Key:maxspeed
+/- maxspeed
Specifies the maximum legal speed limit on a road, railway or waterway
Restrictions
Tools for this tag
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The maxspeed=* tag is used to define the maximum legal speed limit for general traffic on a particular road, railway or waterway. By default, values will be interpreted as kilometres per hour. If the speed limit should be specified in a different unit the unit can be added to the end of the value, separated by a space (see Examples).
Contents |
Values
The maximum speed limit for a highway=*, railway=rail, waterway=river etc can be specified as follows:
| Type | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
numeric
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maxspeed=60 maxspeed=50 mph maxspeed=10 knots |
The maximum fixed numeric speed limit, followed by the appropriate unit if not measured in km/h when no units should be included. For example maxspeed=60 for 60 km/h and maxspeed=50 mph for 50 mph. |
variable
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maxspeed=signals | Indicates that there is a (variable) maximum speed limit displayed on electronic variable signs. |
none
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maxspeed=none | Indicates that there is no fixed maximum numeric speed limit for this section of road (on some German autobahns and a very few other places. Not to be used for situations where there is a limit but it is not known. Where the limit is not known do not include a maxspeed tag. |
walk (proposal)
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maxspeed=walk | In Austria and Germany the speed limit for living street (german: Wohnstraße bzw. Verkehrsberuhigter Bereich) is defined only as being a walking speed but there is no defined numeric value for this. The maxspeed walk proposal suggests that walk should be used, but it is not common used (only about 300 times according to taginfo in April 2012).
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implicit
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maxspeed=<countrycode>:<zone type> | In some places, notably Romania and Russia, it is common to find that maxspeed holds a value of the form '<countrycode>:<zone type>' for areas where the speed limit is indicated on the street by use of a symbol or icon rather than a number. The format includes a country code followed by a ':' and a zone identifier (For example 'IT:urban' or 'DE:rural'). In most other places it is more common to place the appropriate numeric value in maxspeed and then identify the type of limit in the '<countrycode>:<zone type>' format using either source:maxspeed=* or maxspeed:type=*. For more information on this, and for a table of common values see Speed limits. |
Extended tagging
Vehicles
Where different speed limits are posted for different classes of vehicles these should be specified using maxspeed:<vehicle>=*. The possible values for <vehicle> correspond to the values for transport modes of the key access=* (see also Examples).
'Note: Where a lower blanket speed limit is applied for certain classes of vehicle across all roads within the jurisdiction then this should not be tagged at the individual road level.
Driving direction
Where different speed limits are specified for each driving direction those can be specified using maxspeed:forward=* resp. maxspeed:backward=*, whereas forward applies to the speed limit for the same direction as the OSM way and backward to the speed limit for the opposite direction.
Lanes
Where different speed limits are specified for each lane of a road those can be specified using maxspeed:lanes=*. Each lane’s maxiumum speed has to be seperated with the “|” character. The first maximum speed is the maximum speed of the leftmost lane (viewed from the direction of the OSM way), the second maximum speed is the speed of the lane right from the leftmost lane and so on until the rightmost lane.
Further if they should be specified for each driving direction separately the key maxspeed:lanes:forward=* resp. maxspeed:lanes:backward=* can be used, whereas lanes:forward applies to the speed limit of the lanes for the same direction as the OSM way and lanes:backward to the speed limit of the lanes of the opposite direction. See therefore also the Examples as well as the article about mapping individual lanes.
Time or other conditions
Speed restrictions may be dependent on the time of day or other conditions. Such speed limits can be tagged as shown below:
Example: The maximum speed is 100 km/h between 6am and 7pm but otherwise is 120 km/h:
maxspeed=120
maxspeed:conditional=100 @ (06:00-19:00)
- For a full description and more examples, please see the conditional restrictions page.
Examples
| Identification | Tagging | Remark |
|---|---|---|
 |
maxspeed=60 + source:maxspeed=sign | Alternatively maxspeed=60 km/h can be used. |
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maxspeed=50 mph + source:maxspeed=sign | The speed limit is specified in the unit is is legally defined and will not be converted to km/h. |
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maxspeed=50 + source:maxspeed=DE:urban maxspeed=100 + source:maxspeed=DE:rural |
On all roads in Germany, where no explicit speed limit is defined, the corresponding implicit values can be specified. |
| 10 knots | maxspeed=10 knots | The speed limit is specified in the unit is is legally defined and will not be converted to km/h. |
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maxspeed=signals | The (variable) speed limit is announced on speed limit signs. |
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maxspeed=60 mph + maxspeed:type=GB:nsl_single + source:maxspeed=sign | A speed limit of 60 miles per hour on a road in the UK based on a "national speed limit" sign. |
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maxspeed:lanes=100|100|80 | A speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour on the rightmost lane on a road with an assumed general speed limit of 100 kilometres per hour. |
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maxspeed=80
maxspeed:hgv=60 |
A speed limit of 60 kilometres per hour valid only for heavy good vehicles - 80 kilometres per hour otherwise. |
Services
- ITO Map offers global speed limits updated daily
- Speed limits for all roads
- Speed limits only for roads of the kind
primary,trunkandmotorway - Road speed limits debug layer showing if the speed limit is in km/h, mph or other units
- Other services
- Maxspeed overlay for the Netherlands
- Maxspeed Overlay for Oceania and South-east Asia
Developers
Parser
Regular expression for numeric values only:
^([0-9][\.0-9]+?)(?:[ ]?(?:kmh|km/h|mph|kph))?$
Regular expression which catches numeric values and implicit values, e.g. like none oder signals:
^([^ ]+?)(?:[ ]?(?:kmh|km/h|mph|kph))?$
One mile per hour corresponds to 1.609 km/h and one knot to 1.852 kilometres per hour.
Related keys
- minspeed=* for the minimum speed
- access=* for other restrictions
- source:maxspeed=* for the source of the speed limit
- traffic_sign=* for single traffic signs of the restriction
- highway=speed_camera for an enforced maxspeed
