Highways
 Feature page: Highways
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| Description |
| The highway=* tag is used for roads, paths and cycletracks and other recognised routes on land. |
| Tags |
| highway=motorway highway=trunk highway=primary highway=secondary highway=tertiary highway=motorway link highway=primary link highway=unclassified highway=road highway=residential highway=service highway=track highway=pedestrian bridge=yes tunnel=yes layer=* tracktype=* |
The highway=* tag is used for all hardened and recognised routes between two places used by motorised vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and others (excluding railways).
Around the world highways are classified in different ways using different terms. OpenStreetMap attempts to apply a single classification system to all local conditions. For reasons of orgin, the terms used within OSM are British English, resulting in an interstate highway in the USA and an Autobahn in Germany being tagged as a 'motorway' along with it's British equivalent. The Highway:International equivalence article explains how the OSM tags should be interpreted around the world. Highway tag usage provides more general information on how to interpret road classifications to local conditions and Highway:International equivalence provides guidance on mapping in different countries/territories.
Contents |
Mapping roads and paths
- See also: Highway:International equivalence
The value of the highway tag should be applied without regard to network and route systems. In many countries a particular section of road may be part of many different routes in the same or different route networks, and a particular route may have sections with different attributes and therefore different highway tags. Refer to country specific guides for tagging routes and networks.
Unimproved roads should be tagged with highway=track. These are generally lower quality than paved gravel roads. The relative quality should be indicated by the tracktype=* tag, with values ranging from grade1 (the best) to grade5 (the worst). This should not be used to tag Trails.
Most roads should be tagged with highway=unclassified. If a road has residences along both sides, it should be tagged highway=residential. Significant through roads should be tagged as highway=tertiary (Significance is subjective, and will vary with location). Service roads (roads which exist to provide access for trash collection or parking, and campground roads) should be tagged with highway=service. Roads for which the classification is not known should be temporarily tagged with highway=road until they are properly surveyed.
If a stretch of highway has multiple reference numbers, they should be semicolon-delimited. (examples: ref=I 39;US 51, ref=US 51;US:WI 54)
Bridges should be indicated by splitting the way where the bridge begins and ends, and marking the middle way as bridge=yes. Tunnels should be similar, with tunnel=yes.
Pedestrianized roads (roads which have been converted to pedestrian walkways either by physical barriers or by signage) should be tagged with highway=pedestrian
The name=*, ref=*, lanes=*, surface=*, maxspeed=*, maxheight=* and width=* tags can be used to add detail about a road. While some highway tags like cycleway and bridleway imply a particular kind of traffic other tags should be used to designate what traffic is legally allowed or may be appropriate. Use access=* to provide more information.
Additional tags can be used for cycle routes or trails.
Mapping junctions
- Main article: Junctions
If an intersection has more than two levels (one road bridged over another, or under another), the levels should be indicated with layer=* tags that are on the same ways as the bridge=yes values.
Mapping individual lanes
- Main article: Lanes
The properties of individual lanes can be tagged with the extension :lanes to any other meaningful key. For example maxspeed=80 means a speed limit of 80 km/h on all lanes, while maxspeed:lanes=100|80 means a speed limit of 100 km/h on the left lane and 80 km/h on the right lane.
Proposals
- area:highway: Proposal for mapping streets as areas
- highway=junction: Proposal for mapping the extent of junctions
