_vehicles; glass; hawthorn; barrier; gate	looks like it could be made more generally applicable - perhaps a {motorcar, bicycle, vehicle}:hazard:thing={yes, no, very_bad} combo?
Barriers	barrier=*	cycle_barrier; gate; bollard; stile...
General cycleway form	cycleway	on_road; off_road; lane; track; opposite_lane; opposite_track; shared_use; segregated. Combine with Proposed features/right left? cycleway=bike_box (for nodes near traffic_signals)	Segregated (e.g. by verges) but parallel to a road on-pavement stuff should probably get separate ways. Segregated (e.g. by embedded kerbstones, bollards) on-road stuff should probably use cycleway. cycleway=* on a highway=cycleway → iterative refinement, saying more about the cycleway itself.
Section shared	shared_with	foot; car; horse; bus; tram; rail	in most cases this is implied by the way itself, of course (e.g. if a way is both railway= and highway=cycleway)
Speed limit for motors	maxspeed=*	xxmph
Signage	signed	yes; no
Gradient	gradient	flat; gentle; steep; very_steep	way-direction-dependent: way points uphill (like highway=steps?)
Necessity to dismount	dismount	yes; no; trailer; tandem
Necessity to dismount (plan B)	bicycle tandem	dismount	done as an access-style tag. Handy for barrier "access" (ability to pass through) too.
Cycle parking (existing)	amenity=bicycle_parking